Yes, 5 out of 10. It's mostly a family waiting in a farmhouse, with a few well-placed jumps.
🐱THE SCARE SIGNAL
SCARE SCORE
5 /10
🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱
DREAD LEVEL
Medium
You'll check the cornfield from the kitchen window for a night or two.
DOG
Dog: not fine
Two dogs die, but neither death is shown.
Ruling: Watch it in daylight, because the scene people dread most is footage of a birthday party in Brazil.
Signs runs one hour and forty-six minutes and is set on a Pennsylvania farm. A former priest finds a crop circle in his cornfield and decides vandals made it.
The premise, briefly
When a crop circle appears in a widower's cornfield, his family and his brother wait out a possible alien invasion, while the former priest refuses to believe anything is happening.
How much do you want to know?
🐱
The verdict above is spoiler-free. Everything below, including the ending, stays hidden until you pick a depth.
🐱CUT TO THE CHASE
How it ends
The aliens leave the next morning, and the creature left in the living room is weakened by Merrill's baseball swing and Bo's water glasses. The Hess family survives, and Graham goes back to the church.
The scene you're dreading
The birthday party footage, early in the story. Merrill watches a video from Brazil of a birthday party where an unidentified humanoid creature walks into view.
The dog
Yes, the dog dies in Signs, and so does a second dog. Neither death is shown.
Signs is a slow wait in a farmhouse with a few loud moments, and the family gets through its night in the basement.
THE SHORT VERSION IS HIDDEN
How it ends, the scene you're dreading, what happens to the dog, and the bottom line. About twenty seconds to read.
What actually happens
A priest and a farm with a lot of corn
Graham Hess is a former Episcopal priest living on a farm in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. His son Morgan is a preteen with asthma, and his young daughter Bo is fixated on contaminated water. Graham's brother Merrill, a minor league baseball player who never made it, has been helping the family for the six months since a traffic collision killed Graham's wife Colleen. Graham left the church after she died, and he has not been back.
A large crop circle appears in the cornfield. The family blames vandals, until similar circles turn up around the world and lights from unseen objects appear over more and more cities. Morgan thinks he hears strange noises on Bo's old baby monitor. Merrill becomes convinced after watching footage from Brazil of a birthday party where an unidentified humanoid creature walks into view. That is the scene people mean when they warn each other about this movie, and it comes early. On successive nights Graham sees an intruder, first on the roof of his house and then in the cornfield. He still insists that everything has a reasonable explanation.
Ray Reddy's pantry
Graham gets a phone call from Ray Reddy, a veterinarian and the man responsible for Colleen's death. Graham drives to his house, where Reddy expresses remorse, says he has a creature locked in his pantry, and heads for the lake because he believes the creatures avoid water. Graham tries to look under the pantry door, a clawed hand reaches out and swipes at him, and in a panic he severs the creature's fingers. Then he boards up the windows and doors of his own house. The worldwide invasion starts that night, and several of the creatures break in. The family hides in the basement. Morgan has an asthma attack and his medication is upstairs, but he makes it through the night.
Swing away
In the morning the radio says the aliens have left, so the family comes up from the basement. The creature from Reddy's pantry is waiting in their living room. Graham remembers Colleen's last words, which were "swing away," and Merrill swings his baseball bat and knocks the creature into the glasses of water Bo has left out. The water weakens it. The creature then sprays Morgan with a gas that knocks him out. Graham rescues his son and gives him his medication, and he realizes that Morgan's tight lungs kept him from breathing in the toxins. Graham puts that down to a higher power.
The ending, explained
The creature in the living room is weakened by the water and the bat, and the Hess family comes through the night without losing anyone. Morgan is knocked out by the gas, but Graham rescues him and gives him his medication. By winter the family has recovered from the whole ordeal, and Graham returns to the church.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: Two dogs die, but neither death is shown.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Signs scary?
Yes, Signs is a 5 out of 10. Most of the fear is tension from a family waiting in a farmhouse, with a few well-placed jump scares and very little gore. The dread lasts about a night.
How does Signs end?
The aliens leave the next morning. Merrill's baseball swing and Bo's water glasses weaken the creature in the living room, Morgan survives the gas, and Graham returns to the church.
Does the dog die in Signs?
Yes, two dogs die in Signs, and neither death is shown.
Is there a post-credits scene in Signs?
No. Signs has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
Why does water matter in Signs?
Bo is fixated on contaminated water, and Ray Reddy believes the creatures avoid water. In Signs the water glasses Bo leaves around the house weaken the creature that Merrill hits with his bat.
BLURRED FOR YOUR PROTECTION
The whole plot of Signs is hidden, ending included. It stays that way until you ask.
You don't have to sit in a boarded-up farmhouse for one hour and forty-six minutes to find out how Signs ends. Install Scaredy Cat and it blurs horror before you see it.
