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Signs (2002)
In M. Night Shyamalan's scary, intriguing sci-fi horror
film about alien visitation upon a family, beginning with the appearance
of unusual crop drawings in corn fields:
- in the awesome opening scene, recently-retired Bucks
County Pennsylvania Episcopalian
"Father" and emotionally-wounded widower Rev. Graham Hess
(Mel Gibson) in Doylestown, PA, who had lost his faith (signaled
by a shadow of a removed cross on his bedroom wall) was awakened
in the early morning hours; a picture in his bedroom revealed that
he had been a family man, but had suffered the loss of his wife Colleen
(Patricia Kalember) in a horrible traffic accident 6 months earlier;
his younger brother Merrill Hess (Joaquin Phoenix), an ex-minor league
baseball star (with a tremendously wild baseball swing), had recently
moved in to help
Morgan Hess (Rory Culkin)
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Bo Hess (Abigail Breslin)
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- Graham
rushed outside to find his two dazed children in their cornfield looking
at huge mysterious crop circles: his asthma-suffering son Morgan
(Rory Culkin) and water-related germaphobe daughter Bo (Abigail
Breslin) (who often left half-filled glasses of water in various
spots in house); they possibly signified the presence of extra-terrestrial
life; although they could have also been produced by vandals as
a prank, but Morgan surmised: "I
think God did it." [Note: It was
later revealed that aliens had created the crop drawings
as landing navigational markers, occurring all over the world.]
Bo to Her Father: "Can I have a glass of water?"
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Monster "Outside" Seen by Graham on Their Rooftop
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- another late night, Graham was awakened by his daughter
who complained about a monster outside her window: "There's a monster
outside my room, can I have a glass of water?"; when Graham looked
onto the roof, he did see a dark figure - and he and Merrill tried
to chase it but it quickly escaped into the cornfield
- strange clicking and feedback noises were broadcast
from Bo's old baby monitor; Graham responded to the family: "This
is why we don’t watch TV"; when he was about to let go
of the device, Merrill warned his brother: "You'll lose the
signal"; everyone climbed on the roof of the car and held hands
to hold the device higher in order to get a stronger signal; Morgan
theorized that two aliens had been communicating with each other:
"There's two of them talking"; over
time, there were more unsettling and fleeting views of unseen figures
in the cornfield
- one evening, Graham conversed with Merrill about two
kinds of reactions to an experience - they debated the concept
of 'signs' and whether something known as coincidence existed: ("See
what you have to ask yourself is what kind of person are you? Are you
the kind that sees signs, sees miracles? Or do you believe that people
just get lucky?"); Merrill responded that he believed in miracles,
but Graham remained silent about his own beliefs
- the next morning in the film's most frightening sequence,
before the airing of "genuine" CNN news footage from a
celebration of a Brazilian child's 7th birthday party, the commentator
warned: "What
you're about to see may disturb you." Watching the video playback
was Graham's horrified younger brother Merrill Hess, who gave an
urgent warning shouted at the TV to the birthday party children:
"Move children!! Vamanos!!" The clip
showed a brief shot of a green-costumed, humanoid bipedal alien walking
past an alley outside the party. Merrill reacted with shock as he covered
his mouth in amazement and fell backwards
Merrill Hess Viewing CNN Footage from Brazil and
Yelling Out at TV: "Move children! Vamanos!"
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Brief Shot of Alien in Alleyway
Outside Children's Birthday Party
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Merrill's Shocked Reaction
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- later, Graham went to neighbor-veterinarian
Ray Reddy's (director Shyamalan with a cameo) house after receiving
a phone call; Reddy, who explained how he was responsible for Hess'
wife's death, expressed remorse and guilt over the accident, and
then speculated with Graham that the aliens who were invading into
the area (through crop circles in corn fields) detested water. He
also warned Graham that a giant alien was trapped or blocked in his
kitchen pantry - and the figure's shadow could be seen moving around
under the door; when Graham addressed the creature with a "HELLO,"
the movement stopped
- Graham first attempted
to impersonate a cop in order to persuade the creature to give itself
up: ("The police are
here. I am with them. I am a police officer. I just want to talk
with you. We know all about the hoax. We already took some of your
friends downtown in a paddy wagon. Just tell us your name and why
you did it and we'll give you the same deal we gave the others. Don't
throw away your life, son")
- he bent down, knelt, and tried to look under
the pantry door (using the reflection of a shiny, large butcher knife
that he grabbed from the counter); on a second attempt, the alien
grabbed at him; he used the knife to cut off two protruding fingers
on the alien's clawed hand reaching out from the underside of the
closed door - causing the trapped creature to let out a high-pitched,
blood-curdling scream; when threatened with an attack, Graham quickly
departed (symbolized by the flight of a large flock of birds)
- an alien invasion threatened the world, while the
Hess family decided to remain in their completely boarded-up and
barricaded farmhouse after taking a vote; the family gathered for
one final family dinner around the Hess dining room table; in the emotionally-painful
sequence, Graham expressed his anger about prayer and refused to
say grace and bless the food: ("We're not saying
a prayer...We aren't saying a prayer! EAT!..."); Morgan was upset
and told his father: "I hate you...You let Mom die"; but Graham doubled-down
and lashed out at everyone, singling out his crying daughter Bo:
"I am not wasting one more minute of my life on prayer.
Not one more minute! Understood?!
Now we are going to enjoy this meal. No one is going to stop us from
enjoying this meal, so ENJOY IT! Stop crying!"; Graham began
to stab at items of food in front of him, until everyone realized
that they needed to share a family hug together in the face of such
fear and devastation
Family Dinner Table Scene
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Angry Graham: "I am not wasting one more minute of
my life on prayer"
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Family Hug
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- in the living room inside their farmhouse, they feared
the worst when they heard their dog's yelps and then silence; they
suspected one of the aliens was on their rooftop and breaking into
their unprotected attic; they were forced to retreat and take refuge
in the basement; after
a long night of terror, an attempted attack through the coal chute,
and a devastating asthma attack suffered by Morgan (without his inhaler),
there were reports that the aliens were retreating and had abruptly
abandoned Earth; they learned that the aliens had been expelling a
poisonous gas from their wrists that had killed some humans; the family
decided to proceed upstairs to retrieve Morgan's asthma medicine
- in the film's ultimate climax, one stranded, tall
greenish alien (the one that had earlier been in the pantry) broke
into the Hess household and put the weak and asthmatic Morgan at
serious risk by taking him hostage
- in Graham's most crucial flashback to Colleen's
dying words and death (when pinned against a tree as her life slowly
ebbed), he suddenly remembered that she had advised Merrill to "swing
away" (with his baseball bat) in order to fulfill his dreams of playing
baseball
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Flashback of Wife's Dying Last Words: "Swing away"
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- Graham considered her advice as a means to save their
family, and he ordered his younger brother Merrill, a former semi-pro
baseball player, to swing at the alien with his trophy baseball bat
on the wall: ("Swing away, Merrill...") ("Tell
Graham... see. Tell him to see. And tell Merrill to swing away"); the
advice to Graham to "see" referred
to his observing a mounted baseball bat in the living room. Merrill
grabbed his record-setting baseball bat from the wall and attacked
the creature, who had abducted Morgan as a hostage and sprayed
him with poisonous cyanide gas from its wrist
- it was
also clear to him that the creature could be weakened and killed by
dousings of water (acting like acid on the alien) with Bo's numerous
half-filled glasses of water scattered throughout the house; when
hit by the bat, the alien released and dropped Morgan to the floor.
During the violent struggle, a glass of water (on which the confrontation
was reflected) spilled down on the shoulder of the alien (who was revealed
to be allergic to water) and ate away at his skin like acid. More swings
of the bat (which split in two) and dousings with water eventually
killed the alien
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The Saving of Son Morgan: Graham's Faith Restored
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- meanwhile, Graham grabbed Morgan,
rushed him outside for fresh air, and administered a life-saving
injection. Graham
received insight that Morgan's debilitating asthma condition actually
miraculously prevented him from inhaling the alien's poisonous cyanide
gas, and that his wife had been instrumental in saving his family: "That's
why he had asthma. It can't be luck. His lungs were closed. His lungs
were closed. No poison got in. No poison got in."
- Graham's faith in God
(and his belief in miraculous
"signs") was restored when he realized the random and tragic
events of his life served a purpose; he saw his son saved - from
his wife's prophetic words and the blessing that asthmatic Morgan
couldn't inhale the gas with closed-off lungs; soon after, he returned
to his clerical duties
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Jump-Scare: Rev. Hess Awakening in Middle of Night
Picture of Hess Family Before Wife Colleen's Tragic Death
Hess Found Children In Cornfield with Huge Crop Circles
Aerial View of Huge Crop Circles in Hess's Field
Strange Noises From Old Baby Monitor
Figure Hiding Behind Ray Reddy's Kitchen Pantry Door
Graham Cutting Off Alien's Two Fingers Reaching Out Under
Pantry Door
The Trapped Alien in Farmhouse
Asthmatic Son Morgan Hess Threatened by Toxic Alien Gas
Sprayed from Alien's Wrist
Final Confrontation Using Baseball Bat Against Alien ("Swing
away, Merrill...")
The Alien - Right Shoulder Sizzled by Water
Dousings of Water - Toxic to Aliens
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