The tabloid-driven crop circle hysteria that swept Britain a few years ago is now thankfully only a distant memory.

Every now and then some conspiracy theorist - who looks like he could do with a good wash - pops up to announce the aliens are coming and is then led away.

Perhaps Britain's most serious 'cerealogist' is former Trogg Reg Presley, who was once famous for Love Is All Around, but is now revered for waxing lyrical in a West Country burr about strange shapes in fields.

M Night Shyamalan doesn't really fit the crank stereotype - he's the writer and director behind the sublime supernatural chiller The Sixth Sense and its worthy follow-up Unbreakable.

Here he casts Gibson as farmer Graham Hess, a widowed former priest whose faith deserted him when an accident left his two children without a mother.

As if he hasn't suffered enough, he discovers a huge series of symbols have installed themselves in the cornfield yards from his front porch.

That's not all - animals have started acting strangely, his daughter Bo (Breslin) has developed a fear of water and a baby monitor starts picking up strange signals.

When Graham and his younger brother Merrill (Phoenix) spot shadowy figures on the roof, they call out the law in the form of Officer Paski (Cherry Jones).

So far, so familiar - but the tired old formula of incredulous cops raising their eyes as they're fed increasingly unlikely tales is given a fresh spin.

Paski admits strange thing have been happening in Bucks County and soon the international news is choc-full of crop circle sightings.

It appears aliens have been busy in Bangalore, India, Mexico and even Wakefield in Yorkshire (as if they didn't have enough problems as it is).

"This is one of the most elaborate hoaxes ever created," a TV pundit portentuously announces. "...or it's for real."

Gibson, whose "I'm mad, I am" persona can grate, turns in a nicely restrained performance.

With his family facing an unknown peril, he neatly captures the desperation of a former believer whose God has turned his back on him.

Shyamalan, who also crops up (don't titter!) playing the local vet, painstakingly builds the tension up and never succumbs to the temptation to put the sfx people on overtime.

It's a skilfully made thriller that - despite lacking the 22 carat twists of his previous offerings - keeps the attention riveted and credulity intact.

Tim Evans