M. Night Shyamalan movies, ranked
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As one of the masters of the twist ending, M. Night Shyamalan has often shocked and surprised audiences with his collection of movies, most of which he wrote, directed, and produced himself. On his good days, Shyamalan has proven himself to be a compelling director, bringing a distinct style that often relies on magical realism to create atmospheric stories charged with humanism and, at times, horror. But as you'll see on this list, he doesn't always stick the landing.
Born in India and raised in a suburb of Philadelphia, Shyamalan's works are often filmed in or around the city, giving a hometown flair to these often supernatural tales with international appeal. Not to mention, Shyamalan's frequent cameos in his own movies were some of the first moments of mainstream representation for South Asian Americans in Western cinema. But perhaps his greatest contribution to film thus far is his 1999 movie The Sixth Sense, which was an industry game-changer on multiple levels, particularly for its circular storytelling that changes the plot on future viewings once the surprise is revealed. But, unfortunately, not all of Shyamalan's projects have made the same splash, with films like The Last Airbender frequently ending up on "worst-of" lists.
With a slight twist of our own ahead, here's EW's roundup of M. Night Shyamalan's movies ranked from worst to best.
14. <i>The Last Airbender</i> (2010)
Based on the cult favorite Nickelodeon cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender, a fantasy-adventure series following a group of tribes who "bend" the elements in martial arts styles against internal and external foes, The Last Airbender had so much potential, especially in the hands of an Asian American director — or so you'd think. But starting with the unfortunate casting choices — the heroes as white actors and the villains as actors of color — The Last Airbender came out the gate to a host of criticism, considering the original cartoon codes all of the characters as Asian.
Sadly, the casting wasn't the only problem with Shyamalan's first foray into adapting someone else's source material. The Last Airbender also suffers from hokey dialogue, non-cohesive performances, and stylized fight scenes with more posing than actual butt-kicking. This film certainly damaged Shyamalan's cultural cache for a time, but he eventually bounced back.
Where to watch The Last Airbender: Paramount+ with Showtime
13. <i>After Earth</i> (2013)
Shyamalan's second foray into co-writing a screenplay was After Earth with Gary Whitta, based on a story idea by Will Smith himself — and it went about as well as The Last Airbender for the director. Starring Smith as Cypher Raige and his real-life son Jaden Smith as his on-screen child Kitai, After Earth takes place on the faraway planet of Nova Prime, now populated by humans after a cataclysm on Earth made it uninhabitable. But, once an alien species attacks the human race to seize the planet as their own, Cypher and Kitai accidentally end up back on Earth as they fight for survival to return home. Featuring a host of gnarly battles between Kitai and the mutated flora and fauna of a postapocalyptic Earth, the action sequences are the only parts of this film that stand on their own as a convoluted plot unfolds around them.
But it wasn't just the story and unconvincing performances from both Smiths that helped tank this movie. For some reason, the studio decided to market the film as a Will and Jaden Smith joint, leaving out mentioning Shyamalan as the director. Would that have helped initial box office numbers? Very possibly, given Shyamalan's previous reputation for out-of-the-box storytelling and finding humanity in the most supernatural or extraterrestrial of events.
Where to watch After Earth: Netflix
12. <i>The Happening</i> (2008)
Before Shyamalan's downward slope of adapting other people's story ideas, he hit a rough patch with his own original movie in 2008's The Happening, his first R-rated entry. Like an extended (and lesser) episode of The Twilight Zone, a mysterious rash of suicides begins on the east coast of the United States, starting in New York City. As the deaths spread like a contagion, we eventually discover that nature has turned on humans, with plants themselves emitting a neurotoxin that attempts to rid the planet of people.
While The Happening features a wide ensemble cast that Shyamalan is known for, the performances and character development don't quite mesh, headed by the lack of chemistry between the two leads Elliot and Alma, played by Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel. That, and the story itself never quite packs a punch, as EW's critic writes, "The movie demonstrates a smart movie geek's obsession with the rhythms and gory details of horror storytelling, undermined by a pompous insistence on spiritual lessons of the tritest kind (don't be mean to Mother Nature! Trust in love!)" However, in The Happening's defense, there are a number of supporting actors who bring up the levels of pathos as the toxin makes its way through the population. These include Betty Buckley as the fabulously creepy Mrs. Jones, and John Leguizamo's emotional turn as Elliot's best friend Julian. Also, watch out for a young Kendall Roy — we mean Jeremy Strong — as Private Auster, whose on-screen death is one of many genuinely disturbing moments in the film.
Where to rent The Happening: Amazon Prime Video
11. <i>Lady in the Water</i> (2006)
Shyamalan's most fantastical picture to date may also be his most sentimental, given it was based on a fairy tale he made up for his two young daughters. Lady in the Water marries the mundane with the mystical when a superintendent living with depression (Paul Giamatti) discovers a water nymph (Bryce Dallas Howard) in his building's dreary apartment swimming pool. She desperately wants to return to her "Blue World," but an otherworldly, wolf-like foe stands in the way of her prosperity — just as Shyamalan's direction stands in the way of the film's profits and praise.
At the time of the film's release in 2006, South Asian representation on American screens was still in its nascent stages, making Shyamalan's acting turn as the beleaguered writer and Sarita Choudhury as his quirky sister a then-rare moment of inclusivity (each ultra-weird character is meant to represent archetypes of healing, protection, destruction, and redemption, yet these themes remain in murky waters.) But, rather than being a grounds for celebration, this was sadly received with frustration, with many seeing Shyamalan's performance as weak and directing as loose in an "alienating and wildly self-absorbed project [that] features a beast called a scrunt, a muddle passed off as mythology, a doomed movie critic, and creative discontent at its core," said EW's critic.
Where to rent Lady in the Water: Amazon Prime Video
10. <i>Wide Awake</i> (1998)
After the death of his beloved grandfather (Robert Loggia), fifth-grader Joshua A. Beal (Joseph Cross) embarks on a mission to find God in order to confirm his grandfather is being watched over wherever he might be now. In the process, the precocious adolescent talks to the nuns at his Catholic school and the priests, while also exploring Islam, yogi practices from India, and more as he attempts to connect with the higher power his grandfather believed in above all else — except football. Joshua's surprising journey in Wide Awake ends in Shyamalan's actual first twist ending, albeit in a far more quiet and measured context.
While this family dramedy is a far cry stylistically from Shyamalan's collection of horror and thriller movies, Wide Awake contains many of the kernels that pop up thematically in Shyamalan's future films. We have a foreshadowing of Signs in its protagonist's search for meaning and God as well as a (temporary) loss of faith. There are visual hints of young Cole in The Sixth Sense as Joshua also attends a private Catholic school in Philadelphia. And a number of superhero references hint at the epic original comic book movie Shyamalan would offer audiences in the Unbreakable trilogy. Taken as a whole, all of these elements make Wide Awake a sweet, funny, and poignant film that's one of Shyamalan's only family-friendly offerings in his catalog. Have the tissues handy for this one, though, as it beautifully — and occasionally comically — explores the aftermath of grief through the old-soul eyes of a child.
Where to rent Wide Awake: Amazon Prime Video
9. <i>Old</i> (2021)
Shyamalan's 2021 feature Old stands out in his filmography as a family film — though not a family-friendly one. The director received a copy of Sandcastle, a graphic novel by Pierre Oscar Levy and Frederik Peeters, from his daughters on Father's Day, and, once the adaptation was greenlit, Old became an in-house affair with two of his daughters working on the movie with their dad.
Old takes place on a seemingly idyllic beach with a horrifying twist (would we expect anything less from Shyamalan?) when the four vacationing parties begin aging at an astronomical pace. The presence of young children required multiple actors to play the same characters as they age up, making for an intriguing watch on a casting level. The subsequent ensemble features a variety of familiar and fresh faces, all working overtime with each other as the unnerving story "comes close to seeing its metaphysical mystery through," said EW's critic, though "it settles for something more like supernatural camp, with telegraphed twists and jump scares."
Where to watch Old: Freevee via Amazon Prime Video
8. <i>The Village</i> (2004)
With The Village, Shyamalan once again provided the kind of twist ending that audiences had come to expect. Except this time, it wasn't the one they wanted, as the otherwise poignant film ended up floundering both with critics and at the box office. EW's reviewer shared in the consensus' frustration, though offered the filmmaker some sympathy, writing, "It's not his fault that the public has approached each of his subsequent movies as narrative piñatas that will spill forth their secrets if only they can be cracked."
Set in the 1800s in a woodland hamlet, this pastoral horror movie includes a plethora of musings on grief and trauma as the residents of Covington are suddenly beset by monstrous creatures, threatening their children and killing their livestock — or are they? The town elders' entanglements with the beasts become an apt metaphor for modern-day school shooting drills, effectively predicting a phenomenon that's now essentially normalized in daily American life. In the years since The Village was panned, it has seen a resurgence of positive interest, with some critics re-reviewing it as a "misunderstood love story" and Vox going so far as to call it an "underrated masterpiece." Featuring moving performances from the entire star-studded cast, including William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Bryce Dallas Howard, Joaquin Phoenix, Adrien Brody, and more, The Village may be worth giving a second chance, though it's still a long way from topping this list.
Where to rent The Village: Amazon Prime Video
7. <i>Glass</i> (2019)
It's a rare feat to create a successful superhero trilogy based on an original story rather than existing comic books or graphic novels, and it's an accomplishment Shyamalan won with blood and bone in his final installment of the Unbreakable trio, Glass. Hero David Dunn (Bruce Willis) and villains Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson) and Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy) are held in a mental health facility for their "delusions," a.k.a. believing they have incredible powers, where a determined Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson) aims to cure them. Now known respectively as the Overseer, Mr. Glass, and the Horde, the three men are subject to a variety of abuses as Mr. Glass enacts a final, apocalyptic plan that will change the world as we know it.
Bringing characters from the previous two films back, Glass becomes the only ensemble cast in the trilogy, a divergence from Unbreakable and Split that heightens the tension of the universe Shyamalan created from scratch, though at times it bites off more than it can chew, what EW's critic deemed "subtraction by addition." Still, it's admittedly thrilling to see these superbeings in a single setting. And, while Glass has a definitive ending, it still manages to leave enough room for a potential fourth installment, should Shyamalan change his mind about revisiting these powerful patients once again.
Where to rent Glass: Amazon Prime Video
6. <i>Knock at the Cabin</i> (2023)
Shyamalan has rarely adapted other writers' work, preferring to pen his own twisty tales, but Knock at the Cabin is his most successful feat of adaptation yet. Based on Paul G. Tremblay's 2018 novel The Cabin at the End of the World, the film follows Andrew (Ben Aldridge) and Eric (Jonathan Groff), a married couple vacationing with their 7-year-old daughter at a remote Pennsylvania cabin. Their peace is disturbed when a hulking stranger, Leonard (Dave Bautista, perfectly utilized), arrives with associates and cryptically tells the family that one of them must die to prevent an apocalypse. As Andrew and Eric try to maneuver their way out, they witness evidence of a series of natural disasters, forcing them to confront this life-threatening dilemma.
It's a Shyamalan-friendly concept, and the director certainly makes a meal of teasing out information to the audience at the same pace as the family at the center. It also proves to be one of his most thematically resonant films, with Andrew and Eric fearing that this may all just be an elaborate act of homophobia. Viewers have certainly been divided on the ending, which is less ambiguous than the novel's, but Shyamalan's knack for dread-filled atmosphere makes for an engrossing journey to get there. —Kevin Jacobsen
Where to watch Knock at the Cabin: Amazon Prime Video
5. <i>Signs</i> (2002)
Shyamalan's fourth feature Signs marked a huge departure from the gotcha endings of his previous films, The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. Instead, he creates an atmospheric Field of Dreams-meets-aliens wrapped in a family drama that, in many ways, was a bait-and-switch of a different kind. Mel Gibson stars as Rev. Graham Hess, a former priest who left the church altogether after his beloved wife was killed in a car accident by local veterinarian Ray Reddy (Shyamalan). As Graham has lost his faith, his brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix) and children Morgan (Rory Culkin) and Bo (Abigail Breslin) struggle to deal with their own grief as they mediate Graham's quiet anger toward the God who was once central to their lives. But, when extraterrestrial beings land on Earth and begin terrorizing the human population, Graham and his brood are forced to make a number of spiritual and physical reckonings in order to survive.
Signs is a contemplative film that draws a great deal of stylistic influence from Alfred Hitchcock's oeuvre, in particular the quietly menacing tone of The Birds (1963), coupled with the creeping dread of George Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968), substituting zombies for aliens. Its musings on faith, grief, and healing are compelling building blocks for what could amount to a much better sci-fi film, but instead, it's a "very well-crafted tease," according to EW's 2002 review of the "high-octane doomsday vision built almost entirely around our sense of anticipation." And the subsequent decades haven't done much to change that, as our current critics' recent rewatch established, explaining that "At the time, it was impossible for me not to receive Signs as a big honking post-9/11 movie: Why do they hate us, Dad? Honestly, it still plays that way for me 20 years later, with scene after scene of characters watching city skylines on TV, waiting for the end of the world."
4. <i>The Visit</i> (2015)
As Shyamalan's only found footage horror movie to date, The Visit follows the young Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) and budding documentarian Becca (Olivia DeJonge), who decides to make a film about their family as they visit their grandparents for the first time. Their mother Loretta (Kathryn Hahn) has been estranged from her parents since before her kids were born, and goes on a cruise with her boyfriend instead of accompanying her children. But as Nana (Deanna Dunagan) and Pop Pop's (Peter McRobbie) behavior grows more and more erratic, the teens find themselves in a horror movie literally of their own making.
After a number of cinematic stumbles, Shyamalan's holiday horror The Visit was a sort of redemption for the hot-and-cold director, reconnecting him with audiences and critics alike in what EW called "an effective scare machine and a semi-return to form for its creator." It was a big gamble that paid off in an even bigger way, as Shyamalan raised $5 million to make the movie by borrowing against the mortgage of his own house after the critical and commercial failures of After Earth and The Last Airbender. The result is a terrifically creepy tale with a Brothers Grimm vibe made all the more frightening by the first-person point of view.
Where to rent The Visit: Amazon Prime Video
3. <i>Split</i> (2016)
In an absolute tour de force series of performances that could have earned an Oscar nod if not for the Academy's hesitancy in recognizing the horror genre, James McAvoy leads Split as Kevin Wendell Crumb, who suffers from the controversial (and here, misrepresented for our entertainment) dissociative identity disorder. Kevin's 23 distinct personalities are managed by his therapist Dr. Fletcher (Betty Buckley), who, at first, doesn't realize the grave threat they pose. But under the surface, a group of these personas falls in line with the particularly violent and depraved impulses of what they call "the Beast," with designs to kidnap, assault, and murder young women.
As a stealth sequel to Unbreakable, Split is a kind of villain origin story that explores how the extreme childhood violence Kevin survived at the hands of his mother after his father's abandonment caused his psyche to fragment in a myriad of ways, some to help him cope and others to release his latent rage. Shyamalan keeps his direction tight, with the story mostly taking place in the cramped quarters of Kevin's basement and told through the perspective of his captives. Anya Taylor-Joy's performance is especially impressive, allowing the plot to unfold through her wide eyes and expressive face. But it's McAvoy's ability to embody the 23 alters that steals the show, seamlessly moving between various genders and ages, all with fully realized and distinct personalities that culminate into a master class in acting.
Where to rent Split: Amazon Prime Video
2. <i>Unbreakable</i> (2000)
When we think of superheroes, the go-to image is often a brash, bold, and even flamboyant character with a distinct costume, catchphrase, and dramatic entrances and exits as they save whoever needs help. But Shyamalan takes these tropes and throws them out the window with Unbreakable, a superhero origin story about quiet and unassuming security guard David Dunn, played by Bruce Willis in one of his most thoughtful and moving performances. After surviving a train crash that kills every single one of the other hundreds of passengers on board, David is sent into an emotional tailspin trying to understand why he was the only one. To complicate matters, while David and his wife Audrey (Robin Wright) are separated and planning a divorce, he meets Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), a comic book expert with a rare bone disease who insists that David has the superpower of indestructibility.
Hailed by EW's critic as "somberly fantastic" with moments that "Hitchcock would have been proud to stage," much of that magic comes from the film's noir style and Shyamalan's signature "premonitory grandeur," which, with him, isn't always guaranteed, but undeniably shines here as one of his best works. Unbreakable is also as much a family drama as it is a comic-inspired tale, with the director masterfully pulling on the audience's empathy for the Dunns' troubled dynamics as they deal with their new reality.
Where to watch Unbreakable: Max
1. <i>The Sixth Sense</i> (1999)
Shyamalan's big break came with the absolute game-changer of The Sixth Sense, a film whose narrative impact continues to resonate decades after its release. Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is a belabored psychotherapist, still reeling from the suicide of a patient and his own attempted murder, as well as the estrangement from his wife Anna (Olivia Williams). But everything changes when Dr. Crowe meets young Cole (Haley Joel Osment), a troubled 9-year-old who claims to see dead people and who is being viciously bullied at school. Though he's sure he can help the child overcome his delusions, it's Cole who instead takes Malcolm on a poignant and sometimes terrifying journey as he attempts to help those on the other side.
Careful to avoid the "horror" label by instead marketing the film as a family drama/thriller, The Sixth Sense remains Shyamalan's most critically acclaimed film to date for better or worse, becoming the sounding board that all of his following (and, by comparison, faltering) works are weighed against. Its accolades speak for themselves, with six Academy Award nominations (notably Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for the then-11-year-old Osment), four BAFTA nods, and sweeping wins during the People's Choice Awards. While Shyamalan's career might have dipped and dived over the years, The Sixth Sense and its hallmark twist — which strikes the perfect balance between being completely unexpected yet undeniably evident in retrospect — will forever be a cornerstone in the thriller film canon, inspiring a sea of imitators hoping to match its unique power and impact, including the creator himself.
Where to rent The Sixth Sense: Amazon Prime Video
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