"I should've built a ball field here...". Mel Gibson surveys the damage with his children of the corn in, Signs.

Signs
Touchtone, 2002
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

$$$

You know a filmmaker has achieved enormous success when their name above the title instantly triggers a certain expectation. In the case of M. Night Shyamalan -- you expect that you won't know what to expect. More precisely, you expect a Big Surprise, like the one he famously delivered at the end of his first major release, The Sixth Sense. His latest movie,

Signs, gives us another creepy puzzle to unravel.

It begins when a Bucks County, PA farmer (Mel Gibson) wakes up to find strange, geometrically perfect circles carved into his crops. Is it a prank, the work of some teens, or is it the work of someone -- or something -- else?

The spooky set-up is ripe for horror -- and Shyamalan really knows how to scare the living crap out of us. He gives us a premise steeped in supernatural mystery -- our darkest nightmares are always rooted in the unknown. Again, Shyamalan plays on our classic fears -- fear of the dark, fear of something outside our window, in the closet. This time, instead of ghosts -- it's monsters from outer space. He also knows how to build tension, skillfully turning up the level of dread to create moments that will have you peering at the screen through your fingers -- if you dare.

This movie features several first class jump-out-of-your-seat-go-home-and-sleep-with-the-lights-on scares. And Shyamalan does it for the most part without resorting to high tech effects. What he doesn't show you is far scarier than what he does -- he knows whatever we imagine in our own heads is far more terrifying than anything ILM can create. In one scene, Gibson goes searching through his cornfield at night with just a flashlight -- we hear something rustling, the flashlight goes out -- and we freak out without seeing a thing. In this way the movie often resembles a glossier, big budget version of The Blair Witch Project.

The movie also resembles -- or pays homage, perhaps -- to H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds. At times, the movie also feels reminiscent of an old Twilight Zone episode, as we see a global phenomenon unfold almost entirely through the eyes of one family inside a farm house. But while not wholly original, Signs is very effective and extremely well executed.

A recent newsmagazine cover story notable compared Shyamalan to Spielberg and the analogy is very apt. While many talented new filmmakers have come on the scene in the last decade, there isn't another this gifted who is also this thoroughly commercial -- this adept at creating a cultural phenomenon. Signs will make tons of money.

It will also make a star out of Abigail Breslin, the adorable little child who is this film's answer to Haley Joel Osment, from Sixth Sense -- the child who somehow knows something she shouldn't. She steals the movie from the rest of the fine cast, headed by Gibson, acting more restrained than usual .

But the movie is not without flaws. For a man who gave us one of the most famous surprise endings of all time, Shyamalan telegraphs some of his punches here rather crudely. For instance, when it's revealed that one main character is a former baseball player who hit a record-breaking home run -- you just know that at a pivotal moment, the dude's going to make good use of a Louisville Slugger. And when he finally does -- instead of being surprised -- you're wondering what took him so long. The ending is also a bit disappointing -- don't expect a major twist -- and the finale comes with a not-quite-overt religious message that comes across as a little heavy handed.

Still, the movie is overall satisfying. For Shyamalan this time around -- all signs point toward success
(c) Copyright 2002

Reviews of other films by M. Night Shyamalan:
The Sixth Sense
Unbreakable