With Trap out in cinemas, we thought now would be a great time to revisit the filmography of M. Night Shyamalan, one of the most divisive auteur filmmakers working in Hollywood today. Once heralded as the next Steven Spielberg, his career has been on a trajectory of mixed results, ranging from suspenseful, terrifically crafted thrillers to laughably bad flicks. Here are all of M. Night Shyamalan’s movies ranked from worst to best.
This list will exclude the recently released Trap, though it will cover all fourteen movies that M. Night Shyamalan has directed thus far in his career. However, it will exclude his debut movie, Praying With Anger. It’s an okay movie, though one that doesn’t quite “fit” into his filmography as well as the rest. We’ve compiled the ranking based on our own personal opinions which do not reflect mass opinions. We’re keen to hear your favourite movies too.
All M. Night Shyamalan Movies Ranked (From Worst to Best)
14. The Last Airbender
The Last Airbender is… an experience and I mean that in the worst possible way. Shyamalan throws all of his directing skills out of the window trying to adapt Nickelodeon’s beloved cartoon. It’s almost surreal that this movie even got off the ground, despite some talents like Dev Patel who desperately tried to scrounge a decent performance out of an awful script. As far as adaptations go, The Last Airbender is a criminal offence and a stain on Shyamalan’s career.
13. After Earth
One would think that after The Pursuit of Happyness, casting Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith in a high-profile sci-fi blockbuster together would be a hit. After Earth, unfortunately, ended up being a gigantic miss. Hollow, boring and predictable, After Earth tries to glide by on its visual effects and star power but fails to conjure any genuine excitement or thrills from its promising premise. Shyamalan’s better judgement or craftsmanship as a director is sorely missing from this Smith-driven adventure.
12. Lady in the Water
Lady in the Water sounds good on paper. Very good. A fairy tale thriller for grown-ups from the mind behind The Sixth Sense sure sounds like a seller. So where did it all go wrong? Shyamalan wasn’t quite at the peak of his career after The Village, though many fans saw Lady in the Water as a chance at redemption. Sadly, it only did more damage to the filmmaker’s career – a messy, almost self-indulgent, ambitious-to-a-fault movie that had some decent ideas but only one or two of them actually stuck the landing.
11. The Happening
It’s easier to digest The Happening as a grim comedy than a straight-up suspenseful thriller at times, though you can’t deny that its B-movie charm is kind of endearing. Mark Wahlberg does his best impression of Mark Wahlberg ever, Zooey Deschanel sleepwalks through the script and the extras seem to be acting in another genre entirely. It has a few redeeming qualities – the death scenes are particularly brutal – but beyond that, it’s best not to take this one too seriously.
10. Wide Awake
Before The Sixth Sense, Shyamalan was still trying to find his footing in the film world with Wide Awake, a comedy-drama that explored some heady themes like religion, the afterlife and the meaning of life from the perspective of a 10-year old. It’s an interesting watch but it did very little to move the needle on Shyamalan’s career. It’s not terrible but it’s not good either; a middling, uneventful little flick that’s always forgotten in the filmmaker’s history.
9. Glass
The superb first 20 minutes of Glass gave me everything I ever wanted in a sequel to Unbreakable and Split. Bruce Willis’ David Dunn has adjusted to his life as a vigilante superhuman/crime fighter, hunting down James McAvoy’s villainous Beast. Then the rest of the movie happened. It’s good to see Shyamalan actually tackle a direct sequel in his career but Split might’ve set our expectations too high. Glass tries hard to be different, creating a very divisive experience.
8. Old
Old banks heavily on its absurd premise to generate weird, discomforting thrills. Some are admittedly pretty damn effective. You can tell Shyamalan had a lot of fun directing Old because it kind of throws one suspenseful moment after the next at audiences without much room to breathe. Old slips up when it tries to explain its supernatural occurences. Like a balloon slowly deflating, the movie also deflates itself of excitement as it goes on.
7. The Visit
Shyamalan’s comeback after a string of bad movies didn’t need to be a low-budget found footage passion project but he did it anyway and it’s kind of admirable. The Visit isn’t a home run return to form but it marked a good turning point in the director’s career – one that set him back on the path of thrillers. You know, the stuff he’s good at. It’s also a surprisingly good comedy (intentionally so this time) and more sincerely written than his other movies.
6. Knock at the Cabin
With Knock at the Cabin, M. Night Shyamalan leans into his signature style: chills, reflective questions about real-world events and unique thrillers that actually make you ponder its deeper themes and meanings. Knock at the Cabin effectively delivers on its claustrophobic suspense, even if it doesn’t reach very exciting depths or conclusions. It’s a marginally better movie than it gets credit for, all thanks to Dave Bautista’s devoted performance.
5. The Village
The Village is Shyamalan’s most misunderstood movie. Shackled by notoriously misguided marketing that set all the wrong expectations back in 2004, The Village is a beautifully crafted, well-acted drama that gave us far more terrifying monsters than those lurking in the woods. When the horror kicks in, it’s fantastic but honestly, that’s not the point of the movie. Unfortunately this is what studios ran with, souring the taste of the movie for audience-goers who didn’t expect, well, a period piece romance going in.
4. Split
If The Visit wasn’t the home run return to form for Shyamalan, Split was. Apart from its twist ending which is arguably one of the best-executed in cinema history, Split was a solid thriller overall, elevated by James McAvoy’s committed performance as a man with split personality disorder. It’s a fantastic watch that gets better on repeated viewings, even if some plot elements make you a little uncomfortable.
3. The Sixth Sense
Many might find it weird not to have The Sixth Sense in the number one spot considering that it earned M. Night Shyamalan a couple of Oscar nominations but there’s no denying its impact on cinema and pop culture. Haley Joel Osment’s chilling performance is timeless and its scares are masterfully crafted. It’s the kind of thriller/horror that goes beyond the genre’s boundaries, telling a moving personal drama in between its suspenseful ghostly moments.
2. Signs
Signs is a mesmerising movie to both watch and study. Layered with plenty of haunting alien imagery (the birthday party scene is an all-timer) and questions about faith, family and miracles, it’s a more complex tale beneath its sci-fi surface. Instead of going all-out blockbuster like Independence Day, Shyamalan wanted to tell a more personal story about the end of the world – lo and behold, it worked on every level. It’s a highly influential movie today and one that’s only gotten better with age.
1. Unbreakable
Let’s put it this way: if Unbreakable was released today in this age of comic book movies, it would be hailed as a genre-subverting masterpiece. It was clearly ahead of its time for the kind of storytelling that audiences maybe weren’t expecting (or were ready for) back then. Stylish, brooding and challenging, Unbreakable is an inspired movie with its roots firmly planted in Shyamalan’s love of comic books. If you watch it today, you might be surprised at how relevant it feels – more importantly, how it bends and twists the superhero genre into something grounded and remarkable.
