Category Archives: M. Night Shyamalan

Knock at the Cabin-2023

Knock at the Cabin-2023

Director M. Night Shyamalan

Starring Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge

Scott’s Review #1,361

Reviewed May 14, 2023

Grade: B+

Most M. Night Shyamalan films follow a pattern in which there is either a twist ending or a thought-provoking message to stew over during and following the film. They also include a supernatural element. That’s why his films intrigue and keep certain audiences coming back for more.

The director’s films are never boring and his fascination with the odd and macabre aspects of life is contagious.

Knock at the Cabin (2023) is just such a film with a suspenseful premise immediately eliciting intrigue if the trailers do it justice. An isolated cabin in the middle of nowhere is the perfect setting for a horror film as the character’s vulnerability is evident.

The film is based on a 2018 novel called The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul G. Tremblay.

Featuring the impressive inclusivity of a white male same-sex couple with a young adopted Asian daughter got my attention immediately. Much credit to those involved for straying from the tried and true and risking the label of a ‘gay movie’.

Married couple Eric (Jonathan Groff) and Andrew (Ben Aldridge) are happily vacationing at a remote cabin in rural Pennsylvania with their daughter Wen (Kristen Cui). One day, while collecting grasshoppers Wen is approached by a hulking man named Leonard (Dave Bautista) who befriends her.

When Leonard and his friends take the family hostage they demand that the family make an unthinkable choice to avert an apocalypse. At first, thinking the group is psychotic, the family slowly starts to question what is real and what is not while the clock rapidly ticks toward doomsday.

The win with Knock at the Cabin is there is not a dull moment during the one hour and forty minutes running time. Shyamalan uses lots of closeup camera work that keeps the level of peril at a maximum.

Within the first few minutes, a gleeful Wen goes from chattering with her grasshoppers to suspiciously eyeing the approaching Leonard. The audience sees him in the background and it’s a powerful moment of apprehension.

Who is this hulking behemoth and why is he coming to her family’s cabin? Wen and the audience ask the same questions.

Soon the perspective shifts to the other characters led by Andrew and Eric. Though armed, the strangers seem nice enough. There is a nurse named Sabrina (Nikki Amuka-Bird) and a young mother named Adriane (Abby Quinn). Sure, there is a convict named Redmond (Rupert Grint) but he seems reformed.

The couple ponders whether the strangers have innocently fallen into some weird message board cult or are completely nuts. Through the use of backstory scenes, the audience learns that Andrew and Eric have not always had it easy being shunned by Andrew’s parents and harassed in a bar.

Could the strangers be targeting them for their lifestyle and trying to cause them harm?

Leonard makes them watch footage of the apocalyptic destruction commencing but is the footage real or staged?

The thrilling aspect of Knock at the Cabin is the audience asks the same questions that Eric and Andrew do. As far-fetched as it seems should they believe the strangers? Would you have your significant other or child sacrificed to save the world?

I’m not sure if the conclusion paid off for me or if I completely understood the wrap-up but I adore the strong message of love and connection. I was anticipating more of an ‘aha’ moment or something more powerful.

While none of his subsequent films have matched his masterpiece breakthrough The Sixth Sense (1999) they each have enough mustard to warrant a viewing.

Knock at the Cabin (2023) offers a wonderful dose of diversity that makes the experience timely, relevant, and meaningful. A subpar ending only slightly hampers what is otherwise a thrill ride.

I’ll immediately think of this film if ever I am in a cabin in the middle of the woods.

Unbreakable-2000

Unbreakable-2000

Director M. Night Shyamalan

Starring Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson

Scott’s Review #1,260

Reviewed May 29, 2022

Grade: A-

Following the brilliant and massive critical and commercial success of The Sixth Sense (1999), M. Night Shyamalan hit his stride and became a household name known for mixing supernatural and psychological elements in his web of good storytelling.

Following 2002’s Signs credibility tapered a bit but Unbreakable (2000) is an overlooked gem falling in the shadows of The Sixth Sense which everyone remembers best when they talk about the director.

The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable are also strong counterparts because they both star Hollywood legend Bruce Willis who it can be argued started to gain respectability within the industry with the former.

He continues his superior acting and calm character approach.

Unbreakable is part thriller, science fiction, and superhero film, so I have categorized it accordingly. It’s part of an Unbreakable film series and was followed by Split (2016) and Glass (2019) which took years to develop and were decent if underwhelming projects.

Unbreakable is by far the best of the bunch.

David Dunn (Willis) is a regular guy who works as a college football stadium security guard. He is a former star college quarterback whose dreams of stardom never materialized because of a car accident. He lives a somewhat melancholy yet decent life with his wife Audrey (Robin Wright) and son Joseph.

One day David boards a train. The train experienced a devastating derailment with an enormous casualty number. David awakes in the hospital to find that he is the sole survivor of the wreck. He is left unscathed.

Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson) arrives on the scene as a mysterious comic book expert who takes a liking to David and his experience. He offers a bizarre explanation as to why David escaped without a single scratch that counters Elijah’s health- he is a frail man who is constantly at risk of breaking his bones.

Elijah and Joseph begin to believe that David is a superhero. At first, David rebuffs this notion but slowly begins to realize he has extrasensory perception.

What is the link between David and Elijah?

I’m not always a big superhero fan and sometimes the storylines are riddled with cliches, stereotypes, and predictability.

But, Unbreakable is fascinating and unpredictable. It’s also dark, cerebral, and contains a surprise ending leaving me summarizing that it’s a different sort of superhero film with layers of cool elements.

It’s a non-traditional superhero film and I love that quality.

There’s a suspension of disbelief of course. How one character can rig a train accident and other crimes is a bit of a stretch but the characters of David and Elijah are compelling enough for me to forget those pesky little plot holes and enjoy the experience.

If the story sometimes falters, the riveting train sequence more than makes up for it. We see David quietly enjoying the train ride until all hell breaks loose. The shattered glass, derailment, and chaos are fabulous entertainment as well as wonderment of what comes next and what the sequence means to the rest of the story.

There are plenty of twists and turns in Unbreakable.

Almost as riveting but in a different way is the opening scene of Unbreakable which will immediately grab the viewer. It is 1961 and an African American woman is told that her baby’s arms and legs are broken. This is later a key to the story but at this time we know not what this intrigue has to do with anything.

Unbreakable (2000) is incredibly fresh and original. It can easily be watched in a double-feature with The Sixth Sense but is nothing like that film except for its director and actor.

But, they are M. Night Shyamalan’s best films, and Unbreakable provides tremendous thought and conceptualization while creating daring camera work long remembered after the first viewing.

Old-2021

Old-2021

Director-M. Night Shyamalan

Starring-Gael García Bernal, Vicky Krieps

Scott’s Review #1,195

Reviewed November 13, 2021

Grade: B

I am always rather intrigued by any M. Night Shyamalan projects that come down the pike whether it be a television or film offering. He has a knack for creating twist endings with a supernatural component.

Sometimes, like with The Sixth Sense (1999) and The Village (2004) he knocks it out of the park. Others are more average.

Old (2021) contains a novel and tantalizing premise that sometimes delivers and sometimes lags. It’s a worthy effort that picks up speed in the final fifteen minutes or so with a predictable conclusion I guessed about midway through but is still really cool to see.

The film might have been better as a short film or shorter running episode- think Twilight Zone.

Nothing in Old is too shocking or scary and nothing that will make the hair on your neck stand up but it’s entertaining and provides a message worthy of dissection.

The visionary filmmaker unveils a chilling, mysterious premise that oozes with possibility.

A seemingly happy suburban family decides to treat themselves to a tropical holiday in paradise. Prisca (Vicky Krieps), the wife, stumbles upon the exciting vacation offer online and decides to go for it. This alone should have been a red flag. Her husband, Guy (Gael García Bernal) agrees, and their children, Trent and Maddox, are overjoyed.

What the children don’t realize is that Guy and Prisca plan to divorce after the vacation ends.

The family is lavished with hospitality, food, and drinks and whisked away to a secluded beach where they relax for a few hours with other members of the resort including a surgeon and his wife, an epileptic psychologist, and her husband, and various others. They realize that something is causing them to age rapidly…reducing their entire lives into a single day!

They panic and try to leave the island sometimes turning on each other in the process.

M. Night Shyamalan himself has a small role-playing resort employee who drives the group to the beach and monitors them.

Filmed mostly on the beaches of the Dominican Republic the cinematography is wonderful and quite scenic. The film doesn’t say where the action is supposed to be so I guessed it was Hawaii. The lavish mountains, roaring waves, and exquisite underwater coral sequences give the film a beautiful and calming vibe despite the drama going on.

I also ruminated to the comparisons with the popular television series Lost which ran on ABC from 2004-2010. A group of stranded individuals faces complex and startling situations while desperately trying to flee an island. When one character drowns and another falls to their death from a cliff while trying to leave I was reminded that maybe the island is a force in itself.

As the title gives away the characters start to age rapidly. The makeup effects aren’t as great as one might hope and some characters inexplicably age more than other characters making the whole idea feel a bit silly.

Some of the characters are written better than others and there are some stereotypes to overlook like the schizophrenic doctor who goes mad. His trophy wife is blonde and toned and obsessed with remaining young. As a positive, the wife of another couple is a doctor and the husband a nurse. Many would expect the opposite.

To that end, I never felt very connected to any of the characters, and most are written as a means to an end. Their backstories are explored but lack any depth.

The twist at the end, totally expected in a Shyamalan film is a discussion that can be had after the film ends. A question of medicine and playing god is the main focus and one character with a small role at the beginning of the film is pivotal with the final events.

Not one of his best but certainly worthy of a watch, M. Night Shyamalan continues to tickle my fancy for crafting good, twisty thrillers. Old (2021) doesn’t come close to rivaling his classics but provides good entertainment and perhaps a bit more.

Split-2016

Split-2016

Director M. Night Shyamalan

Starring James McAvoy, Anya Taylor Joy

Scott’s Review #821

Reviewed October 18, 2018

Grade: B-

Split (2016) is the second part of a planned trilogy, the first is Unbreakable (2000), and the third is to debut in 2019.

This point confused me since I did not notice any correlation between the films until the final scene. Even that was not very clear.

Split has its ups and downs, mainly because James McAvoy’s performance is spectacular and the highlight, but the film is sadly riddled with many plot holes and some nonsense.

I do not predict the film will be remembered all too well.

Casey (Joy) is a withdrawn teenage girl with an abusive past at the hands of her uncle, who raised her after her father died. She, along with two other girls is accosted by a man (McAvoy) who chloroforms them and takes them to a hidden basement.

The girls quickly learn that their abductor is Kevin Wendell Crumb, a man suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID).

His personalities range from a nine-year-old child to an effeminate artist, to a well-dressed woman, and Kevin.

The audience (but not the girls) learns that Kevin is in therapy and the care of Doctor Karen Fletcher (Betty Buckley) an established Philadelphia psychiatrist. Fletcher is aware of Kevin’s other personalities and an additional personality deemed “The Beast”.

She assumes this is a fantasy superhero figure.

Karen slowly pieces together the frightening depth of Kevin’s disorder and must race against time to save the girls.

McAvoy, mostly known for his great performances in The Last King of Scotland (2006) and Atonement (2007), also a central figure in the X-Men film franchise (2011-2019), knocks it out of the park.

What a challenging role (or roles!) for the handsome, Scottish actor.  He is convincing as the stoic and confident Kevin and provides the perfect swagger as “Patricia” and “Dennis”. Finally, he plays nine-year-old “Hedwig” with childhood innocence and insecurities.

The casting of McAvoy is a treat and a success.

How lovely to see film and television stalwart Betty Buckley back in the game with a central film role. To say nothing of the actress’s achievements on stage in play after play, the woman is a legend in other genres.

Eagle-eyed horror fans will undoubtedly remember Buckley’s role as the sympathetic gym teacher in Carrie (1976). In Split, she portrays another benevolent character as she is concerned for her patient’s well-being, not realizing the sinister sides he keeps hidden. The role is perfect for the warm Buckley.

Written, co-produced, and directed by the acclaimed M. Night Shyamalan, Split is no masterpiece like The Sixth Sense (1999) or even on par with The Village (2004).  Instead, the result is a peculiar and uneven effort- the fascination is with McAvoy’s twenty-three different personalities, granted we only see four or five of them.

The film misses the numerous backstory scenes of Casey and her uncle, hunting in the woods. These scenes slow down the action and seem overly lengthy. She was abused and can now handle herself- we get it.

This point could have been achieved within one scene.

The relationship between the three girls is okay, but the story point of Casey being an outcast and different from the other two girls seems unnecessary and thrown in.

The final scene of Bruce Willis (as Dennis Dunn from Unbreakable) is somewhat of a nice nod to the previous film but lost on anyone who either has not seen it or has not seen it since it premiered well over a decade ago.

More of a connection between the two stories should have been featured.

In addition to McAvoy’s impressive performance, a positive is there are no male characters designed to “save the day” as is still typical with mainstream films.

The heroes of the film are Casey (a teenage girl) and Karen (a woman in her sixties). Credit must be given to attempts at making Split a more progressive-minded film, despite all the story pieces not aligning.

The result of the film is fair to middling- Split (2016) is not a great effort, but a decent watch. The highlights are McAvoy, a worthy role for veteran Buckley, and some good tension and moments of good peril. The story is not the high point and Shyamalan has made better films.

Devil-2010

Devil-2010

Director John Erick Dowdle

Starring Chris Messina

Scott’s Review #523

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Reviewed November 23, 2016

Grade: B

Devil (2010) is an enjoyable thriller/horror film deemed the first in a trilogy, though it is unknown if the subsequent films will see the light of day since this film was not a smash success at the box office nor was it critically acclaimed.

A fun fact is that the screenplay is based on a story written by respected director, M. Night Shyamalan.

The premise is delicious;  set in Philadelphia, a man suddenly jumps from a tall skyscraper to his death. We learn from a narrator that the devil takes many forms and makes his presence known by suicide.

Detective Bowden (Messina) is called to investigate the death.

Eventually, five people are stuck in an elevator and one is a killer, presumably the devil. The film is a whodunit of sorts and a tale of morality, good versus evil.

Parts of the film are a bit hokey and suspension of disbelief is certainly required, but Devil is also a decent, edge-of-your-seat thriller.

Being only rated PG-13, the film tones down the gore and the death in favor of lighter, tamer activity.

The revelation of the actual killer is surprising and rather enjoyable.

The Visit-2015

The Visit-2015

Director M. Night Shyamalan

Starring Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould, Kathryn Hahn

Scott’s Review #276

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Reviewed September 24, 2015

Grade: B

A modern-day thriller/horror/comedy hybrid (admittedly it is tough to classify this film as exclusive horror with the dreaded and watered-down PG-13 rating) directed by M. Night Shyamalan, The Visit (2015) has its moments of genuine scary frights and surprises.

It contains a wonderful twist at the end but suffers from some clichés, one severely unlikeable character, and suspensions of disbelief.

Bringing grandparents to the forefront of the film is a clever idea, albeit, stereotypically, The Visit is a decent watch, but laden with a few misfires.

Paula (Kathryn Hahn), a single mother on the outs with her parents for some years, but recently reunited, sends her two children- Rebecca and Tyler, for a week, to stay at their grandparent’s farmhouse, whom they have never met.

At the kids prompting, Paula decides to go on a romantic vacation with her new boyfriend.

Naturally, when the kids arrive at Grandma and Grandpa’s strange events happen. The children are warned never to go into the basement, not to leave their bedrooms after nine-thirty pm, plus the grandparents have a creepy, weird, look to them.

Rebecca and Tyler, in true modern horror fashion, arguably contrived at this point, record all the events (think Paranormal Activity from 2007) and begin to realize there is something rotten in the state of Denmark.

The Visit contains positives and negatives.

The mother and the two kids live in New Jersey and the grandparents in Pennsylvania. That is one state away, yet Rebecca and Tyler have never met, seen photographs, spoken to their grandparents on the phone, not even to discuss the impending visit.

The kids constantly use Skype to communicate with Mom throughout their visit, but doesn’t occur to anyone to chat with the grandparents before embarking on a week-long visit to introduce themselves.

This is a convenient plot manipulation.

Another negative is the film contains one of the most annoying characters in recent memory, Tyler. I am baffled as to whether this was intentional or unintentional.

The kid is about twelve years old and is written as dumb as possible. There are at least three to four endless scenes of him rapping, mostly to the video camera, that I found to be an utter waste of valuable screen time and lends nothing to the plot.

Filler and for a ninety-minute movie, unnecessary.

In the end, though, I got the last laugh, as the character, a germophobe, has his face smeared with human excrement.

The third negative I observed is the constant “old people jokes”, which bordered on the offensive after a while. The grandparent’s unusual behavior was blamed numerous times on their age as if all elderly people were scatterbrained, daffy, or just downright strange.

Many seniors are intelligent, useful, and lively so there was a feeling of disrespect towards the elderly that I could not shake. The film could have portrayed the grandparents with more dignity than it chose to.

Now for some positives, the compelling twist at the end of the film I did not see coming and I loved that about The Visit.

Rarely is the audience surprised anymore, especially in the horror genre, and I was. Having replayed the film in my mind the plot makes perfect sense, but is a positive in the heart of the climax.

On the subject of the conclusion, The Visit has a unique slow-motion/dreamlike feel and an odd, classical-type musical score playing throughout the ending that adds much depth to the typical thriller-type music heard in most genre films.

The oven scene inevitably viewed by all during early trailers for The Visit is excellent. When Grandma convinces Rebecca to crawl completely inside her oven to clean it we know this will not end well.

Additionally, the look and texture of the setting, an old deserted farmhouse in a small, rural town in the middle of nowhere has a feeling of being trapped.

This successfully provides a scary backdrop for the film and all the elements scream horror.

The Visit (2015) has genuine scares and will make the viewer jump, and perhaps even shriek. That is what good horror does yet I am still unsure if this film is more horror or comedy.

Unintentionally so, perhaps.

The Sixth Sense-1999

The Sixth Sense-1999

Director M. Night Shyamalan

Starring Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment

Top 100 Films #56     Top 20 Horror Films #15

Scott’s Review #182

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Reviewed October 8, 2014

Grade: A

The Sixth Sense is a psychological thriller/horror film directed by M. Night Shyamalan, made in 1999, about ghosts, that was an incredible box-office and critical success at its time of release and made the line, “I see dead people” universally imitated.

Bruce Willis stars as Dr. Malcolm Crowe, a successful and admired child psychologist, who lives a perfect life with his wife Anna in Philadelphia.

Enjoying a romantic night at home, Malcolm and Anna are interrupted by a deranged former patient- played by an unrecognizable Donnie Walhberg.

Malcolm is shot by the patient, who also shoots himself, and the story picks up a year later as Malcolm takes an interest in Cole, a troubled 9-year-old boy, played by Haley Joel Osment. Cole is a peculiar boy- an outcast taunted at school, who can see the dead.

He’s worried, over-worked mother, Lynn, is played by Toni Collette. Meanwhile, Malcolm and Anna appear to be going through marital problems and lack any meaningful communication with each other.

Anna begins to be pursued by a new beau much to Malcolm’s chagrin. Malcolm and Cole develop a special bond as Malcolm convinces Cole to speak to and help the ghosts that he sees rather than be terrified of them.

As the plot slowly unfolds, Cole helps a recently deceased girl named Kyra Collins, who is around his age. Kyra gives Cole a videotape that reveals she was murdered and proves who killed her.

The subsequent scene is my favorite- there is a haunting quality to it and the camera follows the events interestingly- slowly and sedately.

The setting is a service at Kyra’s house where family and friends are gathered to pay respects and support Kyra’s parents. Malcolm and Cole arrive and present Kyra’s father with the plain videotape.

The entire scene is powerful in its simplicity yet high emotional value. It is slow, but devastating in its climax and reveals. Small nuances are revealed- why is Kyra’s mother wearing bright red when the other guests are all wearing black? Will Kyra’s younger sister be the next victim?

Superlative filmmaking.

A scene involving Cole’s teacher is riveting- being able to sense aspects of people’s pasts Cole realizes his teacher had a stuttering problem as a child. When his teacher is condescending towards Cole, the young boy explodes with rage and begins a chant of “Stuttering Stanley” which reduces the teacher to childhood traumas.

Yet another powerful scene involves Cole and his mother sitting in a car caught in traffic- Cole admits the truth of his skill of seeing dead people to her and introduces an emotional story to her as proof.

This is a scene where Toni Collette shines brightly.

Well over a decade since The Sixth Sense was released, most people know the twist and subsequent surprise ending and it is such a joy to go back, see the manipulations in the story and individual scenes, add them all up, and revel in the clever way that Shyamalan puts them all together.

The Sixth Sense is not dated and is quite fresh, holding up tremendously, and I personally still get chills during the big reveal all these years later.

But more than this pleasure, the film is written beautifully. Somewhere between horror and psychological thriller, it successfully tells a ghost story with interesting characters and jumps-out-of-your-seat thrills that are not contrived and predictable in the traditional horror film way.

From an acting perspective, Bruce Willis is amazing and under-appreciated as Malcolm- he is calm, cool, and collected and his performance is quite understated as the inquisitive and pensive psychologist.

More praise should have been reaped on Willis.

Haley Joel Osment gives an astounding performance of a lifetime- he emits an image to the audience of being strange yet sympathetic and he relays his very frightening fear of the ghosts so well that the pain and conflict he endures is evident on his face.

Toni Collette is effective as the scared, concerned, haggard mother. Collette and Osment were rewarded with Academy award nominations- sadly Willis was not.

Shyamalan was subsequently ridiculed for his later films (The Village-2001, and Unbreakable-2001) – perhaps the manipulation and trickery from The Sixth Sense angered some people.

The Sixth Sense (1999) is a film that remains with you for days, weeks, even years and can be revisited and rediscovered for an intelligent, chilling good time.

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture, Best Director-M. Night Shyamalan, Best Supporting Actor-Haley Joel Osment, Best Supporting Actress-Toni Collette, Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, Best Film Editing