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Mel Gibson stars as Graham Hess, a guy who hasn't had too many breaks as of late. His faith shattered after losing his wife in a horrible car accident, he decides to step down as the local reverend, retiring to raise his brother, son and daughter in their isolated farmhouse in Pennsylvania. But then late one night a most peculiar occurrence happens, and the supernatural "signs" begin to pile up. What are all those strange shapes out in the cornfields? Are aliens invading our planet? Is God once again playing tricks on the clan? Or has E.T. finally returned for more Reese's Pieces?

One of the few filmmakers working today who will unabashedly proclaim his love for the genre flicks of yesteryear, you can't totally dismiss M. Night Shyamalan. It's tempting to call him a B-movie charlatan who just got lucky. An underdog of a thriller that became the most unexpected blockbuster of the 90's, the success of The Sixth Sense now means that he can rip-off any late, great horror flick he wants, add in a few eager megastars, and gross over $100 million without even batting an eye. But where's the fun? I wasn't a huge fan of either The Sixth Sense or its even more pretentious follow-up Unbreakable, because both were so heavy handed that they fizzled out as genuinely exciting suspense yarns. Now with Signs, he's batting 0 for 3.

The documentary included on this DVD reveals what may be my core complaint with his approach. Shyamalan talks of the films that influenced Signs (The Birds, Night of the Living Dead and Invasion of the Body Snatchers), but despite his smarts he seems more interested in all the secondary stories and periphery character stuff than the actual grist that made those classics so effective. Was I wrong to expect some cool aliens and lots of big scares? Shyamalan doesn't seem particularly interested in his aliens at all, which are so chintzy they look like they came on loan from Close Encounters R' Us. He'd rather focus on his story of a man reclaiming his faith, but it's a tale so stale we've seen it done better countless times before. Signs resembles not so much Hitchcock as The Exorcist. Same story, different milieu. But at least that William Friedkin classic delivered the goods. Is Signs scary? Not really.

The film will still work for many. Fans of more meditative thrillers and religious treatises will love it. It's not a surprise that Signs played unusually well with the over-45 demographic and more faith-minded viewers. (I hear it's big with Mormons.) Signs is refreshing in that it unabashedly wears its spiritual-minded concerns on its sleeve, and is hardly the typical Hollywood blockbuster. But I, for one, felt ripped off. After all the great trailers, I expected a real suspense flick, or at least a kick-ass climax after all that interminable buildup. Shyamalan does have some serious chops that can't be denied: A strong eye, the rare ability to actually direct actors, and an uncanny sense of timing. But do his films have to be this boring?

Signs may end up being best remembered as the first monster movie ever where the monsters were an afterthought. "Oh, yeah, by the way, there's an alien in my kitchen," a character says at one point. You could say the same thing about this movie.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

When I originally saw Signs in the theater, I remember not being particularly impressed with its visual look. It is not just that it is a very dark film (which it is), but it's drab color scheme and near-obsession with murkiness was very unappealing. So it goes with this DVD, which is indeed an accurate representation of the theatrical presentation (at least the one I saw). But that's not to say it's pretty to look at.

Presented in a THX certified, 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, the print is in great shape. Aside from some minor grain, there are no obvious defects to distract. Employing a lot of natural and low level lighting, director of photography Tak Fujimoto (The Silence of the Lambs) gives the film an often eerie feel, with all of the nighttime and most of the interior scenes bathed in shadow. But colors are generally drab save for a some strong blue and orange hues and the occasional striking daytime shot. Given the low light, grain is accentuated and the overcast skies give the film a very glum look. Detail is lacking, especially shadow delineation. I had trouble making out fine textures, and the transfer just isn't as sharp I expect from a new movie.

More problems abound. I also noticed some unfortunate edge enhancement, likely intended to pump up apparent sharpness, but it results in distracting halos around most objects. Also a drawback are the frequent compression artifacts. This very slow-moving film is filled with long, static takes, which reveal plenty of dancing blocks and general noisiness. This is still a pretty good transfer, just not as lifelike and three-dimensional as one would hope.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

Despite this being a Vista Series release, Buena Vista has decided not to give Signs the two-disc deluxe edition treatment -- a surprise given the film's box-office success. Alas, with all the supplements, whatever plans there may have been to include a DTS seem to have been dropped. (All of Shyamalan's previous Vista Series releases included the option). Despite this omission, included is a still pretty good Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround EX track (although not labeled as such on the packaging). But like the transfer, it is not quite as good as I had hoped.

Let's start with the positives. Signs makes some of the best use of ambient sound design I've ever heard, from all the eerie cornfield sounds to those creepy alien radio transmissions. Surrounds really come alive on this mix, with very impressive subtle details clearly discernible in the rears. Unfortunately, that's the only truly aggressive part of this mix, as the score is primarily confined to the front soundstage. Dynamic range is excellent, and the .1 LFE pumps out some serious low bass. But aside from the ambient effects, this mix could have been more enveloping, especially with James Newton Howard's sparse but powerful stinger cues. This unique mix is certainly eerie, but I bet a stronger use of the surrounds would have made it a classic.

Also included is a French 5.1 Dolby Surround EX dub, English captions for the hearing impaired encoded as subtitles, and true English Closed Captions.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

As the latest in Buena Vista's new Vista Series line of filmmaker-approved special editions, this one-disc set of Signs may seem a little slim by comparison. Previous Vista titles, such as Shyamalan's own The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable and the behemoth that was Pearl Harbor, were all multi-disc affairs that offered a bit more than what you'll find here. Surprising given the film's big box office success, Buena Vista has not opted to put all the extras on a second disc and throw in a DTS track, and many of the goodies that are standard these days (trailers, anyone?) are nowhere to be found. Hmmph!

Such grumblings aside, the highlight of this set is undoubtedly the new 58-minute documentary The Making of Signs. Divided into six parts - "Looking for Signs" (6:11), "Building Signs" (8:02), "Making Signs" (22:33), "Effects of Signs" (8:31), "Last Voices: The Music of Signs" (8:26) and "Full Circle" (4:48) - it's as slick and polished a doc as you're going to find on any DVD these days. Shyamalan is apparently not a fan of recording commentaries for his movies, but this doc does go a considerable way towards making up for the omission. Produced by longtime Spielberg collaborator Laurent Bouzereau, it features a bevy of interviews with cast and crew, but is definitely Shyamalan's show all the way. Very well paced and structured, the doc gives a nice overview of the entire process, from conception to production to the effects to final release. Highlights include the creation of real gigantic crop circles (Night is not a big fan of relying too heavily on opticals and CGI), the impact of 9-11 on the shoot, and a pretty cool look at the development of the monster effects. Also a real benefit is a considerable amount of on-set and post-production footage included, as a little of Shyamalan can go a long way. Newly-conducted interviews also lighten the load, including chats with producers Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Mercer and Frank Marshall, composer James Newton Howard, production designer Larry Fulton and storyboard artist Brick Mason, plus older on-set interviews with the cast, including Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Kieran Culkin, Cherry Jones and Abigail Breslin. The doc is presented in full screen and 2.0 stereo, and no optional subtitle or captions are included.

With no commentary or other making-of material, the other main extra are the 7 minutes of deleted scenes: "Graham and Merrill," "Flashbacks #1 & #2," "Dead Bird," and "Alien in the Attic." All of these run just 30 seconds or so, except "Alien in the Attic," which is the only must-see, as it offers at least a little bit of tension. All the scenes are presented in non-anamorphic widescreen off of video dubs; the quality is not terrible but not great. Also included are multi- angle storyboard presentations for two scenes: "Graham, the Knife, and the Pantry" and "Graham and Merrill Chase the Trespasser." Each sequence can be viewed from two angles: Either the final sequence, or an animated storyboard, plus your choice of three soundtrack options: Effects only, score only, or the final composite. All are in 5.1.

Rounding out this set is a short 2- minute clip from M. Night Shyamalan's first alien film. It's always fun to get to see a big Hollywood filmmaker's early works, but this film is so bad it hurts. But Shyamalan himself provides a short video intro to the clip, and even he makes fun of it. Last but not least is a nice 10-page full-color booklet with some brief notes on the extras.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

Nothing really here. The usual Buena Vista interface pops up, which includes basic DVD controls and weblinks, but no actual ROM extras.

Parting Thoughts