One of the master storytellers of contemporary cinema, M.Night Shyamalan has been crafting thought-provoking visions of the end of the world coming upon us for more than a quarter of a century.

Fascinated by crises of faith and family, and obsessed with exploring their metaphysical manifestations, the Philadelphia filmmaker occupies a Twilight Zone-another realm in the blockbuster landscape. Spiritual and psychological mysteries intertwine, establishing an existential tension sustained primarily by the appearance of otherworldly forces that challenge each character’s innermost beliefs and fears.

From the supernatural interventions of The sixth sensehis breakthrough in 1999; throughout this summer Trapin which a father’s irreconcilable identities collide in destructive ways; and that of last spring Knock on the cabinalso a confined story of families facing the end of times; Shyamalan often centers his stories on extraordinary situations that demand impossible choices.

But maybe it’s Shyamalan’s Signsan alien invasion thriller that doubles as an anguished contemplation of divine will, which most distills his style of spiritual reflection in genre cinema to its essence. Alongside The sixth sensethe film finally receives a 4K UHD Blu-Ray release this week via Disney, making it the perfect time to revisit one of Shyamalan’s most masterfully controlled exercises in suspense.

Signsa story of lost faith and alien interference, focuses on the Hess clan in rural Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Grieving the tragic loss of his wife in a car accident a few months earlier, former Episcopal priest Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) wakes up one morning to discover that the crops in his corn field have been flattened according to complex patterns. Graham is initially skeptical that the crop circles represent anything other than a few neighborhood vandals mocking him, but their appearance contributes to his gradually worsening state of unease.

He feels something is happening in the fields, and even the wind is afraid these days. His brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix) and young children Morgan (Rory Culkin) and Bo (Abigail Breslin) seem to feel it too, and the family grows closer in anticipation. As crop circles begin to appear around the world and sightings of extraterrestrial forces are reported, Graham is forced to grapple with what awaits his family when the world ends.

Signs approaches its premise of an alien invasion in bracing conceptual terms, asking whether we are alone in the universe and how revealing the forces existing beyond our field of vision might illuminate an individual’s internal calculus with ideas of consequence, mortality and meaning.

Graham, who has lost his way spiritually following the death of his wife, is challenged by crop circles and their harbinger of doom, to contemplate the relative presence or absence of a higher power – to his eyes, to examine the existence or absence of a higher power. non-existence of God. “No one is looking out for us,” he told Merrill. “We are all alone.” And yet, later, as the fog of grief that obscures his field of vision begins to clear slightly, the wave of inexplicable events across the world takes his questioning in another direction: “Is it possible that he Are there no coincidences?

Perhaps how often his films are associated with a different kind of revelation – the third act twist – Shyamalan is often valued primarily as a narrative storyteller, but Signs also powerfully reminds us of his marvelous know-how. In Signsthe concept of otherworldly forces lurking in plain sight is reflected in the precise design of Shyamalan’s shots: in the division of a spiritually devastated family by railings along a staircase, light emanating from the frames door, the wide-angle lenses placing a climactic confrontation somewhere between dreams and reality, a semi-opaque glass door transforming the outside world into a shimmering mirage of possibility.

Thanks to the film’s 4K presentation, restored in HDR from the original camera negative, Shyamalan’s treatment of darkness and light is beautifully preserved. Signs has always been a gorgeous film, but the presentation here is a particular boon for its often dreamlike lighting, which keeps its aliens largely obscured in shadow even as it often lets light in hazy through closed windows and around door frames, as if defiantly rushing into the crushing darkness. A few scenes in particular, including one that reveals an alien on the farm roof, appear to have been brightened slightly to allow for greater clarity and sharpness of the image, although the presentation is overall faithful to the palette of more muted and dark colors of Shyamalan. considered.

If an element of Signs most notable for the new 4K version, it is the film’s transcendent and vibrant orchestral score by James Newton Howard. It is certainly one of the composer’s greatest achievements and all the more impressive because it relies on a single motif, reflecting the film’s study of faith as resilience, which is rhythmically manipulated and melodically based on Shyamalan’s constant recalibrations of mood and atmosphere while contributing to the film’s powerful and unifying undercurrent.

With a lossless 5.1 surround DTS-HD master audio soundtrack, this release is the best showcase yet for Howard’s deliciously moving score, though it also delights in suspenseful silences and abrupt intrusions of sound that distinguish Shyamalan’s sonic palette. Few other thrillers, even Shyamalan’s, have exploited such subtle touches to such unsettling effect: the slow creak of footsteps on the stairs, the murmur of corn stalks rustling in the midnight breeze, and the disconcerting addition strange clicking sounds all factor into the film’s sense of dread and ambiguity.

No extras have been added to this 4K re-release. Bonus features, which include a six-part “Making” guide Signs“The documentary, a director’s commentary track, music and special effects featurettes, and a handful of deleted scenes, are instead carried over from previous Blu-Ray releases and are indeed housed on the Blu-Ray disc also included alongside 4K.

Shyamalan, since Signsfell out of favor in Hollywood and, more recently, has had his work re-evaluated. Those who saw his career experience a downturn – precipitated in part by his involvement in more overtly commercial, less explicitly personal projects like The Last Airbender And after Earth – as indicative of a once-prodigious filmmaker losing touch with his ability to construct suspenseful and substantial stories. He rejoiced that his career renaissance, most agree, was sparked by his ingenious out-of-hell holiday thrillers.The visit And Oldand this continues today.

But the 4K re-release of both Signs And The sixth sense presents a valuable opportunity to look back at Shyamalan’s earlier work and appreciate his masterful command of atmosphere and emotion. Just like Alfred Hitchcock, to whom he has resisted numerous comparisons following The sixth senseThanks to Shyamalan’s success, he invests time and confidence in the psychological journeys of his characters, rather than dealing with the machinations of the narrative. It sincerely conveys the depth of their existential questioning.

Signs is particularly calm and pessimistic, which only adds to the power of its ultimate revelations – those relating to the aliens and their surprising weakness, yes, but also those relating to Graham’s desperate efforts to make sense of the unimaginable in his family life. In the end, with SignsShyamalan transforms the premise of an alien invasion into a moving meditation on crises of faith that reveal divine powers hidden everywhere. Bringing together his ambitions as a craftsman and his intentions as a storyteller, it remains a highlight of Shyamalan’s filmography.

Signs East now available on 4K UHD Blu-Ray.