EFAP

[@JulianDoe]

Timestamps 0:00 Mandalorian , Ashoka & Filoni 5:04 Lenght 6:00 AI Summary & Dog Meat 10:54 Preamble 21:32 Blurbs 32:00 A Horror With Comedy Bits 40:28 The Dog 55:08 Aliens 1:10:58 On A Farm 1:17:41 Characters & Story 1:30:28 God & Faith 1:46:14 Surrounded by Water 1:54:28 Panic Moments 1:55:12 Stuckman Origins 2:03:53 Starpower & Mission Impossible 2:09:13 Stuckman's Analysis of Signs 2:34:40 The Dog 2:42:35 Crickets vs Aliens 2:48:16 Alien on a Hot Tin Roof 2:55:45 Suspance 2:58:00 Comedy & Horror 3:00:24 Alien Invasion 3:08:14 Character Building 3:13:33 Dr Who? 3:18:07 Characters & Takeaways 3:34:30 Signals 3:39:47 A Night In the Cornfield 3:51:44 Invasion 4:02:58 Analysing 4:14:32 Acting 4:25:34 Still Water 4:27:12 The Scariest Scene 4:50:30 The Last Supper 4:58:10 Shelter 5:08:43 A Copyright Odyssey 5:16:39 Theatre Adventures 5:21:09 The Kidnapper 5:25:12 Attack & Vengence 5:29:41 Faith, Closure & AI Recap 5:34:58 Complaint #1 5:49:05 Complaint #2 6:20:13 Closing 6:23:15 A Theory 6:28:05 Conclusions 6:33:45 What are you up to?

[@joelvicente1052]

Impresive

[@Avarn388]

@JulianDoe You are a legend. Thank you.

[@WreckingWood]

Do they discuss the religious angle that the aliens may be demons instead?

[@JayKermisch]

This guy is the goat of this podcast

[@fenixsantos4117]

@@WreckingWood Yes

[@Coconut-219]

I can't believe we got such bangers as: "don't walk into a cornfield at night" and "doink around on the rug" in the same stream.

[@exhumedlegume8870]

Those aliens doinked around and found out.

[@therukshuka3616]

Doink has already doinked into my vocabulary

[@able34bravo37]

The biggest issue I had with this movie is that it was set in a small town in the US, and not a single person has a single gun. Realistically speaking, small midwestern towns are the LAST place aliens like this would want to go. The amount of tannerite alone that they'd encounter would trigger on seismographs all the way over in the Java Sea.

[@kylec8015]

Man, I'm just thinking of the alien's perspective: here as part of the conquering malevolent alien force sent to take over the world... trapped in a pantry and seeing a knife slowly slide under the door and the eye of some human peering into the room. Needing to slowly and akwardly shuffle back and forth to remain out of view, thinking to myself "what has this all come to?"

[@thesultanofswing8706]

They show that they have some camouflage ability at the end. That's why he couldn't see the alien.

[@able34bravo37]

I thought Scary Movie 3 had a pretty decent take on that scene.

[@vrika4280]

​@@thesultanofswing8706Yet they didn't camouflage in several other parts of the movie, including the birthday party 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@SumDumGy]

All he wanted was a box of crackers.

[@Kernwadi]

Watching an M. Night Shyamalan movie feels like having your old, used socks stolen. It's not a significant loss but you still got robbed. It also feels weird, because why would anyone steal your old socks?

[@QuothTheRavenclaw11]

Dunno why they'd steal my old socks. I should ask my cat.

[@WreckingWood]

Blackadder?

[@MistyMountainPath]

This analogy's a little too perfect..

[@Kernwadi]

@@QuothTheRavenclaw11 Cats tend to be criminals, but we can't really hold that against them.

[@Kernwadi]

@@WreckingWood I don't even remember the last time I've seen that show.

[@dannyd.9932]

53:11 As someone who lived rural most of my life crickets tend to go silent whenever something is making noise near them. Crickets do this with people and animals. It is kinda creepy when it happens

[@DickShooter]

City people lol

[@criticalcommenter]

That did seem like an odd thing for them to be confused about.

[@clairetellkamp6253]

They said this. Their confusion was why *all* of the crickets around the *entire* farm went quiet all at the same time. It's obviously supposed to be the classic "The forest goes silent" trope indicating that a predator is around, but a forest going silent has to do with birds and critters in the underbrush, not crickets.

[@dannyd.9932]

@@clairetellkamp6253 It’s both but it does vary. Sometimes the insects will go quiet but animals won’t. It’s rare to have both go quiet but usually indicates something big. However when the insects animals and wind stop at the same time it’s very unsettling.

[@Boots43096]

>the movie that inspired him to love film-making >his analysis is just summary and "THIS IS GENIUS" literally how is this guy famous for being a critic?

[@ademetal]

I mean, CinemaWins does this a lot too "sound design! *ding*" and he has many people that like him, just through relentless positivity.

[@SumDumGy]

Stupid people love stupid things.

[@kcrr]

It's honestly kind of unfathomable that what should be Stuckman's most passionate and in-depth video, with the film being this important to him, is this surface level and lifeless. Says a lot about his content in general lol

[@blackdragoncyrus]

Stuckmann.

[@colinwalker4824]

Well he did do more than read off the director, lead actor, a producer and whoever did the score. That’s like orders of magnitude above the usual.

[@CPForte]

Hey, this is a ten-year old Video of his. He has clearly improved since then and would nowadays never put such an actual opinion out there.

[@kcrr]

@@blackdragoncyrus the stuck man

[@joshuabuckle1216]

I would say it is a deeper problem with his focus. Stuckmann is taking the aesthetics and his own feelings as the whole of the film.

[@Super_Ammo]

Before Graham reaches for his brother during the hug, Meryl's body language says so much about how he thinks of himself as just slightly outside of the family, and also a bit of a tough guy act not wanting to show emotions in that moment. When Graham pulls him in, not only does it say 'You're part of this family', but the way his fingers desperately grasp at his shirt says 'I need you too.' Fantastic acting, great scene.

[@mobmorgan]

Genuinely hoping to have seen this comment I remember seeing it and noticing and thought wow that's really good

[@wangusbeef86]

I thought it was funny too as a kid, and I've learned to appreciate that scene a lot more as I grew older

[@able34bravo37]

That's the thing about this movie. There are a lot of really great parts in it. It's like the elements were all there, but certain things like the aliens not being able to get through wooden doors or the fatal water just kill it.

[@GBDupree]

@@able34bravo37 The aliens never have trouble opening doors in this movie though, its mandela effect. The pantry is both locked, and barricaded, so it couldn't have opened it with the handle. This is why it has trouble with the pantry door, it had to break through it and the barricade to get out, and the aliens aren't shown to be much stronger than a human. The only other door scene has the Alien open it super easily and nearly quicker than Graham can react to it. Also they are allergic to water, but its not the water that kills the Alien in the end, it was him being beaten by the bat, the water simply kept it from rushing the brother and overpowering him. So the water isn't shown to be actually deadly, just painful. So I'd give it a pass, the aliens likely just avoided it because it was a nuisance rather than some existential threat. As I see it, the aliens wanted to do such a widescale scouting that they likely used slaves so they had enough ground forces. The Aliens were then likely not allowed to return to the ship unless they did their job and may have been guaranteed freedom if they brought back a human. I think this seems reasonable enough, its a lot more realistic than the notion that the same aliens that invented space travel were also the ones sent to do the dirty work in a hostile environment that every seems to think happened in the movie. Like even if we were to accept the notion that the aliens we see in the movie are imbecilic, that's not bad writing or a plot hole, these aliens are likely expendable which is why they are on the ground and not in the ship in the first place. I really don't see why this bothers everyone so much.

[@able34bravo37]

@@GBDupree fire is painful if you get hit with small amounts of it too. But if you get hit with a lot of it, it'll kill you. Oh no! The door is locked! Our intergalactic invasion is foiled! I have a fan theory that is in no way supported by what is shown in the movie as well.

[@ianjohnson182]

When I'm driving through the desert, there's only two reasons I'd stop at a town with a population of 40 people: For exploration, or for hostile reasons. Or if I need gas. Or if I'm hungry. Or if my car is making a weird noise. Or to take a shit.

[@daveyjones8969]

I like Dave Cullen's take on Signs. Considering we never actually see technology, just lights in the sky, they aren't actually aliens, but demons. The weakness isn't to water, it's because the daughter was called an angel, and SHE left all the glasses around the house; they were full of holy water. Makes it better than stupid aliens.

[@Nicstewert]

Signs is one of those movies where I can completely ignore EVERYTHING wrong with it and I love it anyway. I can’t wait to listen to this.

[@Avarn388]

@Nicstewart And that is fine. As long as you acknowledge the problems with the movie. Independence Day is my go to example. It’s got problems with its plot and the characters. But I have a blast with it because of its sincerity and is one of those feel good movies. Especially the speech of that film.

[@Lampoluke]

For me that is OG Star Wars, especially the prequels.

[@Jasper_Silva]

Same tbh. I don't like most of M. Night's movies, but this one I have a cozy nostalgia for. I've heard it being bashed left and right in the past, with good reason, so I don't mind hearing the criticism though. Specially as it seems so far they are accurately also pointing the movie's qualities.

[@Nicstewert]

@@Jasper_Silva Exactly, I know it’s extremely flawed but, I don’t know if it’s because I saw it at a very specific time in my life or certain things just hit me right that I’m just not going to turn my back on it. Also not any sort of M.Night super fan but I will always like Signs. It’s like the fucked up weirdo you had a crush on when you were 20. You knew they were a mess and you broke up pretty quick but 20 years later you still think “Aw, that was pretty fun.” 😆

[@Nicstewert]

@@Lampoluke Are the prequels considered OG Star Wars? 🤔 but I get your point. They’re a mess and you love them anyway. What can you do? 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@Jasper_Silva]

I'd love to see them break down 'Old', also by M. Night, cause that movie legitimately baffled me on how inept it was. At some points it felt like a total amateur wrote/directed it rather than a successful film maker with a 20+ year long career.

[@predatorasap5040]

Shyamalan's plot twist are the only things that bring me joy in life

[@Raxus502]

your comments are the only things that bring me joy in life...

[@mandalorian1797]

​@@Raxus502 your joy is the only thing that brings me joy in life

[@hunterboyo]

To me…

[@rotpar757]

It's a testament to Shyamalan's skill as a director that he can give us a scene announcing we're going to see the alien and then still make it tense. He is not untalented. His writing is a mess though; and this is before apologizing to a house plant or toast landing butter-side down being evidence of the devil's presence.

[@tjroelsma]

Shyamalan either lost his mojo, or he started sniffing his own farts too much. The first option is surely a possibility, as his writing has deteriorated and yet still shows glimpses of what it was before. But then the second option is also possible: Shyamalan started to believe too much in himself and simply stopped making an effort anymore, believing that everything he does automatically becomes good.

[@charlesruteal9062]

*jelly-side down

[@shaunmartin454]

@@charlesruteal9062only if you add jelly… 😜

[@jackmerrick7419]

@@tjroelsma He did make that one film where he was the messiah or whatever. (Lady in the Water).

[@trequor]

Shyamalan is missing his calling as a DP. Dont let him write and make sure someone else editing can cut the fat out where it's needed. But when you want pure anxiety in a shot or sequence there is no one better than him

[@DRsatanus]

without the crop circles, how are the aliens sopposed to know which way is up?

[@Nonickelone]

My favourite headcanon for the aliens is: It's the scenario like in Alien, but the aliens are just unprepaired workers on a flyby, registering a liveform that has acid as blood and urin. After getting the order to capture "samples" for biological weapon development they try to attack but have no necesary equipment nor training.

[@GBDupree]

The lack of equipment is likely because its their skin that camoflauges, so any equipment would reveal them too easily, ruining the camo. I also like to think the aliens are unwilling to risk sending their best into such a hostile enviroment, and may have been sending slaves in the hopes of gaining more than they lost. Leaving when they decide the risk is no longer worth it.

[@revolversnake126]

i find it strange that mauler presents the demon theory as something relativly new or that needs to not be spoiled. im pretty sure that has been a thing for decades. anyway good episode. would like more stuff like this instead of talking about the newest slop that dropped. god i cant wait for total disney destruction so that they can talk about more interesting shit.

[@Avarn388]

@revolversnake126 Agreed because films like this, even the worst ones, have redeemable elements or are constructed decently. Like M Night back then knew how to shoot his films well and picked decent actors and had some cool ideas. The problem was the execution and that is where you need a good writer/ editor with that figurative newspaper to hit you on the head and say no whenever an idea doesn't make sense. Because on paper, the idea of a convert alien invasion is neat. It's just done so badly here. And when I think of entertaining alien invasion films, Independence Day comes to mind.

[@ClarkKentai]

I would completely lose my marbles (in a good way) if they covered Solaris and its various adaptations.

[@thunderstruck6647]

I thought I heard years ago that Signs started as a demon movie and somehow it evolved into an alien invasion movie.

[@GBDupree]

Its not even a theory, M Night mentioned it in an interview not long after the film released. I think this is a weird case of the internet forgetting the source but remembering the fact. Its a lot like how people misremember the "fault" of the movie having the aliens unable to use doors, when that literally never happens in the movie, and was in fact a joke in Scary movie that is misattributed to this one. In this film there are 2 scenes where an alien interacts with a door, in one its the pantry door which is locked and barricaded, so it has nothing to do with the alien not knowing how to operate it, it just can't break through it easily (they aren't stronger than humans clearly). Mel Gibson's character saying "it has trouble with pantry doors" isn't referring to it being unable to turn the knob on the door, but it being unable to break through the wood. This isn't even true as the ending shows they broke through their home's barricades and the one in the pantry is in the ending, meaning it had to have broken out fairly quickly in order to track him home. The second scene is when the alien turns the doorknob on the door to the basement, It does this immediately after he closes the door and does it faster than he can react to it causing him to have to reclose the door and hold the handle. The alien never struggled to turn the knob. This isn't a real fault of the movie, yet people just take it as face value because they keep hearing it is.

[@Avarn388]

This was another great EFAP. I love when you guys cover older movies and video essays talking about them. Signs was one of those films I remember as a kid feeling something was off about it. Sure, I was scared but I was a kid at the time and barely knew any better. Ironically enough, I have to thank Nostalgia Critic for pointing out the problems with Signs(Yes, I know some folks do not like NC and I have grown out of him but I really do like his Signs review because he breaks down what the film is and the objective elements that do not hold up). Still, there are some things about Signs I like. The camera work is neat and the acting was good from Mel. Obviously, the problems are with the aliens and their implementation. Though, the scene with their reveal and Phoenix's character watching it on TV, the build up for that is amazing. When it comes to bad but enjoyable invasion films my go to is either Mars Attacks or Independence Day. More so the latter because Will Smith and the speech in that film is brilliant. Signs, it's a case where Shyamalan' really needed a good writer to be that editor and guy to tell him no. Because the idea of a covert alien invasion is a cool concept. But within this film, having the aliens whose greatest weaknesses is water and yet they invade our planet and do not take any protections; yeah that's too much for me. :) Also, fun fact; the history channel did a marathon of crop circle specials when this film came out and those were neat to watch.

[@aronthedev3074]

The aliens likely didn't have crop circles near sand, so maybe they don't like sand? Can't blame them after all, it's rough and course, and it gets everywhere.

[@StuffedFlumpers]

My favorite quote, Rags: "oh look there's kids, good thing I'm naked"🤣

[@Ron_Jambo_]

Rag's's's's's's's's's'' larping as an LA citizen, I see 😂

[@Necrow_Productions]

1:10:00ish onwards

[@jackwhite2654]

There's something almost Patrick Bateman-esqe about the way Stuckman talks. For someone who claims to be passionate about film, he has a distinct lack of emotion.

[@SumDumGy]

You can always tell when Stuckmann is expressing his passion; his eyes are open.

[@dustylamborghini]

Hah! I just told my buddy last night, after we (randomly) first talked about _American Psycho_, and then about Stuckman's "decline" and newfound lifelessness, that there's a definite connection between the two. I said something (somewhat jokingly) to the affect of that "Stuckman is a psycho; murders are coming."

[@notDarknessBane]

Thank you, EFAP, for keeping me company and awake during another 7-hour midnight drive home, at the end of another long work-week on the road. And thank you also for ruining my ability to ever again watch Signs with an unthinking mind.

[@jlogan2228]

That kitchen scene where he walks away then goes back and the claw is just in your face no stinger no nothing legit made me leap out of my seat the first time bc it was so well built up and executed

[@Wolf_ManJack]

If you wanted to really steelman the "everything happens for a reason" perspective, I'd write the argument a little more like this: "God, or the watchful forces above, has literal ethical limits on his actions that are necessary to give living beings the capacity for choice; any overcorrection, as reality is not a vacuum system, means altering the impact of every decision everyone has ever made slightly. To betray the meaning of their actions by throwing a big heavy rock into the pool of the butterfly effect means that on a spiritual level, everyone's actions have essentially been reduced from the genuine consequences of their novel behaviors to mere cause-and-effect, no longer something spiritually pure, as now history itself has provably been tilted away from the story of mankind, and has gone back to being about the consequences of their forebears, whose capacity to change the world is drastic and represents a sort of philosophical meta-threat towards humanity's claim to their own history; perhaps, among the politics of Heaven, this even carries legal implications. As beings of ethics, they've already considered that capacity for benevolent humiliation, do recognize value within mortals, wish to grant them legitimacy as actors in their own history, and thus decided to generally avoid interfering in outcomes, because once more, it's not really yours if you didn't earn it, even if suddenly having an Asian wife really would give you the will to live again." "However, the good guys have been learning how to cheat better for a long time; they are, after all, intellectual beings like we are, and presumably on a more complex scale of observation. So, when something bad happens, they give themselves a little in - they'll screw with the world, just a little bit, to prevent something worse from happening later. They will not instantiate the tragedy, nor will they prevent a natural tragedy occurring for non-supernatural reasons, but they will apply supernatural force if a hostile supernatural force (Alien demons) can be predicted to present a threat in the imminent future. As time can split in many directions, this non-interventionism is key to making the broad flow of reality consistent enough for them to make those predictions at all, as otherwise they would need to resort to methods that counteract your decisions entirely, making you essentially a doll, cattle being raised on the stage of history. The assistance delivered will generally be forgettable by design, something small and perhaps not even directly physical, so its literal causal impact on the shape of reality can be dispersed and fade away safely as natural chaos breaks down the chain of its consequences over time." TL;DR, God cheats because the Devil cheats, but God cheats better with a worse hand, because God's also a better player. Humanity isn't necessarily impotent, nor are they being punished with 'benevolent torments', but rather, suffering the ills of their adversary, and the natural world, and the Good Guys only step in when they can do it subtly for maximum impact. If they didn't have that distance from you, the Bad Guys would have too much room to claim that nobody alive really earned anything for themselves, and in a post-mortal society, your reputation and pride are all that you have - any more intervention than is necessary would eventually have you looking back at your life with the strange disappointment of realizing it was all miracles, and that you were on autopilot, bouncing back and forth between life events where you as a real person with your own thoughts and feelings essentially never factored into the outcome. I don't think M. Night was writing the story this way, but Jim Butcher writes the Dresden Files that way, and heavenly non-interventionism is at least a fun philosophical hole to dig into.

[@dutchmansmine9053]

That was heavy

[@hope-cat4894]

So basically, God allows people to make their own decisions, but He still uses those choices we make to achieve certain outcomes by setting up dominos and contingencies in place?

[@denkerbosu3551]

​@@hope-cat4894 I swear that's low-key the Final Destination films, or try to be at least.

[@christopherdoucet9723]

Would love to hear you guys do “The Village”.

[@alexhayden219]

This is Chris's defining movie that made him who he is and gave him passion for film... and he sounds like he's reluctantly reading off his assigned book report.

[@TheFlibidy]

"I like my own fingers... I'm really attached to them!" Well, not anymore xD

[@seanblackhurst7844]

5 shifts deep into a 10 shift stint (all night shift and mostly overtime) time to break out the EFAP back log.

[@SwiftNimblefoot]

The cricket stuff, yes that is true, ancient chinese tradition. Crickets get used to you and will not stop chirping at night if you wake up, but will stop if someone they do not recognize enters

[@AndrzejGieraltCreative]

Based John not letting Rags go there. I appreciate that Mauler at least seems to acknowledge the posiitive elements of having faith in general without needing to mock religion. I feel like the internet is at a point where most people understand that religion on principle is not absurd. Once you hold that something non contingent is necessary, must be incredibly potent and have a will due to being uninfluenced, and there cant be more than one such, you only have so many options. Calling the Bible a series of mistakes, to put it more politely, is definitely a charged interpretation without an ounce of nuance or patience.

[@alexhayden219]

"This is one of the most important scenes in the movie. Moving on, I will not say anything else about this. It just is. Trust me."

[@NoscoSays]

I feel like it’s worth pointing out that Stuckman keeps referencing the cgi because that video would have been made at the height of the anti-cgi chatter among KZbin critics. It’s stuff like this that led to a huge part of the promotion for the Force Awakens being the practical effects. So that’s why Chris was so “stuck” on that point.

[@Necrow_Productions]

You mean Chris has always gone with trends and played it safe?

[@Marines_Memelevolent]

Wait, this was Rags trying *not* to tip his fedora? Damn, lol

[@ithewho6603]

I love 'doinking around'. That sounds so funny. I will take it into my vocabulary.

[@Necrow_Productions]

It's great

[@jodanger37]

As a Christian, I find the themes of this movie at parody levels. You either believe everything is a coincidence or pre destination. There’s no in between ig lol

[@scottishwarrior3547]

The aliens were demons

[@jodanger37]

@@scottishwarrior3547 they debunked the theory in the podcast bro. And even if they raises more questions?

[@knewjash]

💯 - the movie is Christianity written by a non-Christian. Just a vague reference towards Him helping us when we need it.

[@andreichira7518]

Not sure I see this dichotomy. Like granted, this isn't really given or afforded proper theological context, but I don't see predestinstion in the film. What confession of faith do you belong to?

[@andreichira7518]

​@@knewjashTo be fair to Shyamalan, the consideration of the Church is that aliens are demons. So I was happy now going back and rewatching it, seeing the parallels with how we understand alien encounters being depicted in the film.

[@FrenchyMcToast]

Someone made a pretty decent argument that the aliens are actually demons. If I took the things they said as granted I found it pretty convincing but I didn't care enough to watch Signs again to confirm anything they said. I don't know if that angle saves the film any but it would at least tie the films major threat back into the themes about faith and such.

[@GBDupree]

Its not even a theory, but something M Night said himself in an interview not long after the film's release. That said I think the movie is made in a way in which it works with them being aliens or demons. So you don't have to take it one way or they other, just choose which works better for you. I'd say the demons angle makes the most sense though.

[@FrenchyMcToast]

@@GBDupree Like I said, I haven't re-watched since I heard this. I only brought it up because it supposedly explains some of the sillier bits in the story like the doors and the water. I don't have any references though and I'm not exactly a religious scholar either.

[@GBDupree]

@@FrenchyMcToast No worries, I'd say its all surface level religious stuff. Basically what you already know (holy water for example) from the theory is the farthest it goes. You could infer the crop circles are summoning circles or something, but its all up to interpretation, so if you aren't familiar the movie still works with them as just aliens. Also the aliens don't have issues with doors, that's just a mandela effect where people conflated a joke in another movie as a real criticism of this one, but not once in the movie do the aliens have any issues with doors. People bring up the Pantry scene but the movie not only establishes the door is locked, but shows you its been barricaded as well. Even a human wouldn't be able to get out of there. And later on an alien opens up the basement door immediately after the main character closes it, and it opens faster than he can react, causing him to have to ram it closed again.

[@NeravarSneed86]

"if aliens have cloaking devices they don't need to draw fucking maps in corn" LOL

[@scottishwarrior3547]

Well, anyway, they say the aliens were demons all along, Holly water, can't enter doors without permission, so they have to brake in.

[@GBDupree]

Oh my god KZbin stop deleting my comments! I wrote a now deleted comment that said something along the lines of "to be fair that's the same issue with real life UFO theories. This movie only mentions it because that's what people in real life think. So don't sh*ot the messenger lol. And besides the movie never actually confirms if that is the case. Though sadly the movie leaves the reason for the crop circles open to interpretation". I really dont know why that would be deleted.

[@RipOffProductionsLLC]

I love the "the aliens in Signs are actually demons" theory, it makes the movie make a shitton more sense...

[@Grassroots_Hegemon]

Plot twist they were just drawing dicks and everyone read too much into it and when they showed up to explain themselves everyone got mad :(

[@vrika4280]

It was their google maps pin

[@kieranholmes8086]

I think physical suits could’ve looked better but there’s something to it being CGI adding to an uncanny valley element to it which makes it creepier

[@thegoldenpepper8702]

Robot Chicken ruined M. Night for me. Every time I see him I think "what a twist!"

[@marikroyals7111]

As soon as I read it, I heard it. I can't think of or see those words together without hearing that clip.

[@balconyseats5750]

Rags got some burger sugar for this one.

[@Gojeto346]

I’m assuming you mean booger sugar, and I agree, dude was off his rocker on this one

[@righteousindifference3179]

5:54:07 the better argument for the water is that its "contaminated" as the girl says, and why she wouldn't drink it. The part incompatible with them are the things like chlorides and flourides. Edit: Hey! they stumbled onto it!

[@doubledawg2006]

Coming into this discussion as a Christian: the notion that God kills people you love in order to influence your choices later in life and push you to make decisions you could have readily made without the tragic loss of a loved one is patently absurd. I don't know what Shyamalan has said surrounding the film but if this was his intent then it is offensive to every Christian who believes that being made in God's image (either physically or spiritually) and being made with love by God means that He gave us self determination and free will, as in order to influence events to this degree (straight up killing someone) means that we don't have true free will, in which case we are slaves to God's will, which is incompatible with true love (if you love them, let them go). Did God influence Shyamalan to drink and drive? The film seems to heavily imply this with Shyamalan's character saying "It's like it was meant to be," which is ridiculous from both a secular and a religious (if you believe what is actually in the Bible) perspective.

[@knewjash]

This is what non-Christians think God being sovereign is. “God made me drink and drive so something good will happen later” - is ridiculous. God can use evil, he doesn’t create evil.

[@HolyApplebutter]

Tbf, I've heard from Christians before the notion of everything happening for a reason, it's not just Shyamalan. Usually the justification I hear for it is that God's plan is borderline Lovecraftian in that he's such a higher being that we could never fully comprehend it, and that even should some people die or bad happen, it will be for an ultimately good change. Everything must happen for a reason, therefore something bad happening must have a reason, and due to God's benevolence said reason must be good. As I've implied, I'm not Christian myself, so I've certainly never bought into it.

[@malirix3834]

@@HolyApplebutter​​⁠Reformed or Calvinists would agree with that. But most Christians don’t see it that way. Calvinists deny free-will. Everything is under God’s control, and since He’s good, even the bad things happy for good reasons. Even if we don’t know the reasons.

[@HolyApplebutter]

@@malirix3834 Didn't mean to imply all Christians see it that way, if it came across like that. Just that I've heard it argued before.

[@Novictus]

@@HolyApplebutter Your name is funny. Thank you for having it

[@Orkillester1]

During rags' dogmeat rant, I wondered if he ever played Fallout 1 and witnessed the tragedy of dogmeat getting gunned down by his own party over and over again

[@HolyApplebutter]

Considering he mentions Bethesda, I'm pretty sure he's only talking about Fo3 and Fo4 iterations.

[@neillharte]

I'm insane with rage, that line always made me chuckle

[@Sig509]

Crop circles for navigation reminds me The Rise of Skywalker and their dumb idea that spaceships one ship to tell them which way is up, and down in the planet atmosphere, instead of you know, using some basic instruments, OR LOOKING THROUGH A DAMN WINDOW. Buit sure, yeah, crop circles for navigation, not like a field can be harvested ad any time, or burn. Very reliable navigation markers.

[@GBDupree]

To be fair, that's just the problem with crop circle in real life too. This movie is just taking what tons of people actually believe is what Crop Circles are. Its less a fault of the movie and more the fault with UFO people. I think its fine that the movie uses that as an explanation because its coming from people who realistically would think that because that what everyone says about them, just like in real life how everyone says that because thats what everyone else says. And the movie doesn't actually explain that that theory is correct or anything, though it sucks that the crop circles are never actually explained, they just exist because they supposedly exist in real life. Its like if a movie was about bigfoot, it would use any real-life theories about bigfoot as grounding for the story, regardless of how realistic those theories are.

[@RipOffProductionsLLC]

​@@GBDupreeindeed, especially if in said hypothetical bigfoot movie they never confirmed one way or the other if bigfoot did or didn't work they way some "cryptozoologist"/squatch hunter in the movie said it does.

[@Stiigmata]

I want it to be known that Signs has a higher rating on rotten tomatoes than Unbreakable

[@DuskHollow]

Would our blood also be acidic to them? I could see them reacting with similar horror to us seeing the xenomorphs acid blood lol

[@Sig509]

or humidity. The rain would be acid for them for sure (if they are not daemons), but what about 100% humidity? Would breathing such air "burn" their lungs, or whatever they have going for them?

[@DuskHollow]

@@Sig509 I agree! I was more referencing stuckman's argument that the aliens were here for us. Why would they want us if we're essentially bags of acid?

[@MundaneThingsBackwards]

​@@DuskHollowIf the aliens were as smart as they should be, they'd have plenty of scientific goals to pursue in even observing such an intelligent and productive race such as humans. The acid blood or incredibly hostile environment would barely be relevant because they would have encoutered such things (or broadly similar) many times before in their space exploration if not the more extreme environments of their home planet alone.

[@DuskHollow]

@@MundaneThingsBackwards yeah, if they were smarter LOL I mean the whole thing collapses in on itself. I just thought it was interesting "Alien" reference.

[@GBDupree]

@@DuskHollow Maybe they need us for slavery of some kind? I always thought that the aliens we see walking around are maybe forced into it, as the main governing force isn't willing to send its best troops to reconnasaince and rather sent slaves or something. Maybe they needed us for something else, but considering there is likely very little life out in the universe, they were stuck trying to get us despite the dangers. Otherwise they could die off before ever meeting another planet with life on it.

[@Saywhatnow72]

Now I want them to cover district 9

[@sivad1025]

It's now clear that Rags primarily hates the movie because he doesn't agree with the classical understanding of predestination. The whole "God killed your wife" framing is actually Reddit atheist tier instead of film criticism. M N Shayamalan's character killed the wife. He's a free thinking person who chose to drive half asleep. The point of the end was that the situation was redeemed through her final thoughts. As to the point of it being inefficient, yes, all of life is inefficient from the point of God. This is something theologians and philosophers have discussed for thousands of years. But humans are temporal creatures who develop personhood through "inefficient" experiences. You can disagree with the perspective. But Signs actually represents the concept of predestination fairly accurately (though admittedly way too on the nose)

[@TheLeadhound]

You absolutely dismantled his sad theological understanding in just a few sentences. He is not an atheist. I know atheists that are genuine and deep thinkers. He is an antitheist. He just hates the idea of God and religion and justifies that hated with feigned intellectual ideas. He acts like he is the first one to think of these things and religious people are all idiots that never work on these problems. There are literally uncountable volumes written on these topics. He just picks a straw man and knocks it down. Really quite annoying.

[@sivad1025]

@TheLeadhound For what it's worth, I think Rags' perspective is at least somewhat interesting. But it's just not film criticism. As you said, there have been countless treatments of predestination from Augustine to Aquinas to Molina. This idea that all art should be viewed in a bubble and "not require research" is postmodern nonsense. All great art invokes allusion. And this panel in particular rejects Death of the Author, as far as I'm aware. You can't watch this movie and ignore the hundreds of years of history on the topic. That's what makes this such bad film criticism. I shouldn't be surprised though. No one commented on the incredibly on-the-nose baptismal regeneration imagery. At this point, I wonder if Rags realizes that Narnia is allegory

[@B16B0SS]

You guys really need to work with Drinker to make some new "Scary Movie" type spoof movies

[@bexarath]

I still remember my main takeaway after watching Signs the first time: "Well that was fucking stupid."

[@apothe0sis]

Was excited for the full discussoon of the stupid "signs is abour literal demons/little girl is blessing the water" interpretation, having spent many hours arguing wtih friends about it. Sad it was over and done with in seconds

[@jamespazuzuairsoft5369]

Another question is why are the aliens interested in a species that's roughly 70% water as well. Like if a person pees or sweats on an alien that has to be like being sprayed with acid right? Would our blood also be acidic? What are they gonna do poke us with sticks?

[@derekrichardson7853]

The water thing is pretty stupid, and the more you think about it the dumber it gets. If water is like acid to them, shouldn’t they be in pain or feeling something from the air? Because, you know, we have this thing called HUMIDITY.

[@rogeryoungblood2452]

Mauler still using Chrome is probably the saddest part of the whole stream

[@LordFunkyFist]

Why didn't the aliens just use the eagles?

[@tsk13]

Space travelling, supposedly intelligent, aliens - 0 Freakish monkey-mutants that drink water and wield wooden sticks - 1

[@lordofthepizzapie9319]

Unga-bunga supremacy!

[@dookieshoe2905]

Who said they were aliens? They are clearly demons

[@cordyceps182]

Aren't they demons or something?

[@MrFeelsGo0d-YT]

The indomitable human spirit

[@GoosterHiista]

My headcanon is that the actually smart aliens sent down all of their idiots as a joke to get rid of them and then flew away giggling at their prank. It explains everything.

[@shawnreinhart9978]

As soon as rags and mauler mentioned “when evil lurks” I paused this and went to Hulu to watch it and I’ll have to say they were very right lol. The main issue I had was with pedro during the third act m, made stupid ass decisions and made me face palm and shout at the screen lol

[@Necrow_Productions]

Yep, and the effects with the little girl were really bad

[@slightlysaltysam7411]

It's like M.Night had all the pieces of a 1,000 piece masterclass film puzzle, but stopped looking at the reference image half way and started just forcing pieces and guessing what goes where.

[@slightlysaltysam7411]

Reminds me of Prey's execution. Good concepts, good acting, good suspense, good subtlety, poor execution at times, poor character writing at times, and inconsistent plot points.

[@HpArtcraft]

James Newton Howard's Score is a masterpiece. His Shyamalan scores are sensational and some of the best scores ever written.

[@jackchipper7458]

Starring mad max, joker and home alone kid. Can it get any better

[@wsemenske]

Home alone kid's brother*

[@Jasper_Silva]

That's not the annoying little brother from home alone, he's the even younger brother. I won't blame you for mistaking them though they all look exactly the same.

[@jackchipper7458]

@@Jasper_Silva Crap they’re like twins

[@SumDumGy]

Listening to Chris Stuckmann revel in the sheer brilliance of Signs is the only thing that brings me joy in life.

[@alexhayden219]

5:20:30 There's other much more annoying than amusing instances but, I have two funny theater experiences that come to mind. 1. Similar to Rags, towards the end of the theater run of Grindhouse, I went to a late night show that started around 10pm. I was in the theater alone with one other guy. He sat a few rows ahead of me and had a giant tub of popcorn. about a half hour in, he started snoring and the tub of popcorn fell. He seemed to wake up about ten minutes from the end. 2. Every time I see something with my dad, he talks the whole way through it. I make sure we sit as isolated as possible, but I generally just don't take him much because of this. He's not loud. He's just in a low, almost whispered voice, trying to figure out what's happening. "Oh, okay. So the guy has to get over there in time to save that kid and those robots are in the way. hmm..." "Oh, interesting." "what? Well, that doesn't make much sense." "Oh, I see... I guess they're in love or something." Just constant muttering his understandings of what's currently happening without any awareness that he's doing so.

[@Connorthecatsdad]

The amount of time dedicated to Rags going to get a drink 😂

[@Necrow_Productions]

When is Wolf going to make a super cut and include how much time was wasted

[@TI4438]

Top tier suspense for me.....Alien when Dallas is going through the ventilation ducts! Never gets old.

[@garretttekampe9564]

Did the crickets stop chirping, or the crops stop screaming?

[@samdurfee6093]

The Shamalan Holy Trinity Signs The Village Lady in the Water

[@jobreau1725]

Is that supposed to be his top 3 best movie?

[@samdurfee6093]

@@jobreau1725 more like the funniest movies he’s made. You can take them seriously if you want and they still work (kinda) But those movies are absolutely crazy.

[@jobreau1725]

@@samdurfee6093 cool thx

[@OseanBigshot444]

4:03:34 - If you have headphones on, listen to the right channel the following second. You might swear you heard/felt a firework or gunshot nearby, someone must've hit their mic or desk?

[@CourteousH]

The Saga of Rags almost leaving at 4:23:00 is the most suspenseful scene of all the scenes.

[@Necrow_Productions]

I read this as "The Sags of Raga" and thought of his grandma

[@canaldecasta]

Adecuate length. Four times the movie.

[@TeutonicKnight92]

I always thought the mixing of sci-fi and religion was a weird choice. I’m not saying it can’t be done or hasn’t been done, but this one seemed… weird. I feel like there is easily a better sci-fi or supernatural/religious thriller hidden in this movie. The only way I can think to steel man the aliens is that the people they send are living probes. They send them out and if they die they know it’s not safe

[@daveo311290]

I never saw Signs, but this still gives me a few fond memories of Scary Movie 3

[@kevinjackman4026]

" I grew up surrounded by acid ". - Boba Fett

[@Hello_All_My_N_Words]

Criminally under rated comment

[@earthlingcarl3179]

I thought Signs was pretty good. Lady in the Water is where things really fell off a cliff with maybe Split being the only half-decent one in the last 10 years. He just seems to have completely lost the magic of his earlier days, a big shame.

[@Avarn388]

I don't like Signs but I agree Lady in the Water is when M. Night was at his most pretentious(a term I do not use lightly) film I've seen. That film really felt like he was trying to be super meta but the writing just fell apart. It's not even funny bad like the Happening. It's just bland and stupid.

[@sivad1025]

The Visit definitely crosses the threshold of "half-decent." That movie has some effective suspense

[@akashajones6079]

​@sivad1025 The movie lies to the audience though. By adding inhuman screeches from the old lady, and they teleport sometimes. The movie wants you to think they're more than just a crazy old couple, but then tells you that's exactly what they are.

[@scottishwarrior3547]

Aliens were demons

[@wildcard9173]

Hey Mauler is Scifi a genre or a setting? because most people define scifi as just it has scifi things in it while the concepts of the story usually have very little to do with the scifi things these days. Scifi used to present a new technology than explore it but I can't really think of a recent project that actually has a new scifi toy used in a new way.

[@SwiftNimblefoot]

I never understood why he doesn't just use the bat on the alien? Why smash the glasses, when this thing is clearly not very hard to defeat?

[@burntthesis]

lol. I remember seeing The Happening in theaters and I started grumbling and squirming literally 45 secs in and my friends where all like "wtf is wrong with you?" I'm I'm like "this guy is marketed as the next Hitchcock, but he tells everything through dialogue instead of showing it visually." Signs was super cringe when I saw it originally also.

[@TheKanistan]

Rags is so far gone that he will interrupt the conversation just to go on his own personal tangent of a tangent of his tangent, before needing everyone else to remind him what he was trying to talk about. And then goes back to making some broad sweeping point with barely any substance or relevance.

[@darthdragonborn1552]

Yep, it’s fuckin dogshit and he obviously thinks it’s cute. Like in one episode he starts talking about some local pizza place and everyone is clearly wondering why the fuck he’s talking about some place in his area.

[@Necrow_Productions]

Rags is actually turning into Biden

[@DANCERcow]

That's what being a furry does to you

[@blackdragoncyrus]

Chris Stuckmann: "Signs and Night kickstarted my character, such as it is."

[@Kernwadi]

It oddly makes a lot of sense.

[@charlesruteal9062]

Can't wait for a future KZbinr to go "Shelby Oaks started my career.".

[@whyarealltaken]

Green dancer

[@crabby6730]

would have been so much better if the aliens where just stranded in the farm and where attempting to comunicate with the humans or just stalking them trying to find a way to comunicate with them but both sides misunderstood each other until the humans trap one of the aliens and the other becomes increasingly more violent trying to save his friend, would be an interesting take on the alien invader thing

[@E.B711]

I fell asleep during this movie, and then a big noise happened that woke me up and I didn't know what was happening

[@Grassroots_Hegemon]

Just on the topic of dog not being brought in, part of me wonders if this isnt informed by his cultural background. Indians have an unusual relationship with dogs because of the EXTREME problem with the volume of stray dogs. Indians are kind to strays generally, and they are revered as companions for partially religious reasons, but theres a sort of transient nature to the relationship because one community might have dozens or hundreds of feral strays. Theres a relationship there but a bit less "i will run into a burning building to save my dog" sort of attitude than it is in the US. Not saying that for certain but thats one of the cultural differences that jumped out at me having a friend with an indian background and my dog travels with me basically everywhere

[@GBDupree]

That's possible, but its also perfectly reasonable to assume they just forgot about it because of the scene they went through. Like they made a fuss about them forgetting the dog but never mentioned the fact that the family just had a big emotional breakdown that completely took their attention off anything else. These sort of things happen all the time, people aren't perfect and do forget important things even for loved ones because of their emotional states. That's the big thing about the movie, the father's emotional state is preventing him from taking the situation seriously, that he makes jokes or dismisses all the signs of danger. He isn't taking the threat of aliens seriously to the point that it causes his son to hate him because he feels unsafe. He doesn't deal with any problems on his own, whenever he has issues like the Wolfington brothers, he calls the police instead of dealing with it himself, he doesn't even have a gun because he is so unconfrontational. Also at the beginning when he calls the police about the crop circles, he speaks to them like their are his priests, so now that he has given up on God he stills seeks comfort in a higher power. Only for them to say they don't know what is happening either.

[@Grassroots_Hegemon]

@GBDupree oh i agree they try and have it both ways in the movie, but in that snpshot of forgetting the dog, i could reasonably see that as an oversight. And i agree it does grab you out of the movie in a way that diminishes it in retrospect in the way they did it, it drags attention to itself in a way it doesnt necessarily need to.

[@Flayerthehatebound]

Everyone "Its an okay movie. Not the best but its not as bad as he recent stuff" Rags"I hate everything"

[@HerohammerStudios]

Yeah, just listen to that stupid Bethesda rant at the beginning. If the damn dog doesn't work for your playstyle, then literally just don't take him with you. It's not that hard

[@Flayerthehatebound]

@@HerohammerStudiosI was confused as to what he was even referring to regarding the movie until he related dog meat to the pets in the movie 😂 like what?!

[@thomaspeterson8357]

If you're camping and having a hard time sleeping because of the crickets, you can yell and the crickets will shut up for a while

[@federicoarmada8775]

2:55:54: Pretty sure that the original quote was about shock (the bomb blows up) vs suspense (you know the bomb is about to blow up)

[@jmace2424]

“We haven’t seen crop circles near water.” That’s odd considering most modern farms have irrigation systems for their crops 🤣

[@navymongoose2589]

fingers crossed their hypothetical movie about the aliens being incompetent homies makes it to the highlights channel

[@Boromir2k1]

This EFAP reminds me how funny Scary Movie 3 is lmao

[@selly-ssrb]

I need Don vs. Pantry in the next ultimate showdown.

[@ZerogunRivale]

Agree with the idea the writing in "Signs" is unfortunately incredibly terrible. And I agree Stuckman can't analyze his way out of a paper bag. But man, there is so much to be said about how good the direction and editing choices are that neither Stuckmanizer nor EFAP are good at really getting at. I actually kind of see what Chris is getting at when he says the movie maintains a particular intensity from the beginning, but he has no idea how to put it into words. I also especially disagree with their spiel that having comedy somehow upsets the tone of the movie. Different types of comedy can have a different set of effects, and doesn't always cause the tonal whiplash that bathos-style humor the Marvel films cause. Because the comedy is always somewhat deadpan and played in character, and because the movie always maintains a particular tone through the acting style and shooting style, I never found the comedy and the sense of unease to never contradict one another.

[@reviewbomb85]

I know this movie has a lot of problems but it has a special place in my heart. I was 17 when it came out. I saved up money to take my girl friend. It was one of the first times I had been to a movie with a totally sold out theatre. The audience was 100% invested in the movie, and it was just a great time.

[@peterjansen5536]

man, fun theatre moments reminds me of when I saw the happening, probably the most fun audience out there, I don't think anybody was taking the movie seriously.

[@ajmatheson2807]

Every director has their strengths and weaknesses, some more than others. Like, George Lucas is really good at big picture world building, Hitchcock could capture tension. Shamalan is really good at creating a scene. The individual scenes of suspense and tension in his movies can be excellent, but its all the connective tissue between these scenes that he fails at.

[@araposkulo]

Best thing about the SIGNS movie, is its Scary Movie parody

[@HisNameWasCrazy]

I misread this as saying Signs _was_ a Scary Movie parody, and for a second I almost believed it.

[@therealfakecaptain7978]

Maybe the aliens need the signs to know which way is up.

[@dustylamborghini]

6:15:16 In the context of anything sci-fi... Water is _not_ a _UNIVERSAL_ symbol of _anything_ (!!!) Chris reminds me (not just in this case) of the Mr. Show sketch, The Roar of the Lion, based on Hemmingway's son's (supposedly atrocious) penmanship, in which, the "main" character gets pointed out to him that "You don't know what words mean, do you?"

[@hobomaster6237]

The Little Platoon yessss very nice DDDDD

[@criticalcommenter]

I wish platoon would replace rags

[@tons241]

No crop circle's in water? Cuts to some very confused family of japanese rice farmers in the main casts exact situation

[@hkaayaakuu]

Even the family dog in twister 1996 was saved from the F5 by the family