Is Nope Jordan Peele’s Signs?

The full trailer for Jordan Peele’s third film Nope has hit, and with scenes of something arriving from the skies, it’s reminiscent of M. Night Shyamalan’s third film, Signs.

Jordan Peele is fast becoming the biggest name in horror. Peele started out writing and starring in comedy – most notably as one half of Key and Peele – but now he’s all about the scares.

His first film Get Out – which starred Daniel Kaluuya – was released in 2017. It received critical acclaim, won Peele the Best Original Screenplay Oscar, and grossed $255 million from a $4.5 million budget.

His sophomore effort Us was equally successful, making $255 million from a $20 million budget. And now he’s back with Nope, a science-fiction flick that could be his version of Signs.

What is M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs?

Ignoring his forgettable debut Wide Awake, M. Night Shyamalan first hit big with The Sixth Sense, which like Get Out, received critical acclaim and Oscar nominations while also making a boat-load of money.

• Read More: E.T. was once a horror movie called Night Skies

His next film Unbreakable wasn’t as successful as Peele’s Us, but it has since developed something of a cult following. He then moved on to Signs, about a widespread alien invasion.

The film starred Mel Gibson as a priest trying to protect his family from extra-terrestrials while questioning his own faith. And it touched a nerve with audiences, to the tune of more than $400 million.

How has M. Night Shyamalan influenced Jordan Peele?

M. Night Shyamalan and Jordan Peele are both auteurs who make big, bold, crowd-pleasing blockbusters in the horror and science-fiction genres. And Peele has made no secret of the fact that he’s greatly influenced by Shyamalan.

Speaking to Rolling Stone in 2019, Peele said he took inspiration from how Shyamalan’s palette broadened between The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable.

Recognizing him as a kindred spirit, the magazine reports that after Get Out, Shyamalan sent Peele a message though producer Jason Blum advising him to “Tell the story you want to tell. Don’t listen to everything around you. Go back to what drove you to write the first one.”

What happens in the Nope trailer?

The Nope trailer plays out in a remote part of inland California where something mysterious is happening in the clouds.

The film reunites Peele with Kaluuya, who plays a character called OJ Haywood. When whatever’s happening in the sky kills his Dad on the ground, OJ teams up with sister Emerald (Keke Palmer) to try and make their fortune by getting a picture or video of whatever’s out there.

• Read More: Rolling Stone interview with Jordan Peele

But it seems that this only angers this presence, as between the U.S. trailer and International trailer, it looks like the visitors rain blood down on their house. OJ then reckons he knows how to survive whatever’s happening, claiming, “I don’t think it takes you if you don’t look up at it.”

Of course the E.T. angle could be misdirection, as Peele likes to mess with his audience, and one character even states during the U.S. trailer, “It’s not what you think.”

But shots of a flying saucer appear in both teasers, suggesting the aliens are really here, and that this might very well be Jordan Peele’s Signs.

Either way, the truth is out there, and we’ll get those answers when Nope hits cinemas on August 12.