I’m terrified of aliens because of this UFO movie.

It’s a strange time to be a UFO enthusiast, especially for someone who finds the lights in the sky inspiring rather than terrifying. As real-life conspiracy theories flourish and big-screen space horror unfolds light years away, I find myself contextualizing my UFO feelings in a surprisingly rural story. For me, the quintessential UFO horror movie is M. Night Shyamalan’s 2002 film. Signs.

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Signs is a science fiction thriller set on a farm in rural Pennsylvania, starring Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix as brothers Graham and Merrill Hess. For what it’s worth, if you haven’t seen this movie you may still be familiar with the parody. scary movie 3. However, if you are around my age you may also remember Signs like the first time you consciously thought that UFOs were more terrifying than fascinating. The film tells an original story while still playing with the archetypal concept of UFOs in American pop culture.

The film begins by addressing a hot topic in the ufology community: crop circles. In real life, these have mostly been dismissed as pranks, fabrications, or environmental coincidences, and in the film the Hess family dismisses them first as well. Instead, the beginning of the film focuses on his family struggles: Graham was an Episcopal priest until his wife died in a car accident about six months ago and he lost his faith. Merrill’s minor league baseball career came to a screeching halt and now he’s here on the farm trying to help his brother, niece and nephew process their grief.

In the midst of this, crop circles begin to take over the mainstream news, and it becomes increasingly difficult for Graham and Merrill to ignore them. The brothers begin to see strange figures appear in their field but they cannot catch them. They also hear strange and inhuman noises through a baby monitor. Before they know it, a global alien invasion is underway.

Aside from the Hess brothers, key cast members are Graham’s son Morgan (Rory Culkin) and daughter Bo (Abigail Breslin). They also receive a visit from their friend and local police officer Caroline Paski (Cherry Jones) and their neighbor Ray Reddy, played by Shyamalan himself. Behind the scenes, the credits were also piling up: producers included Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Sam Mercer.

Signs It was filmed in Pennsylvania on a budget of $72 million and was considered a box office hit with an international gross of over $408 million. It was Shyamalan’s second biggest earner at the time, behind The sixth sense. The film also sold well on VHS and DVD, and is highly regarded by moviegoers for its extensive bonus content including deleted scenes, feature-length documentaries, and storyboards. This film alone earned nearly $35 million in DVD rental revenue between January and March 2003.

At the time of writing this article, Signs It has a fresh score of 75 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 6.9 out of 10 among 240 reliable critics. Those who loved the movie. praised its pacing, suspense and jump scares, while those who disliked it questioned its approach to collective terror in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This last issue may be part of the reason Signs It has seemed to age well; when allowed to consider it outside of that context, it feels more authentic.

As for his interpretation of the aliens themselves, Signs is far from the scariest. However, it does what other space horrors fail to do by making the danger feel close to home, as if it could happen to you right as you leave the theater. The logical part of my mind knows that I would have a better chance against the creatures of Signs What would I do against that thing? Alien: RomulusHowever, the emotional response comes from seeing the alien in an earthly home rather than on a distant space station.

Some viewers complain that the ending of Signs It is abrupt and artificial. Without giving anything away, I can say that I hope the headlines about drone sightings and military UAP revelations also have simple endings. At the time of writing this article, Signs It’s not available on any subscription-based streamers, but it is in PVOD stores as well as physical media.