8 Ridiculous Film Theories That Completely Miss The Point

7. The Aliens In Signs Are Actually Demons

You know things are grim when you're forced to come out in defence of an M. Night Shyamalan film (okay, so Signs was released before that ship had entirely sailed, but you know what I mean). Signs €“ released in 2002 €“ tells the story of an Episcopal priest named Graham Hess (played by Mel Gibson), who loses his faith and gives up his priesthood after the death of his wife Colleen (played by Patricia Kalember), only to regain it when aliens invade his small town. One particular theory tries to put forward that the film doesn't feature aliens at all, but demons, because demons coming to earth ties in much more strongly with the faith-based nature of the plot. But the entire point of the film is exploring what it's like to lose faith in a much more general sense, and whether or not Hess's loss of faith is logical. There's one throwaway detail in the film that many theorists cling to, namely that the aliens are injured by water at the end. The suggestion is that the aliens don't fear normal water, but holy water, and are thus demons. Yet we're told that the alien ships don't land near the sea. This would basically imply that many of the earth's oceans have been secretly pre-blessed by priests in the case of this very event, which is totally as stupid as it sounds. Inconsistencies aside, this theory completely disregards Hess's internal struggle and his attempt to deal with the loss of his wife in order to crowbar in something a bit more biblical.