FAQ

Maybe... they're nuts.

Former reverend Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) wakes one morning to find crop circles in his Bucks County, Pennsylvania cornfield (45 miles from Philadelphia). At first, he believes the circles are the result of pranksters but, as crop circles begin appearing all over the world, his children—Morgan (Rory Culkin) and Bo (Abigail Breslin)—begin to suspect that it's aliens. His children are right.

Like most of M. Night Shyamalan's films, Signs was written, produced, and directed by M. Night Shyamalan.

Some viewers see the crops circles as the "signs" that aliens are coming. However, the major point of the movie is not about an alien invasion but about the idea of coincidences and seeing signs from them. Graham sums up the point of the movie when he tells his brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix), People break down into two groups when they experience something lucky. Group 1 sees it as more than luck, more than coincidence. They see it as a sign, evidence that there is someone up there watching out for them. Group 2 sees it as just pure luck, a happy turn of chance. I'm sure that people in group 2 are looking at those 14 lights in a very suspicious way. For them, the situation is a 50/50...could be bad, could be good. But deep down, they feel that, whatever happens, they're on their own, and that fills them with fear...But there's a whole lot of people in group 1. When they see those 14 lights, they're looking at a miracle. And deep down, they feel that, whatever's going to happen, there will be someone there to help them, and that fills them with hope. 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? Director M. Night Shyamalan verifies that on a DVD behind-the-scenes featurette when he says: Sure, people can say that the title "Signs" stood for the crop circles, but the main theme and premise of the film consists of Graham's call back to his duty and family through signs. The signs are from God.

The film implies that the plan was to harvest people for food. This was the opinion of a news broadcaster, however, and not based on any direct communication with the aliens.

Terrestrial lifeforms are all composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and phosphorus elements, which were (and still are) abundant when life started to exist on Earth. Liquid water is also abundant and serves as the main solvent for the organic compounds within terrestrial lifeforms. Water serves as a source of chemical energy and can dissolve both positively and negatively charged particles, which makes water an essential condition for life on Earth. However, other elements and solvents could theoretically be the basis of life as well. Ammonia is another possible solvent, although its characteristics are less favourable than water. As excess ammonia is harmful to terrestrial lifeforms, too much water could also be toxic to ammonia-based lifeforms. In very rare cases, there have been terrestrial beings, including some humans, who have shown an intolerance or allergy to water, so it's a possibility that a race of extraterrestrial beings could do the same.