Movie · 2002 · Thriller, Science Fiction, Horror · 1h 46m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 4.5/10 (906.5K ratings)
It's not like they didn't warn us.
Overview
A family living on a farm finds mysterious crop circles in their fields which suggests something more frightening to come.
Ratings
Curator score: 4.5/10
IMDb: 6.8/10
Letterboxd: 3.51/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 76%
Metacritic: 59
TMDB: 6.7/10
Director
M. Night Shyamalan
Production
Touchstone Pictures, Blinding Edge Pictures, The Kennedy/Marshall Company
Cast
Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin, Cherry Jones, M. Night Shyamalan, Patricia Kalember, Ted Sutton, Merritt Wever, Lanny Flaherty, Marion McCorry, Michael Showalter, Kevin Pires, Clifford David, Rhonda Overby, Greg Wood, Paul L. Nolan, Ukee Washington, Babita Hariani, Adam Way
Curator Review
Verdict
A tense, often funny, and surprisingly moving home-invasion sci-fi thriller that uses alien invasion as a backdrop for grief, faith, and family repair. It’s uneven in places, but the atmosphere, performances, and emotional payoff make it a standout early-2000s genre film.
Best for
viewers who like suspense built from silence and atmosphere
fans of faith-adjacent horror or sci-fi with emotional subtext
people who enjoy family dramas wrapped in genre storytelling
audiences open to a mix of dread, humor, and melodrama
Skip if
you want hard sci-fi explanations and airtight logic
you’re allergic to earnest sentiment or big emotional swings
you need constant action instead of slow-burn tension
you dislike movies whose ending leans into sincerity and symbolism
Overview
Signs is one of those movies that works best when you stop asking it to be a clean alien-invasion puzzle and let it be a haunted family drama. The crop circles, the locked doors, the radio static, and the offscreen menace all build a thick, old-fashioned dread, but the real subject is a father trying to hold his life together after loss. That emotional center gives the movie more weight than its premise suggests.
Worth noting
M. Night Shyamalan stages the film with real confidence: quiet spaces feel loaded, ordinary objects become ominous, and the house itself turns into a pressure cooker. It’s also funnier than its reputation implies, with a dry, sometimes awkward comic rhythm that makes the fear land harder when it arrives. The performances help a lot, especially in the scenes where the family’s grief and irritation are still raw.
Bottom line
The movie’s defenders are right that it has a strong pulse of faith, fate, and resilience running through it. Its critics are also right that some dialogue is stiff and the logic can wobble. But as a piece of mood-driven genre filmmaking, it’s memorable, emotionally direct, and more affecting than its most famous jokes would suggest.
Top Letterboxd reviews
amaya (4★) · 10177 likes
everyone who hates this movie needs to calm down and eat some fruit or something
Joe A (5★) · 6400 likes
In the summer of 2002, I went to see Signs with my estranged father. I was too young to go, but a family friend who was a little older than myself had seen it and I wanted to be cool, like him. My dad hastily agreed to take me, likely out of guilt— his attempt to make amends for years of absenteeism— or to avoid hours of awkward conversation— also because of his years absenteeism. We didn’t get along. I… more In the summer of 2002, I went to see Signs with my estranged father. I was too young to go, but a family friend who was a little older than myself had seen it and I wanted to be cool, like him. My dad hastily agreed to take me, likely out of guilt— his attempt to make amends for years of absenteeism— or to avoid hours of awkward conversation— also because of his years absenteeism. We didn’t get along. I… more
alor (5★) · 5322 likes
Men only have two moods:1. "Aaahhhhh, I am insane with anger!!!"
and
2. "We're gonna beat your ass, bitch!!" 😠
🤎jess🤎 (3.5★) · 4330 likes
HOW DO YOU FORGET TO BRING YOUR DOG, A MOST BELOVED MEMBER OF YOUR FAMILY, INSIDE THE HOUSE DURING AN ALIEN INVASION?!??......unrealistic
SilentDawn (5★) · 2886 likes
93/100
"Morgan, after you were born, the doctor gave you to your mother. When she first looked at you, you just stared right back. You both just stared at each other for longest time, and you didn't even cry."
Faith as horror. Family in the process of rebuilding. Suspense within silences. Terrifying and beautiful in a way I can't quite describe, mainly because of its unrelenting confidence. I wish I could replace every new theatrically released christian movie with this.