Why So Blu?

Signs (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

After The Sixth Sense, I believe that Signs may be M. Night Shyamalan’s biggest success to date.  The creepy aliens-on-earth story struck similar emotional chords at The Sixth Sense did and gave Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix some excellent moments of acting. Now the film is 22 years old, so I wonder – Does the film have the same impact that it did in 2002? Read more about Signs in the review and in case you missed it, check out our review of The Sixth Sense HERE.

 

Film:

“From writer/director M. Night Shyamalan, comes the story of the Hess family in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, who wake up one morning to find a 500-foot crop circle in their backyard. Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) and his family are told extraterrestrials are responsible for the sign in their field. They watch, with growing dread, the news of crop circles being found all over the world. SIGNS is the emotional story of one family on one farm as they encounter the terrifying last moments of life as the world is being invaded.”

When Graham Hess and his family happen upon the giant crop circle in their backyard, things immediately feel amiss.  The dog becomes sick, and they hear strange noises outside.  The youngest daughter, Bo, claims that germs and amoebas are in the water.  Graham’s brother, Merrill thinks going outside, cursing and yelling will scare whatever is outside at night away.  The son, Morgan is mostly along for the ride, but is ever curious. All they know is that they saw whatever they saw outside and that it was very dark outside. Not much to go on right?

As with other Shyamalan films, there is a family or individual dealing with grief.  Graham’s wife has recently died, and he has left his job as a preacher, to settle down to life as a widowed farmer.  Merrill is there to help his brother, but he obviously has a freer spirit. The children aren’t scared at first, and once more Crop symbols pop up worldwide, things get very strange. Alien, if you will. Officials think the symbols are either a hoax or there may be aliens on earth.  Who can say, until you’ve read the Signs?

This is a rather different film from other Shyamalan films. The tone deals with grief and suspense as many of his films do, but Signs also deals an element of fun to the film.  The locals in the small town in the film are funny. There’s the bookstore owner that thinks it’s a conspiracy and an Army recruiter who is fixated on probing.  There’s the drugstore girl who wants to confess her fears to Graham who insists he’s not a priest anymore. The film doesn’t have a classic M. Night twist either.  The invasion of aliens is inevitable, and we just wait with bated breath because we know the moment will be a tense one.

Signs uses suspense to deliberately creep the audience out.  The cinematography (done by veteran Tak Fujimoto) is often stunning, and the sound design is far more “surround centric” than The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable before it. We are manipulated the whole time, but in the best way that thriller filmmakers do.  For me, Signs feels like a sci-fi thriller that is also a slight homage to Alfred Hitchcock.

I have only seen Signs once before this 4K UHD Blu-ray viewing.  I forgot the star power on display. I forgot the excellent performances from every cast member. I forgot another excellent James Newton Howard score too.  I also forgot just how top quality the film is.  I have never owned the film prior to this new edition, but now that I do own it, I know certainly that I will revisit it and most likely continue to find new things to enjoy about it.  Signs is another solid film in the lexicon of M. Night Shyamalan creations!

Video:

Encoding: HEVC / H.265

Resolution: 4K (2160p)

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Layers: BD-66

HDR: HDR10

Clarity/Detail: Signs is a dazzling 4K presentation.  The film looked clean way back in 2002 and with some more resolution, the film looks sharp and very clear.  The overall look for the film contains more traditional colors and textures, but they are beautiful in 4K!

Depth: Depth mostly remains very focused during the duration of Signs with some moments seemingly playing with focus on purpose for the viewers.

Black Levels: Blacks are deep and dark and very close to the edge of crush, without going there. Shadows look fabulous too.

Color Reproduction: Colors are on the more basic side but are handled lovingly with HDR.

Flesh Tones: Flesh tones are natural and nice looking throughout.

Noise/Artifacts: Clean. Grain is complimentary and very restrained.

Video:

Audio Format(s): English DTS-HD MA 5.1, English Descriptive Audio, French 5.1 Dolby Audio, Castellano and Latin American Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, Dutch, Italian, Chineze, Czech, Polish Dolby Digital 5.1

Subtitles:  English SDH, French, Spanish, Catellano and Latin American Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Chinese, Czech, Polish, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish

Dynamics: For the first time on physical media, Signs gets a lossless mix. Nothing immersive mind you, but the added fidelity for lossless audio has given everything a nice lift! Music and sound effects are loud and proud with dialogue sounding near perfect throughout.

Height: N/A

Low-Frequency Extension: Jump scares and bombastic music cues light up the subwoofer from time to time.

Surround Sound Presentation: Surrounds make the outdoor ambience often in play on screen come to life, Music gets help from the surround channels also.

Dialogue Reproduction: Dialogue is near perfect with maybe one or two very brief moments where other sounds may hinder your ability to hear the dialogue.

Extras:

Signs comes to 4K UHD Blu-ray bundled with a repress of the 2008 Blu-ray and digital code. There’s also a glossy slipcover.  The extras are all ported over from the Vista Series THX Certified DVD and are on the Blu-ray.

Bonus Features:

• Making Signs: 6-Part Documentary
• Looking for Signs
• Building Signs
• Making Signs – A Commentary by M. Night Shyamalan
• The Effects of Signs
• Last Voices: The Music of Signs
• Full Circle
• Storyboards: Multi-Angle feature
• Night’s First Alien Movie
• Deleted Scenes

Summary:

Signs comes to 4K with a gorgeous new transfer and a nicely complimentary lossless audio mix.  With the ported bonus features along this is a great package for newcomers to the film and for fans alike! Signs is not to be missed by watchers of Sci-fi or thrillers and this is by far the best way to see the film!

Order Your Copy Of Signs HERE!