Signs

Signs is a 2002 American science fiction thriller film directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It was adapted from a screenplay also written by Shyamalan. Executive producers for the film comprised, Shyamalan, Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy, and Sam Mercer. The story focuses on a former priest named Grahan Hess, who discovers a series of crop circles in his cornfield. Hess slowly becomes convinced that the phenomena is a result of extraterrestrial life. Veteran actors Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, and Abigail Breslin star in principal roles. Signs explores faith, kinship and extraterrestrial life.^[2]

A joint collective effort to commit to the film's production was made by Touchstone Pictures, Blinding Edge Pictures, and The Kennedy/Marshall Company. It was commercially distributed by Touchstone Pictures theatrically, and by Buena Vista Home Entertainment in home media format. Following its theatrical run, the film was nominated for multiple awards, including those from the Online Film Critics Society and the Empire Awards. The film also won an award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. On August 2, 2002, the original motion picture soundtrack was released by the Hollywood Records label. The film score was composed by musician James Newton Howard.

Following its premiere in theaters nationwide in the United States on August 2, 2002, the film grossed $227,966,634 in domestic ticket receipts screening at 3,453 theaters during its widest release. It earned an additional $180,281,283 in business through international release to top out at a combined $408,247,917 in gross revenue. Considering its $72 million budget costs, the film was technically considered a strong financial success after its theatrical run, and was generally met with positive critical reviews before its initial screening in cinemas. The high-definition Blu-ray Disc editions of the film featuring the director's audio commentary, the making of the film, and deleted scenes was released in the United States on June 3, 2008.

Plot :

Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) is a former priest whose wife Colleen (Patricia Kalember), died in a horrific traffic accident caused by a veterinarian named Ray Reddy (M. Night Shyamalan). The accident left Graham embittered and upset and caused his loss of faith in God, resulting in him quitting the priesthood. Graham's younger brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix), a former minor league baseball player, helps provide care for his two children, Morgan (Rory Culkin), and Bo (Abigail Breslin).

Things are uneventful in Graham's life until a mysterious crop circle appears in his cornfield. Its origin and purpose is unknown; Graham speculates that it may be a hoax, while Morgan and Bo think it may have been created by extraterrestrial life. One of their dogs went to attack Bo, and Morgan stabbed him with a sharp blade, killing the dog. One night, Bo enters Graham's bedroom and tells him of a monster outside her room. Tired, Graham goes to her room and tucks her into bed. He looks out the window and sees a tall black silhouette standing on the roof of their barn. Alarmed, he and Merrill plan to scare away the figure, whom they believe is Lionel Pritchard (Michael Showalter), a known prankster. The brothers run outside and circle the house. Both see the shadow of the running figure, but cannot catch it. The next day, police officer Caroline Paski (Cherry Jones) stops over to probe the encounter. She informs Graham that unless he has a clear description of what the perpetrator looked like, she can't help him in apprehending the suspect. One evening, Graham goes to feed the family's dog Isabelle and hears a clicking sound coming from the cornfield. Upon further investigation after entering the cornfield, Graham spots a strange, green leg sticking out among the cornrows. Graham quickly runs back to his house in fear. He and his family later watch television coverage of crop circles, appearing in numerous countries around the world.

The first view of the Aliens during the birthday party scene.

That night, Graham has a conversation with Merrill in which he reveals how he lost his faith in God. He challenges Merrill's belief that they will not be harmed by the mysterious events as reliance on coincidence, signs, and miracles as evidence of some higher power. The following morning, Graham receives a mysterious phone call from Ray Reddy, the man who accidentally killed his wife, and travels to town to visit him. Meanwhile, Merrill watches a news broadcast, featuring amateur footage depicting a disturbing video of an alien walking through a child's birthday party in Brazil. At Ray's home, Graham finds Ray sitting in his car with a blood stain on his clothing. Before driving off, Ray apologizes for the accident that occurred with Graham's wife and tells him that he has trapped one of the aliens in his home. Investigating the scene, Graham uses a kitchen knife to view a reflection of the alien from underneath a pantry door. Suddenly, a green clawed hand reaches under the door prompting Graham to slash off some of its fingers in self defense.

Back in his home, Graham boards up the windows and doors in fear of the aliens. The family recedes into the basement to hide and barricade themselves. One of the aliens finds a way in through a coal shaft and grabs Morgan's neck, causing him to have an asthma attack. Although the creature is repelled, Graham realizes that he has left Morgan's inhaler upstairs. The next morning, they hear on the radio that a method of fighting the aliens has been developed and the aliens are now retreating. Graham and his family head back upstairs into the house but encounter an alien who holds Morgan hostage. Graham looks and sees that two of its fingers are missing, implying that it was the same alien whom he encountered at Reddy's home. Graham tells Merrill to grabs a baseball bat from the wall of their home which hangs as a trophy and attack the alien. However, the alien sprays a poisonous gas into Morgan's face. As Merrill hits the alien with the bat, it becomes apparent that water has an acidic effect to the alien when a half-empty glass of water earlier left by Bo splashes the alien. Merrill continues to attack the alien, using his bat to shatter glasses of water which spill on the alien, killing it.

Morgan soon recovers, having been saved from the alien's gas when his throat closed during another asthma attack. A grateful Graham comes to believe that many of the seemingly random and even tragic events of his life were in fact designed to save Morgan and his family in this moment. In the future, with his religious faith restored, Graham dresses up in his clerical garb preparing for church as its pastor.