10 Best Jump Scares In Sci-Fi Movie History

Being an M. Night Shyamalan film, 2002’s Signs is plagued with the filmmaker’s idiosyncrasies: his bizarre logic, unnatural dialogue, thematic content that's just a little too on-the-nose. However, this film about an alien invasion is also full of plenty of suspenseful encounters and one memorable jump scare that underpinned the director’s knack for horror.

Strange events have been happening across the globe. Around-the-clock news coverage is all that the Hess family have to inform them about the ongoing situation, and it’s during one of these updates that Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix) sees a report on an encounter at a birthday party.

“What you are about to see may disturb you” the report warns as the film cuts to footage of a handheld camera searching for something in the garden’s hedges. From the report we know something horrible is about to happen, we just don’t know what. And then we see it.

The anxious partygoers move to another window. The camera follows and gazes out towards the street. The music builds. Something’s coming.

In broad daylight, an alien suddenly appears from behind the hedge and walks out of shot. That’s all that happens, but the ratcheting suspense and subsequent shock is all that's needed.