Signs (2002)
In what is arguably the last good movie that writer-director M. Night Shyamalan made (thus far), Signs depicts a highly effective and atmospheric alien invasion raid movie, in which the aggressors slowly build to a night invasion by leaving crop circles across the world. Seen only through the eyes of an isolated family – already grieving for their matriarch – Signs delivers something creepy and claustrophobic, while musing on themes of global conflict and destiny.
With stellar performances from Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin and Abigail Breslin, Shyamalan’s movie slowly cranks up the tension with lingering tracking shots and haunting sounds – only offering the briefest of glimpses of the monster until the very end, when destiny conspires to provide the family with all they need to defeat their intergalactic intruder, as humanity does the same outside.