Signs

Writer-director M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable) has found another surprising new approach to a familiar genre: an alien invasion anti-Independence Day flick that strips away all the flash, gloss and action to depict an attack on Earth from the perspective most of us would really have--scared stiff inside a house with boarded-up windows, glued to the television for updates and listening to noises just outside that make both the heart and mind race. Mel Gibson stars as a melancholy, widowed farmer who discovers mysterious crop circles in his cornfield that are clearly not the kind made by hoaxers, ultimately leading to a large-scale panic, with Gibson, his kids and his brother (Joaquin Phoenix) barricaded in their flashlight-lit cellar while the farmhouse is overrun by something. Shyamalan's filmmaking is so conventional that Signs sometimes feels like an assembly-line "event movie," but he also invokes the spine-tingling spirit of Hitchcock, Spielberg and sci-fi B-movies of the 1950s and '60s to terrific effect. Recommended. [Note: DVD extras include six making-of featurettes (all between five and nine minutes) that cover topics including story development, production details, CGI special effects, sound effects and the world premiere of the film; the 23-minute “Making Signs” with writer-director M. Night Shyamalan, five deleted scenes, storyboard/multi-angle versions of two scenes, and Night's primitive and humorous first alien movie--a short called “Pictures” made when he was a kid. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a nicely atmospheric chiller.] (R. Blackwelder)[Blu-ray Review—June 10, 2008—Touchstone, 106 min., PG-13, $39.98—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 2002's Signs sports a pretty nice transfer and a 5.1 uncompressed soundtrack The extras on the disc are identical to the previous DVD release, including six making-of featurettes (all between five and nine minutes) that cover topics such as story development, production details, CGI special effects, sound effects and the world premiere of the film; the 23-minute “Making Signs” featurette with writer-director M. Night Shyamalan; five deleted scenes; storyboard/multi-angle versions of two scenes; and Shyamalan's primitive and humorous first alien movie—a short called “Pictures.” Bottom line: a decent upgrade version to Blu-ray, though it lacks any new features.]