Signs is a tightly woven, self-contained sci-fi horror film that owes as much to Alfred Hitchhoch’s thrillers as it does to George Romero’s Living Dead. Both Romero and Hitchcock excelled at putting their protagonists in increasingly more difficult and psychologically crippling positions.
Reinforcing the movie’s terror is a first-rate soundtrack that dines on tension like a stress-seeking ghoul. More often than not, the music is subdued, reinforcing the steadily building unease on the screen. But almost every track is pierced by sudden, shocking surges in tempo that startle the solitary listener almost as much as the film frightens its viewers.