FANS of the spooky hit The Sixth Sense are in for another treat with this nail-biting psychological thriller from director M. Night Shyamalan.

It's a tense, slow-burning affair which takes its time to set the scene before drawing in viewers like a powerful magnet with its tense and gripping final act. Just as in

Shyamalan's breakthrough film, the plot for Signs features strong supernatural elements and preys on some of our innermost fears.

The director once more pulls off some strong twists in the story, often by employing some clever camera shots and using complete silence rather than a rousing soundtrack to stir the viewer. And by offering an explanation for the modern-day phenomenon of crop circles, Shyamalan has also made a movie that provides some food for thought after the credits have rolled.

Mel Gibson plays it straight in the central role of the grieving priest who has lost his faith after the death of his wife in a car crash, shown in a series of flashbacks. Living on the family farm in Philadelphia with his brother, played by Joaquin Phoenix, and his two young children (Abigail Breslin and Rory Culkin), Gibson's character tends his cornfields and broods over his predicament. But he is finally shaken out of his malaise by an extraordinary chain of events, which lead to extraterrestrial life forms invading Earth in general, and his home in particular! It's here that the film steps up several gears, with Shyamalan ringing every last drop of tension out of the family-under-siege situation.

Admittedly, the storyline sounds fanciful and the special effects are nothing to write home about, but these are minor quibbles. For once, it's the actors rather than the technicians who take centre stage and both the adults and children make the most of the opportunity.

Gibson, as you would expect, plays the troubled father with aplomb, while Phoenix lends strong support as the fallen star brother. The youngsters, too, give credible performances, with Culkin reading out doom-laden warnings from his UFO-spotting book and Breslin inexplicably littering the house with half-drunk glasses of water.

Signs may lack the eye-catching special effects and explosive action that we've come to expect from Hollywood blockbusters, but it's still first-rate entertainment that will enthral you.

Out to rent on video and DVD.

Rating: ****

February 12, 2003 11:30