Signs

Blu-ray Review

Touchstone

Release: June 3, 2008

MSRP: $34.99

Signs comes from the mind of writer and director M. Night Shyamalan, known for The Sixth Sense as well as Unbreakable. Shyamalan has come back and done it again with Signs, putting you into a film which will absolutely captivate you from start to finish with an amazing attention to detail, an interesting story, and plenty of thrills.

The film stars Mel Gibson as Graham Hess, a minister whose faith in God is a bit tarnished following the tragic death of his wife. He is a farmer and works to raise corn, living happily with two kids played by Rory Culkin and Abigail Breslin, as well as his own younger brother Merrill played by Joqauin Phoenix.

The family wakes up one morning to find some very curious crop circle cut into the corn fields. They originally believe it is a joke until things get even crazier with their dog oing nuts. Things get even more tense as more and more events come about, putting the question into the mind of Graham as to whether or not this really all is just a practical joke.

The acting here from the cast is really top-notch, but can actually be overshadowed at times due to the amazing atmosphere set up for the film. M. Night Syamalan does a tremendous job of really bringing you some incredible thrills, and some creepy feelings as you try and take this all in. And as always, there are certainly some twists you may not see coming.

The video is presented in 1.85:1 aspect ratio and is in 1080p AVC codec on Blu-ray. The flesh tones and colors look superb here making for a great Blu-ray transfer. The only minor issue with the video is that there are some hiccups with grain in a couple of spots.

Beyond that though, the Blu-ray release is really solid for video quality.

The audio is presented in a PCM 5.1 track that really delivers using the rear channels nicely to completely encompass you in the ambience of this film. The audio plays a major role in adding all of that tension while you are watching it on your home theater. Great stuff here.

In terms of special features, there are some nice extras here including 5 deleted scenes which come out to around 8-minutes in total. Some are worthless but a few of the scenes are fun to watch.

There is also The Making of Signs which is our main documentary split up into 6 featurettes. The entire thing runs for around 60-minutes and looks at everything from how the movie came about, how they did the cornfields, the CGI, etc.

Rounding out the extras are storyboards with a multi-angle feature, as well as Night’s First Alien Movie, which lasts around 3-minutes and is a home movie from Shymalan when he was very young.

Signs is another very entertaining and thrilling film from M. Night Shymalan which really will engross you in its happenings from start to finish. The Blu-ray video transfer is solid and the audio is tremendous to help build tension. Signs is definitely worth the purchase on the Blu-ray format.

Film: 8.5

The film has an incredible amount of tension in it and will engross you from start to finish.

Video: 8.0

The video transfer is good but there are some problems with grain, black levels are also sub-par.

Audio: 9.0

The audio will completely encompass you in the film, great ambience, sound effects, etc.

Special Features: 7.0

Not much to write home about, but the Making Of documentary is well-put-together.

Final Score: 8.2