Was M. Night inspired by this?

Finally got around to watching this. It actually is one of the better horror/alien encounter films I've seen, and considering I've been addicted to this genre for a long time, I've seen a good deal of them. I've been hooked since 2001 (I was 11) when I saw "Signs" in theater. After watching this tonight, I'm thinking M. Night may have borrowed a lot from this film. Signs was still better, but it provides a similar eerie feeling that very few of these alien movies manage to pull off. Anyone know any similar movies?