Summary

• Signs movie explores faith and family themes with aliens possibly representing inner demons through biblical imagery.
• Audiences criticize movie plot holes like aliens' water weakness, but one theory suggests they may not be aliens at all.
• M. Night Shyamalan's intentional filmmaking hints at demons as aliens theory, adding a new perspective to view Signs.

M. Night Shyamalan’s 2002 Signs movie explores the themes of faith and family through the lens of inner and outer demons manifesting as aliens. However, one theory suggests the creatures might not be aliens at all. Audiences have often criticized the movie for its nonsensical plot twists: “Why would an advanced alien race destroyed by water come to a planet composed almost entirely of water?” and “Why do the aliens not seem to be able to open doors?” What if there’s a deeper meaning behind these choices?

Signs is about a family in crisis. The head of the Hess household, a former priest, struggles with his faith after the loss of his wife. However, the family is forced to come together when they discover a series of crop circles in their cornfield, and it becomes increasingly clear that all is not what it seems. M. Night Shyamalan is famous for his twist endings, but does the Signs one work, or is the twist actually a well-known fan theory?

The Aliens' Water Weakness Led To A Fascinating Fan Theory

Earth Is 70% Water, So It Wouldn't Make Sense For These Aliens To Come Here

Far different from most alien invasion movies, Signs focuses less on the creatures themselves and more on the family dynamics surrounding the impending invasion. However, some glaring problems with how the aliens behave led audiences to other theories about who or what the aliens might be. The first inconsistency is the aliens’ severe weakness — water. Why would an alien race that's advanced enough for interstellar travel come to a planet composed of almost 70% water if they’re weakened by it?

Other critics have delved deeper and arrived at a different conclusion: the aliens aren’t aliens at all.

The first explanation that comes to mind is that they simply don’t know that water will kill them, but that leads to another problem: Why would they use physical scouts instead of scouting the entire planet using some advanced alien technology? These strange plot holes have led some viewers to believe that Signs is simply a poorly constructed movie with sub-par writing. Other critics have delved deeper and arrived at a different conclusion: the aliens aren’t aliens at all.

Why The "Aliens" Might Represent Inner Demons

They Show Up When Graham its To Having A Crisis Of Faith

Given the overt biblical themes and imagery throughout Signs, it’s not a far leap to assume that the aliens are also related to something biblical in nature. As each of the movie’s characters struggles inwardly with their own inner demons, the aliens become an outward manifestation of physical demons. The first clue to this intention is the crop circle, clearly arranged in the shape of a pitchfork. The next is the differing opinions and views of the creatures as the public becomes more aware of them.

Similar to Jacob’s Ladder, Signs draws the protagonist through a Hell of his own creation.

Demons are often said to take on the form of their audience’s expectations. Shyamalan posits through this film that in the modern day, most people are conditioned to see demons as a hoax or as otherworldly, non-spiritual creatures like aliens. As such, it’s no coincidence the aliens start appearing around the same time the main character, Graham Hess, its to losing his faith. Similar to Jacob’s Ladder, Signs draws the protagonist through a Hell of his own creation until he confronts his own demons and finds peace.

Signs' Biblical Imagery & Allegory

This Could Explain The Alien Water Plot Hole

M. Night Shyamalan uses the Signs aliens as a metaphor or a tool to show characters the things they need to confront. Because of this, he leaves biblical imagery throughout the movie to clue audiences in to his intentions. In addition to the more upfront speeches about coincidence and faith, there are also a lot of little hints in Signs' imagery and cinematography.

The opening and closing scenes are the first hint. The opening scene is shot through a closed window, showing a dark and empty playground, while the closing scene is shot through the same window, but now it’s broken open, and the family is all together outside in the daylight. Next is the family’s “last supper.” This is when Signs reaches its climax, and Grahams confesses that he’s not ready. His confession foreshadows an encounter with the demons he’s avoided facing for years — except this time, the demons are real.

More biblical references lie in the news announcing that the solution to fighting back against the aliens was found in “three small cities in the Middle East.” The obvious parallel to Mecca, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem is there, as is the traditional religious significance of the Trinity. The aliens’ main form of attack, stopping their victims from breathing, can also be interpreted as a biblical reference, as many Abrahamic religions consider the creation of man to have come through receiving God’s “breath of life.”

The final major clue to the aliens’ true nature is their much-maligned weakness towards water. Beau’s habit of leaving half-full glasses of water around the house is the Chekhov’s gun of the movie. That said, consider the possibility that it’s not just water that the aliens are weak towards — it's holy water. As part of a priest’s home, the water inside could technically be holy, which could burn the creatures like acid when it touches their skin.

Is Signs' Demon Theory True?

M. Night Shyamalan Is An Intentional Filmmaker, So He Likely Wouldn't Have Left A Dangling Plot Hole

Unlike many fan theories, there’s some solid evidence that Signs’ aliens actually being demons might be what M. Night Shyamalan intended with this movie. The biblical imagery and references are obviously intentional, as the whole film focuses on themes of faith and belief, specifically Christian faith. Shyamalan often uses biblical themes in his work. Additionally, Shyamalan is well-known for being an incredibly meticulous filmmaker.

Shyamalan inserts clues to his infamous twist endings and chooses every element of the cinematography and score purposefully. Because of this, it’s bizarre that he would make such a lapse of judgment about the aliens’ weakness. However, if the intent was for the aliens to be demons and the water to be holy water, everything makes sense. Regardless, Signs remains one of M. Night Shyamalan’s best films, and this theory certainly offers a new lens to watch it through.

Other Theories From M. Night Shyamalan Movies

The Unbreakable Trilogy & Old

There's no bigger M. Night Shyamalan twist than Bruce Willis' Dr. Malcolm Crowe being dead at the end of The Sixth Sense, but a close second may be when another Bruce Willis character, David Dunn from Unbreakable​​​​​​, showed up at the end of Split. This put Dunn's superhero in the same world as the villainous Kevin Wendell Crumb. While this seems like something Shyamalan came up with later in his career, he might have planned it all along and left a breadcrumb in the original movie.

When Dunn is at the stadium listening to people's thoughts, he es a young boy with several voices in his head, all trying to talk at once.

There is a fan theory that Kevin Wendell Crumb was in Unbreakable — as a child. When Dunn is at the stadium listening to people's thoughts, he es a young boy with several voices in his head, all trying to talk at once. This seems to be The Horde. Since the movie took place after the train crash, and Kevin's dad died in a train crash, this could be a realistic possibility. The timeline of 15 years also lines up with how old Kevin is supposed to be in Split and Glass.

Even one of Shyamalan's newer movies has an interesting fan theory, and it ties into what Split set up to start with. No one expected Split to be a sequel to Unbreakable until the final scene. At that moment, fans wondered if Shyamalan was creating an actual shared universe with all of his movies. This ties into an Old theory that helps create a shared universe itself. The theory supposes that all of Shyamalan's cameos are the same character (Jai) drifting through the stories.