Mason Keesling

This film is a fun and creepy thriller if you can overlook the overbearing and ever-present theme regarding the goodness of the Christian faith. "Signs," starring Mel Gibson, examines how a family coping with a recent tragedy would fare after discovering an alien presence and how this would challenge their personal and family hardships. "Signs" does a superb job at telling a story by utilizing objects in the environment and concentrating on character behavior and reactions rather than including an extensive amount of unnecessary dialog. It also keeps the horror mostly hidden from the viewer to instill a degree of uneasiness and ambiguity. This restraint is far more satisfying than filling a movie with jumpscares or revealing the unknown early. It also provides more of a creep factor than the alternative. The character studies in this film were pretty interesting, and I appreciate some of the messages that stem from them. I like how it shows that what seems to be a weakness can be seen as a strength from a different angle. I also loved how the family's grief manifested itself differently in each person and how they dealt with that struggle together. However, it's disappointing that this entire film was an allegory for maintaining religious faith. It would have been a better film if it had dropped the religious messaging while leaving the character studies, internal struggles, and character arcs. It heavy-handedly suggests that everything is the way it is for an intended purpose that God has planned. Without providing spoilers, I'll say that it's not hard to find flaws with that within the movie, let alone in the real world. It's also pretty insulting and insensitive to imply if you think about it for more than two seconds. It also suggests that to be without religion is to become hopelessly unhappy and believe that everything is random. This film's advertising never suggests that it contains any religious undertones, let alone having the primary message be such. If there is a purpose for giving me a special surprise when breaking wind in public, surely God would pursue quicker means than having me eat Chipotle. If I had wanted to watch a religious movie with a poor message, I would have watched "God's Not Dead." Overall, "Signs" is a distinguished thriller and a delight to watch. It has outstanding cinematography and is definitely worth the view.

Though it's relatively easy to spot what's going on, "The Visit" is a great horror movie that isn't hard to watch and doesn't rely on cheap jump scares and abrupt deafening sounds. This movie does a great job at making you feel that something isn't quite right without spoonfeeding you what's going on and leaving you trying to uncover the mystery. The main characters of this film are 15-year-old Becca, played by Olivia DeJonge, and thirteen-year-old Tyler, played by Ed Oxenbould. They bring a certain degree of light-heartedness by providing a comforting level of humor and goofiness to accompany you while everything else is trying to creep you out. If you favor more realistic horror films or prefer the creep factor instead of jump scares, then this should be right up your alley. "The Visit" is a great movie and a quality choice for those less accustomed to horror films.