Shyamalan, admits to having Spielberg, Hitchcock and Lucas as his influences. You can see a great deal of Spielberg and Hitchcock in it.

The suspense and holding back of information until the end are Hitchcock, which Spielberg most effectively used in Jaws and therefore, this has the suspense of Jaws.

Blair Witch Projecy, is there too.

The flashlight scene, the garbage can spill and the bump on the swing are from E.T., plus the editing cut between serious & humorous of Gibson's character, while they're running around the house, and his movie brother are from Temple of Doom, and the various soft discussions between Morgan and his father, and Morgan and his brother, are from Poltergeist.

There are a great deal of Poltergeist's technique in this movie, specifically the long silences, the soft communications, the humors.

Some new techniques I see that are new in this movie; i.e., emotional counterpoint. As some of you know, in music, counterpoint is one or more extra melodies happening at the same time. And they're usually to support the overal emotion to be one and the same, even though the counterpoint may move against the main melody.

Emotional counterpoint in movies work the same way, where things or events happens at the same time, but to support the overall effect, whether it's excitement or otherwise. An example of it is Return of the Jedi, where there are 3 scenes going on at the same time. They are, the Forest Battle, the Attack on the Death Star and Luke's Encounter with the Emperor.

In Signs, there is a fresh counterpoint I've never seen before. Of terror and tenderness happening one and the sametime, in the same scene. Usually scary scenes of attack are loud and meant to scare you, but there is a scene where amongst an attack, the dialog are unrelated to the event at hand, and executing a totally different mood.

The effect gives something like eating something that's Bitter and Sweet, showering with cold water running over your back, but having the tub filled with hot water.

This is a very interesting, new technique and it's wonderful!

Plus, what I like about this movie is that the fears in the characters are not over exaggerated. Unlike in Jaws 2, where one girl was in so much fear,"Shh,shh,shhh, shhhhh, SHAAARRRRRKKKK!!!! Jeanot the director, was not good at manipulating us to fear.

Shyamalan is too smart for that. He knows that if the characters displays too much fear, it diminishes it for the audience, because the characters in the movie are sucking the fear from the audience, by carrying the emotions on the sleeve, and displaying it to obviously.

Whereas, Hitchcock's technique, from who Spielberg learned his own technique, the characters show vulnerability through internal fear, this transfers the fear to the audience, instead. A much more powerful impact, because it affects the psyche.

It's not any different than what you've heard people say before. Physical abuse is not near as painful, deep and long lasting as emotional or psychological abuse.

We all know that the most effective suspenseful movies are when our psyche are attacked, not our eyes. That's why a cheap movie like Blair Witch can earn over $100 million, without any usage of traditional cinematic requirements, such as high quality camera work, photography, acting, stars, symphony scoring, etc.