Signs (2002) was actually the third collaboration between composer James Newton Howard and director M. Night Shyamalan (the others being The Sixth Sense (1999) and Unbreakable (2000)). For this film, in which a family is terrorized by mysterious aliens, Howard created a score that drips with tension almost from the start.

This musical trend is inspired by Shyamalan’s  approach to telling the story, a story that keeps the audience hooked until that last moment (which I think is one of the biggest WTF? moments in all of cinema, let’s just say that the payoff to all this tension isn’t exactly what you’d expect).

It’s hard to believe this film is 14 years old already, I remember when all my classmates in school were talking about it. Please enjoy James Newton Howard’s discussion of the film score.

See also:

James Newton Howard talks Dinosaur (2000)

James Newton Howard talks Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)

James Newton Howard talks The Village (2004)

James Newton Howard scoring King Kong (2005)

Film Composer Interviews A-H

Film Composer Interviews K-Z

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