M. Night’s Success is No Trap

Born in India and coming to America when he was just a few weeks old Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan wasn’t supposed to be a great filmmaker. He was supposed to be a doctor like his parents, a neurologist & OB-GYN respectively, and continue his family’s success in the USA. Raised Hindu but put into a private catholic school near Penn Valley, Pennsylvania and quickly became one of the best students. He was a fast learner and was the only non-catholic in his class. He says a teacher once was mad he got the best grade in the religion course because he wasn’t the same as everyone else. He attended an Episcopal high school, then went to NYU. The religion of his adopted home stuck with him as much as his childhood one when I watch his movies.

I was raised in a non-denominational church, which is just Mutt Christianity. Taking whatever parts fit according to what my family felt strongly about at the time but there was always the basics of almost any church you’d go to. The thing I feel when I watch Night’s movies are a youth group kid who wants to make you scared in a comfortable way. He wants to entertain first and foremost. He wants to be literal & surprising, and if he fails at that he wants you to see it coming, want to see it, and then be excited to see it. Which I think is very Christian of him. A lot of Christianity is reaffirming old feelings with new details. Taking what Jesus said, leaving off the difficult things, and focusing on the things you can do or can’t control and hoping they happen to you. A lot of no risk and all reward feelings. Because people who go to church mostly work all week and are spending anywhere from an hour to multiple hours of free time at a church during the week. They need to be getting something besides community. You can get community a lot of places. At church you are told you are saved. You are special and god is looking out for you. Something Night’s movies do is they make characters special. Almost all his characters have unique traits or quirks that make them stick out. Sometimes to less impact than others with his stoic direction of actors. Think how bad Mark Wahlberg & Zooey Deschanel’s delivery is in The Happening. Then think how alive and exciting Haley Joel Osment, Samuel L. Jackson, Mel Gibson, Bryce Dallas Howard, Josh Hartnett, or James McAvoy are in his movies. He’s like anyone. If he nails the casting, his movie will be fun or at worst exciting but frustrating. Just like at church, it can feel more meaningful and exciting depending on who is telling the stories.

Also like christianity M. Night is easy to find faults and hate. His dialogue, his being known for twists, his predictable choices or even worse, the things you don’t see coming that no one wanted. They are both very earnest and come at you with a simple premise. Even if it’s outlandish, both can bring comfort in how easy they navigate those silly features with powerful performances from those delivering it. Either with charisma or familiarity. My favorite thing about my church was how kind my family could be to others. Greeting everyone with a smiling enthusiasm and generosity. Night I think does the same with his movies. He is always welcoming you with open arms to be frightened, excited, curious, focused, and if not invested dramatically then just how he is going to swing away at this conflict.

You might find this connection a stretch, especially if you don’t like one or both of the things I’m talking about. As a former disliker of both myself, I would understand that. But I’ve come around as I get older and get further away from the feelings that caused the distaste of both. The opinions that pushed me away from both are always from outside voices. If you let others with angry feelings dictate what you think about something fully it can land you on one side or the other without real depth behind it. I think with maturity and thinking I’ve come to appreciate both things for what they do for some and how some interpret them. There is a very loud section of both I would prefer shut up, hateful christians much more harmful than the other obviously, but I think the good things from them can lift you up. I am no huge fan of the modern american church, but Night has become much closer to a favorite than he used to be. But with both religion and movies you can take what makes sense to you, excites and interests you, and as long as you aren’t hurting anyone or being hateful it can be a great thing. No one will remember your salary, how much you worked, or what car you drove. But everyone will remember if you told them “I liked the new M Night movie.”

THE FILMS

CHAPTER ONE: “In the beginning” - Praying with Anger (1992) / Wide Awake (1998)

His first movie Praying with Anger (an apt title for this essay?) was made with money he borrowed from family and friends and his thesis film at college. It’s very much made by a 21 year old or so, but there’s promise here. It’s about an emotionally conflicted Indian american who goes back to India to find his roots and discovers things about himself. M Night stars in it, and he of course wrote and directed it. There’s a lot here that I find interesting about him and what he brings to his future movies but it’s not very good. Wide Awake is his first proper film, which has Rosie O’Donnell and Denis Leary in it oddly enough, is also not good but has similar musings on life and death. It has a twist ending also, and follows a 5th grader who goes to his actual school he went to as a boy. These are not must sees, and not good movies, but I find them fascinating as a beginning to what’s next.

(he also co-wrote Stuart Little and She’s All That during this time for money. That rules)

CHAPTER TWO: “The waters of the flood were on the earth”- The Sixth Sense (1999) / Unbreakable (2000) / Signs (2002)

After this very inauspicious start, Night wrote and directed what became the second highest grossing horror film ever with Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense. The movie that became a sensation for quality, but in pop culture became more about the twist and our culture’s obsession with this idea of the twist following The Usual Suspects, Fight Club, and then Sixth Sense being the biggest of these. Many movies after, including his own, tried to emulate the success but once you twist once it’s hard to do it again unless you are very flexible or go the total opposite way. Sense’s ability to draw you in works on a first viewing. The twist, if you don’t know it, works on it’s own. But if you do know it, man, does it make the movie even better for me. I saw it when I was in high school knowing the twist because of parody’s I’ve seen or osmosis of culture and it was fine but I didn’t connect with it. Why should I have? A movie that’s strongest elements are grief of losing a love, raising a smart and empathetic child in a cruel scary world, and wanting to help those suffering. Three things very few teens are ever thinking about or concerned with. Night, as a 20 something prodigy, was locked in though. And while Bruce Willis casting is important to it’s success with lots of people, finding the right kid in Haley Joel Osment and getting one of the best actors of her generation in Toni Collette to play mother and son is why it works so well. The thriller/horror elements are more sad than full of fear. The twist is more about character development than shock, and the core of this movie is the weight of grief being lifted by kindness. I’ve watched it twice in the last year and it only gets better.

Unbreakable is a big shift in some ways. Based on an original superhero idea 8 years before Robert Downey Jr would become Iron Man (and 24 years before he would take a shit on this by becoming Dr Doom for nearly 100 million dollars - gross) Night was imagining a new kind of hero. It’s more of a thriller and the clear inspiration for future movies like Chronicle. It follows comic book style storytelling and tells an interesting odd story the way a graphic novel you’d pick up on a whim to try might surprise you with one afternoon in the bookstore. While the story itself and drama doesn’t fully connect with me his filmmaking took a step up here. He really becomes an incredible maker of images here. I was so impressed when I rewatched it in recent years. If you enjoy Marvel movies, or are tired of them it works well for both. Quite the achievement.

Signs, full disclosure, is my favorite Night movie. I saw it when I was still a christian, which helps, and was quite young but already questioning the silence and seemingly indifference of a god I hear a lot about but never feel or see. Night gave Mel Gibson, my favorite actor as a kid, things like this to say that really made little Major’s brain get going -

“People break down into two groups. When they experience something lucky, group number one sees it as more than luck, more than coincidence. They see it as a sign, evidence, that there is someone up there, watching out for them. Group number two sees it as just pure luck. Just a happy turn of chance. I'm sure the people in group number two are looking at those fourteen lights in a very suspicious way. For them, the situation is a fifty-fifty. Could be bad, could be good. But deep down, they feel that whatever happens, they're on their own. And that fills them with fear. Yeah, there are those people. But there's a whole lot of people in group number one. When they see those fourteen lights, they're looking at a miracle. And deep down, they feel that whatever's going to happen, there will be someone there to help them. And that fills them with hope. See what you have to ask yourself is what kind of person are you? Are you the kind that sees signs, that sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky? Or, look at the question this way: Is it possible that there are no coincidences?”

Now while I’m not saying I agree completely with this, it is a fun philosophical statement for a character to say. Watching a minister losing faith in this blockbuster about aliens making crop circles and landing in this rural area in Pennsylvania (where almost all his movies are set if you didn’t know) was mind opening. Before this my favorite movies were Twister and The Mummy. Two great fun movies but not movies that made me think a whole lot outside of how complicated adult romantic relationships seemed to be, cats scared mummy’s I guess, and how much I wanted to eat Aunt Meg’s food in Wakita, Kansas. So when Signs delivers aliens, religion, grief, the balance of faith, deadpan humor (so much of this as I watch it as an adult), and even sports kinda. It meant a lot to me. I still love it as an adult because of how skilled Night is with the camera and establishing tone and atmosphere. Seeing someone totally in control of a film is so nice, especially now when a lot of wide release movies look shitty, are all over the place, and feel like 14 people had a lot of pull on what was said, done, and how it looked. And it all leads toward quick, easy, and not cheap so I don’t know where the money goes. Signs, which was made for 70 million (for reference Twisters cost 160 million), uses all of that on Gibson, and crafting shots that feel real even if the CGI isn’t. No matter what the aliens look like they illicit a sense of dread. Of uncertainty. Just like that quote up there, two groups. Some see Aliens and see miracle. Some see them think uncertainty. Either way it used to make us feel something. I’m not so sure anymore.

CHAPTER THREE: “I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all.” - The Village (2004) The Lady in the Water (2007), and The Happening (2008)

Night coming off that success really shot his shot. Took what looked like a slam dunk premise, trailer, and beautiful first hour or so of a movie then really challenged the audience with a twist. More so than he previously had with Sense. He develops relationships spectacularly, by again casting well, even has some very questionable characters in it, and still I find this movie intoxicating to watch. I recently bought it to watch again and what a joy. Howard and Phoenix are so good. Almost everyone is great. What Night is asking them to do is so difficult. There’s a lot here to chew on and like Sense, is better on a rewatch knowing what is going on. The cruelty of the world and past traumas garnering a desire to avoid them, and to protect your family from what people can do. It may be hard to stomach at first when you want an entertaining horror movie but Night was still in the stage to have more on his mind. And bless him for it. He spent less money than he did on Signs and made over 4 times the budget back.

Bringing back Howard as the titular Lady, Night had financial success on all his movies and then was feeling himself and wanting to bring a bedtime story he told his daughters, now in the age range of 8-5 or so, to life. He left his studio who backed him previously because they questioned the script and what it was about. He said they didn’t believe in him and left. Then he made this movie and made most people ask the same question. I think if they went in understanding it was a weird kids movie they would chill out. But after so many people, no matter how small brained I consider it, feeling ripped off by The Village he became a punching bag. Lady in the Water is the dorkiest, underwear sticking out of the pants, glasses pushing up, easiest target to continue the desire of bullying so many felt after that. A strange movie in almost all ways gains points from me over the years with Giamatti’s performance. He brings this earnest egotistical movie a grounded core that can’t save it but gives it something worth admiring. It has a special quality to it, that if you’re on it’s wavelength and have a history with it you will hold it with you forever. If you see it when you’re already past coming of age you may discard and treat it like a waste of time. I don’t feel either, but I was much closer to the latter. Similar to his early films it is more fascinating to think about than to actually watch. I think making yourself the most important writer in the world in your own movie was just a step too far for those ready to pounce.

He quickly tried to make everyone forget about this with his version of a hard R horror film with The Happening. The idea, trailer, and images were so exciting. But as I mentioned earlier, The Happening fails because he miscast it. The deadpan character development full of direct and solemn lines for actors to say needs someone with a lot of life in them. Him picking Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel almost feels like tying both his hands behind his back or doing a joke on them. Maybe a stroke of ego again as a way to prove he can make any actor work in his movies? No idea. But they only get worse as i watch it more over the years. And it’s his most frustrating work. A climate change movie, that feels resonant during covid as well, that is a weak domestic drama and a scary idea factory. Just seeing your peers and friends and family being taken over by suicidal force with nothing to be done is such a striking premise. It fails, but it does feature some of his funniest moments. Both unintentional and intentional. Wahlberg feels like he wants to bully his own character the whole movie. It’s easy to make fun of the wind being scary, but if he just tweaked a few things this could’ve really been a great time. But because he miscalculated again he fell into the pit of being made fun of and being an easy target three times in a row in increasingly bigger fashion.

CHAPTER FOUR: “At the sight of them, every face turns pale” - The Last Airbender (2010), and After Earth (2013)

He enters a taking jobs point of his career, a very lucky and successful career hits a low point with an adaptation of a story that was so beloved he was hated for changing so much of it. Another case of him just unable to not be himself even when taking what could be a slam dunk idea of taking something people would love and just making it his own. It isn’t good but it’s not as bad as many things Netflix has put out just this year. After Earth is so bad. In my opinion his worst movie. Will Smith brought the idea to Night for his son to star in, and as we will get to, if anyone understands nepotism and loving his family it is Night. He writes it and directs this with the enthusiasm of someone who was brought an idea and got paid up front. A chapter of his career I’m sure he would like to move on from and boy, did he.

CHAPTER FIVE: Warn divisive people once, warn them a second time, after that have nothing to do with them” - The Visit (2015), and Split (2016)

The return! Lower budgets, easier sillier delights, fear from a place of character and circumstance. A supernatural or otherworldly feeling. The Night we knew was back. The Visit seemed like it could be a nail in the coffin with the annoying kid rapping, and shaky iphone style filming after a long period of decline from 2004-2013. He directed an episode and produced a canceled TV show Wayward Pines and then bet it all on himself. Financing his own movie for a small budget and crushing it with The Visit, a movie that playfully deals with the fears of being old in a world that isn’t for them. Theres a pile of shit in this movie but it is not one. Split was the real comeback story. The Visit was the single, Split was the home run. Returning to the comic book style storytelling with a truly great performance by James McAvoy and catching a future star on the come up like Anya Taylor Joy, Night brought so many thrills and fun to this movie. It cost 9 million and made almost 300. Incredible comeback. Focuses purely on fun, and being “devilish” as he calls it. He had a philosphy change. He quit worrying about the big picture and focused on moments. Took him long enough, but he got there.

CHAPTER SIX: “I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death” - Glass (2019), Old (2021), and Knock at the Cabin (2023)

While it’s always harder to look back on things so recent I will try. The success of Split meant he could do anything he wanted next. He chose to make a slow meditative story on all his original superhero ideas after a decade of Marvel takeover and the ways in which things have changed and how he feels about them now. It’s a intriguing movie, but one that mostly sits there and doesn’t give you much upon viewing as it does afterwards. It’s fine, with strong moments, but overlong and reeks of indulgence but with Night that is a scent I don’t mind anymore, clearly.

He quickly left that and started his stretch of every 18 months cranking one out. My opinion is the first and last 10 minutes of Old kind of suck. But that middle 80 or so is very fun and has some truly upsetting, funny, and intriguing moments. Well acted but maybe taken a little too seriously by actors over qualified and under qualified of equal measure. There’s two scenes in this that are as disturbing as anything he has put on screen, but they come in a movie that’s not working on a character and dramatic level. While not a success on that front, it is living on as a meme and for fun with a great idea. Which he has plenty of.

Knock at the Cabin was an adaptation from a book that he decided to make his own. I’ve read what he changed and while he made the story less interesting, he also made it more M Night. So I appreciate that. He has a through line in his career and I am loving him for that as he goes. This one really got me at times and I don’t think Dave Bautista has been given the room to shine like he has here. Great work by all involved really, and while it doesn’t all work I was pretty invested in the final act and was almost moved. I haven’t rewatched this one but will before his next one comes out and am looking forward to it.

CHAPTER SEVEN: “You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” Trap (2024), ?????

If you want a movie to be divisive M Night will show you the path. Have a star that is well liked but hasn’t been seen in a while besides supporting roles. Then, set the movie in one place for most of the runtime. Make sure it has another vulnerable theme among others like the love of a parent and wanting to see your child happy. Have it center around your actual daughters music, and hinge on her acting. Finally make the ending feel both like it has too many surprises and inevitable. Don’t make it that emotionally interesting but make it fun. Don’t do anything too shocking but don’t make it boring. Just let it be like you’re watching a video game at times and let you see what’s coming and still want you to enjoy that. That’s what I enjoyed about Trap. It’s hard to foreshadow nearly every element, make a movie centered on your daughters music and star power, put us in the POV of a serial killer, have him be brutal but never do anything on screen worse than pushing someone down or causing some burns on someone, but still be on their side. He really pulls out his Brian De Palma and Alfred Hitchcock here. I like some of those elements but what made it work for me was I was having a fun time. I think this is his purely silliest and most fun movie he’s made since The Visit. It won’t be remembered as one of his best but it should be remembered for Hartnett nailing it at every moment, the fun visual gags, and the light touch of everything. One of his funniest movies, intentionally, and I think he is in a great place. AS A FATHER OF A DAUGHTER I found it very sweet he spent his own money to craft this around making sure millions of people had to listen to her album. I understand not liking it. You’re either on Night’s wavelength or you’re not. Just like church, you’ll know from the first few minutes if you’re going to have a positive experience usually. And I think the music is just slightly better here. Trap is still in theaters and M Night Shyamalan, unlike Jesus, we do know what hour he will come back. 2025.