History Film / Signs

* Never Trust a Trailer: The films trailers made the film look more like a full out alien invasion/horror movie. While there are certainly elements of that, the actual film is more a story about regaining faith with the aliens being used as a plot device.

* CreepyChild: Morgan and (even more so) Bo.

* DullSurprise: Graham and Merrill seem to have...a distinct lack of emotion when [[spoiler: Morgan is taken hostage by one of the aliens]].
* EasilyForgiven: Graham's forgiveness of Ray is way too easy, considering the one who accidentally killed his wife tells him it was ''just meant to be''.

* DeathWorld: From the aliens point of view; 70% of the planet surface is covered by a fatal, skin-dissolving acidic liquid that also permeates the atmosphere, frequently falling from its skies like rain. All the local flora and fauna are suffused with the acid, with the crowning example being a sentient apex predator that bleeds, spits and excretes the substance through the skin through physical activity. So, uh... WHY did they pick Earth to attack?

* WeaksauceWeakness: Water.

** Maybe they were worried about any of they're tech being discovered by man and used against them, so they bring no tech with them at all. Also about the water thing, maybe because we LIVE on the stuff that is acid to them they are taking us to study how we do it.

** Maybe they were worried about any of they're tech being discovered by man and used against them. Also about the water thing, maybe because we LIVE on the stuff that is acid to them they are taking us to study how we do it.

** This is actually lampshaded: when Graham announces they're going to nail the windows shut, he's asked how he thinks this will work.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: The aliens are capable of mastering space travel and being undetectable until planetary approach...yet they lack the intelligence to bring equipment for their "takeover", they seem to have difficulty getting pass wooden doors, AND went on a planet that is 71% coated in their number one weakness, ignoring what is present in the atmosphere. This is all important as basic problem-solving is a sign of intelligence, which the aliens SHOULD possess to traverse space but evidently lacks in terms of common sense and strategy 101.

* BlessedWithSuck - Aliens that... melt.
* TheCameo[=/=]CreatorCameo - Creator/MNightShyamalan plays the man who accidentally killed Graham's wife.

* DemonicInvaders - The viewer who knows his mythology and/or is prone to FanWank might note that crop circles, dead livestock, night-time abductions and a fear of water were attributed to fairies, demons and incubi for a long time before aliens found their way into pop culture.
* DullSurprise: Graham and Merril seem to have...a distinct lack of emotion when [[spoiler: Morgan is taken hostage by one of the aliens]].

* ExposedExtraterrestrials - Very foolish considering ''water'' is toxic to them.
* FightUnscene - Ray managed to trap one of the aliens in his own pantry, and tells Graham not to open it immediately before he [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere leaves]].
* ForeShadowing - Several
* HollywoodAtheist - Graham Hess, with one or two outbursts that lean towards NayTheist.
* IdiotBall - The aliens, big time. They walk around without any sort of protection on a planet 70% covered by a substance that kills them but not the people they're antagonising. Why?

* InfantImmortality - Morgan almost succumbs to a severe asthma attack, but survives.
* InsufficientlyAdvancedAlien - See IdiotBall, also they can't open an unlocked door.
* {{Irony}} - The book on extraterrestrial life the kids buy in town claimed that prospective alien invaders would likely be physically small, as their superior intelligence would make up for it, would use advanced technology to subjugate humanity, and would probably be vegetarians. The actual alien invaders were [[spoiler: easily over 7 feet tall, physically strong, and agile (and were obviously not smart enough to realize that attacking a planet and beings made mostly of the one substance that could kill them would be a bad idea), used biological weapons in hand-to-hand combat, and were strongly implied to be carnivores, harvesting humans for food.]]
* JumpScare - A few. Examples include the Brazilian news report, Graham seeing an alien on his roof, and the scene where Graham spots an alien's leg sticking out of his crops.
* KillItWithWater - Water turns out to be deadly to the aliens.
* ManlyTears - Mel Gibson is ''very'' good at crying.
* MirrorScare - [[spoiler:Towards the end, the alien in the living room is revealed when its reflection is seen in the TV.]]

* NothingIsScarier - A ''glorious'' example of the third type. Graham is looking at a darkened field with a flashlight. There's nothing there. [[spoiler:Then the alien's leg moves]].

* OminousFloatingSpaceship - A particulary creepy version of this trope, since [[spoiler: said spaceship is ''completely invisible'']].

* RuleOfScary - FridgeLogic aside, when you're ''watching'' it, it's one of the most effectively scary horror films of the decade.
* ScullySyndrome - Graham and Merrill Hess.
* ThatMakesMeFeelAngry - [[CrowningMomentOfFunny "I'm insane with anger!"]]
** Not so much this trope, as Graham was only yelling it while running around the house with Merill to try and scare what they thought were troublesome neighbor kids. Still pretty damn funny, though.

* TwistEnding - ''Everything'' happens for a reason.
* WaterSourceTampering - Bo keeps starting glasses of water only to find something wrong with them (such as "It has [her brother's] amoebas in it!") and stop drinking them, leaving them scattered all over the house, half-full. [[spoiler:It turns out leaving the glasses all over was Bo being pre-cognitive but unwilling or unable to explain it. Water is harmful to the hostile aliens, one of which had gotten into the house, and when they need to be able to hurt it, it finds itself standing in a room surrounded by partially full water glasses.]]
* WeaksauceWeakness - Water.

** Pure water is pH-neutral, but drinking water from a tap is anything but pure, and is generally slightly towards the acid end of the pH spectrum, as is human skin (and, really, most lifeforms on Earth). The aliens may well be from a planet where everything is shifted toward the alkaline rather than mildly acidic, and so the weak acid of tap water would react exothermically with their skin to form a salt. Though, really, that reaction would still be pretty mild and more likely to cause minor irritation than anything as severe as show.

* ArtisticLicenseChemistry: The film reveals that the Aliens can only be destroyed by water, as it seems to dissolve them. The problem is that water is NOT naturally acidic or reactive. Water is actually extremely nonreactive unless either rapidly heated, or in contact with an alkali metal: neither of these conditions are met and even if they were, it would result in a more explosive reaction...NOT AN ACIDIC ONE!

* Artistic License - Chemistry: The film reveals that the Aliens can only be destroyed by water, as it seems to dissolve them. The problem is that water is NOT naturally acidic or reactive. Water is actually extremely nonreactive unless either rapidly heated, or in contact with an alkali metal: neither of these conditions are met and even if they were, it would result in a more explosive reaction...NOT AN ACIDIC ONE!

* Artistic License - Biology: The aliens are capable of mastering space travel and being undetectable until planetary approach...yet they lack the intelligence to bring equipment for their "takeover", they seem to have difficulty getting pass wooden doors, AND went on a planet that is 71% coated in their number one weakness, ignoring what is present in the atmosphere. This is all important as basic problem-solving is a sign of intelligence, which the aliens SHOULD possess to traverse space but evidently lacks in terms of common sense and strategy 101.

** The fact they can't even open a damn ''door''. Who knows, maybe they ''have'' become terribly reliant on technological, sliding doors, but all it takes is a basic understanding of levers!

** Why are their bodies harmed by the liquid state of H2) but not what is in the atmosphere? One could justify it in low humidity environments but what about going through clouds, high humidity environments or precipitation?

The story focuses on the Hess family, consisting of a faithless former preacher, Graham (Gibson), his asthmatic son, Morgan (Rory Culkin), his ostensibly autistic daughter, Bo (AbigailBreslin) and his ne'er do well younger brother, Merrill (Phoenix), who live in a podunk farmland community. Like the rest of the world, they start thinking that it's an AlienInvasion being done as a stealth infiltration. The entire story is told through this farming family in Pennsylvania as they watch the paranoia grip the world through their television set. Of course, since an off-screen repulsion isn't too dramatic, there's still a fight scene. Oh, and there's a lot of [[{{Anvilicious}} incredibly blunt]] [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic religious symbolism]], with the story serving more as a story about a man finding his faith in God again as the "signs" start to coalesce.

* EasilyForgiven: Graham's forgiveness of Ray is way too easy, especially when the ''murderer'' of his ''wife'' tells him it was ''just meant to be''. Guh?
** To be fair, he didn't murder her; it was a total accident.

* ExposedExtraterrestrials - Egregiously stupid when you realize that ''water'' is toxic to them.
* FightUnscene: Ray managed to trap one of the aliens in his own pantry, and tells Graham not to open it immediately before he [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere leaves]].
* ForeShadowing: Several

* InfantImmortality: Morgan almost succumbs to a severe asthma attack, but survives.

* {{Irony}}: The book on extraterrestrial life the kids buy in town claimed that prospective alien invaders would likely be physically small, as their superior intelligence would make up for it, would use advanced technology to subjugate humanity, and would probably be vegetarians. The actual alien invaders were [[spoiler: easily over 7 feet tall, physically strong, and agile (and were obviously not smart enough to realize that attacking a planet and beings made mostly of the one substance that could kill them would be a bad idea), used biological weapons in hand-to-hand combat, and were strongly implied to be carnivores, harvesting humans for food.]]
* JumpScare: A few. Examples include the Brazilian news report, Graham seeing an alien on his roof, and the scene where Graham spots an alien's leg sticking out of his crops.

* ManlyTears: Mel Gibson is ''very'' good at crying.
* MirrorScare: [[spoiler:Towards the end, the alien in the living room is revealed when its reflection is seen in the TV.]]

* NothingIsScarier: A ''glorious'' example of the third type. Graham is looking at a darkened field with a flashlight. There's nothing there. [[spoiler:Then the alien's leg moves]].

* OminousFloatingSpaceship: A particulary creepy version of this trope, since [[spoiler: said spaceship is ''completely invisible'']].

* TwistEnding: ''Everything'' happens for a reason.

* WeaksauceWeakness: Water.

* DeathWorld: From the aliens point of view; 60% of the planet surface is covered by a fatal, skin-dissolving acidic liquid that also permeates the atmosphere, frequently falling from its skies like rain. All the local flora and fauna are suffused with the acid, with the crowning example being a sentient apex predator that bleeds, spits and excretes the substance through the skin through physical activity. So, uh... WHY did they pick Earth to attack?

** The fact they can't even open a damn ''door''.

* {{Irony}}: The book on extraterrestrial life the kids buy in town claimed that prospective alien invaders would likely be short due to their superior intelligence, would use advanced technology to subjugate humanity, and would probably be vegetarians. The actual alien invaders were [[spoiler: easily over 8 feet tall (and were obviously not smart enough to realize that attacking a planet and beings made mostly of the one substance that could kill them would be a bad idea), used biological weapons in hand-to-hand combat, and were strongly implied to be carnivores, harvesting humans for food.]]

* ChekhovsGunmen: [[spoiler: The alien Ray traps in his pantry.]]

* CurbStompBattle: It's implied that Humanity ''easily'' defeated the Aliens when they began to attack, since they never appeared to possess ''any'' weapons.

A 2002 film, written and directed by MNightShyamalan, starring Creator/MelGibson and JoaquinPhoenix. Weird things start happening all over the globe. Strange sightings of unearthly creatures, {{crop circles}}, and other unexplained phenomena start occurring.

* TheCameo[=/=]CreatorCameo - MNightShyamalan plays the man who accidentally killed Graham's wife.