TSPDT

Key Production Countries: USA, Japan, China
Key Genres: Thriller, Drama, Mystery, Psychological Thriller, Mystery-Suspense, Horror, Psychological Horror, Science Fiction, Superhero Film, Fantasy, Psychological Drama, Teen Horror
Key Collaborators: James Newton Howard (Composer), Sam Mercer (Producer), Marc Bienstock (Producer), Bruce Willis (Leading Actor), Jason Blum (Producer), Mike Gioulakis (Cinematographer), Tak Fujimoto (Cinematographer), Luke Ciarrocchi (Editor), Larry Fulton (Production Designer), James McAvoy (Leading Actor), Bryce Dallas Howard (Leading Actress), Joaquin Phoenix (Leading Actor)

"At the very end of the twentieth century, M. Night Shyamalan seemingly appeared out of nowhere to inject some surprising life into the box office with his supernatural hit, The Sixth Sense (1999). It was actually the writer-director's third film, but it instantly established him as a fully-bloomed talent, a contemporary master craftsman on the level of a Spielberg or a Cameron. With his imaginative but economical camerawork, light touch with actors (especially children), and an apparently inherent knack for spinning a cracking good campfire yarn, Shyamalan is that rarest of birds: a crowd-pleaser with a brain." - Christopher Smets (Contemporary North American Film Directors, 2002)

"There is no filmmaker like M. Night Shyamalan. Whatever you may feel about the director’s work, you’d be hard-pressed to call him unoriginal. He is entirely his own and, through that facet, has built a filmography that challenges our contemporary considerations of tone, performance and narrative. While it’s all too easy to get hung up on the so-called twists in his work, the beauty of Shyamalan is the ability to subvert expectations and tell stories his way. While he’s had a few missteps along the way, as filmmakers who take risks and bold swings so often do, Shyamalan is one of the few filmmakers who can lure audiences through name alone. There’s always a window for discussion provided, ensuring that even if his films are derided, they won’t be forgotten." - Richard Newby (The Hollywood Reporter, 2024)

"He is an intriguing, typically unpredictable filmmaker who, after being born in India, was raised in Philadelphia. Passionate about filmmaking from an early age, he began making short films on his own and eventually raised the money to produce his first feature, Praying with Anger (1992). He was noticed by Miramax, who purchased his screenplay for Wide Awake (1998), allowing him to direct it himself. His first major success came with the box-office phenomenon The Sixth Sense (1999), a suspenseful, supernatural thriller with the now-famous surprise ending, a trademark for most of his films." - The Film Encyclopedia, 2012

"Shyamalan is more than just the superficial elements of his films, of course, and he has more range than people who think of him as just the “twist” guy give him credit for. But that reputation has stuck, and during a particularly brutal career downturn after his first few films (which also included Unbreakable and Signs), in which he released many objective stinkers — Lady in the Water, anyone? The Happening? — he was dismissed by many a film fan as a hack and a one-trick-pony. Luckily, Shyamalan has largely shed that baggage in the last few years through a run of low-budget, ultra-fun thrillers like The Visit or Split, films that rely on grabby premises (what if a serial killer had multiple personalities? What if a beach made you old?) to lure in audiences." - Wilson Chapman & Alison Foreman (IndieWire, 2024)

"There are obvious threats ahead, wrapped up in dollars: Shyamalan could yield to sentiment and horror (he took on the name Night himself). On the other hand, he could be a director of unique stature and force. Signs was a setback hard to credit, and made under the heavy hand of Mel Gibson. The Village and Lady in the Water grew increasingly foolish. As a result, The Happening was turned down by many studios—but when it was made, it earned a lot of money. Still, in a country desperately eager for some mix of horror and uplift, it’s risky to write Night off. He’s only forty!" - David Thomson (The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, 2010)

"There’s something about me that gets triggered by taking a lot of money and then wanting to please the person that gave me that money. That isn’t healthy. So I pay for the movies and we do them with as small a budget as possible. That allows me to take unusual swings, both in the stories that I’m telling and in the way I’m telling them. And that freedom lets me hear myself better." - M. Night Shyamalan (The Guardian, 2023)