Danger is Real. Fear is a Choice. Got it.

Looks pretty but I don't get the hook. Looking like another Airbender, totally for kids. Right now, waiting for the other shoe to drop.





















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Featurette for 'Devil'

Featurette for 'Devil'. "One of those people (dramatic pause) might be the devil."

No snickering allowed.

Booing M Night Shyamalan

Over at IndieWire, this entry by Anne Thompson about people booing and jeering when M Night Shyamalan's name appeared in the trailer for 'Devil' reminded me of a recent comment the director made. In an interview he said:

"Look, I loved Michael Jordan, right? He was my favourite basketball player. When I used to watch him at Madison Square Garden there would be 25,000 people booing every time that he touched the ball, screaming abuse at him.

"And it was because the entire stadium was there to see him be spectacular. They were like, 'I don't want you to disappoint me or hurt me.'"

Is he suggesting that when people boo him it's because they think he's one of the all-time great directors and they don't want to be disappointed -- they want the next movie to be as great as the last? Do they boo Shyamalan because he is (and continues to be) as impressive a director as Jordan was an athlete?

More recently, Shyamalan said in response to a reporter's tough line of questioning which suggested popular opinion was the director was making poor movies:

"I think if I thought like you I'd kill myself. Everything you said is the opposite of my instinct as an artist. The way you just thought, I literally would kill myself."

I can't help but feel a little sorry for the guy. His track record of comments is getting as preposterous as the plot devices in his movies.

Who will want to work with Shyamalan in the future? Top-drawer actors probably won't be lining up, whether he is directing the movie or it's simply 'from the mind of'. Doing so would put image-sensitive stars at risk of being ridiculed. Nobody wants to be in a high-profile movie with a single-digit fresh rating.

There may already be signs few are willing to associate with Shyamalan. He currently has only two projects listed as being in development. (Steven Spielberg has almost twenty, and Guillermo del Toro has over ten). I realize M Night has, in the past, had a reputation for keeping upcoming projects under wraps, but with 'The Last Airbender' series under way you'd expect at least a sequel to be listed as being in development even if it has yet to be greenlit. Shouldn't there be other movies for kids under development?

There may always have been only one or two M Night projects listed as being in development, yet it seems noteworthy now. If he had continued to bowl over audiences with edge-of-your-seat movies that had killer twist endings, having very few movies in development would have a definite cool factor. But under current circumstances it just looks odd.

There should be more talk of pending movies, more rumors of A-list actors circling this or that Shyamalan project, more speculation as to what his next bombshell of a twist ending will be. There isn't. Except for the slashing reviews of his movies, the ridicule leveled at him by bloggers, and the outrageous comments he himself makes to the press, not much is said about Shyamalan anymore.

Will Shyamalan be reduced to distancing himself from upcoming features, lending only his moniker as a producer to modestly budgeted B-horror, and allowing someone else to write and direct movies based on his ideas? Could be, but if people boo at the sight of his name in a trailer, even that may not be a good idea, and I'm not sure how much more Shyamalan could play down his association with any given movie. 'NOT written or directed by, and definitely NOT from the mind of M Night Shyamalan'? Could that be a selling point? Maybe they could try: Presented by a friend of a friend of M Night Shyamalan... Would people boo that announcement in a trailer?

And, what about money? Will M Night be allowed the kind of budget he's enjoyed in the past? 'Devil' takes place mostly in an elevator and has no big stars. The next in the Night Chronicles series, 'Twelve Strangers', about a group of jurors deliberating a case that deals with the supernatural, would of course be set in one main location -- the juror's room. Set the script in one main location, shoot on one main set, and hire little known actors -- these are earmarks of low-budget movies.

The trailer for 'Devil' is okay, but it's clearly not the atmospheric creepfest Shyamalan established a reputation for. This is shock horror, not elegant suspense. The poster, with its exaggerated low point of view and fiery light coming through the elevator doors forming an inverted cross (on the sixth floor, with the 'down' button lit) is on a par with low-budget schlock horror.

I'm curious what kind of budget M Night will have to work with for his next directorial effort. For now, the fact that 'Devil' and 'Twelve Strangers' are 'from the mind of' Shyamalan doesn't do much for his image.

With his last movie, 'The Last Airbender', being for kids and his future projects as a producer seemingly aimed at B-horror fans, Shyamalan's days as a master of eerie suspenseful movies with adult themes and high-caliber actors are, temporarily at least, over. Right now you couldn't give me a ticket to a Shyamalan movie. I've been burned too many times and wasted too many hours hoping this one would be the next Sixth Sense. It never is, and they're getting worse, even laughable now.

I'm wondering where all this will lead. If 'Devil' does mark the start of a comeback for Shyamalan, it's as a producer of B-horror -- as the guy whose mind dreamt it all up but, rest assured, had nothing to do with the actual production.

Would this even be considered a comeback? Well, if no one goes to movies (for adults) that M Night Shyamalan directs, and if there isn't another 'Airbender', I suppose it would. However, on second thought, it might be more aptly called a 'continuing slide'.

A Peek at 'Devil'

The latest from M. Night Shyamalan. 'Devil' trailer

'Hallmark Horror'

Word on the street is that people are wary of Shyamalan's trickery. Whereas he became known for twist endings that added value to the story, he then became known for pulling the rug out from under the viewer in Act III with endings that weren't so much of a twist but were simply dumb.

The endings for 'The Village' and 'The Lady in the Water' were not only dumb but they had the effect of sucking all the value out of what preceeding them. The viewer walking out of the theater can't help but feel cheated.

That said, there's a lot of people who don't really know the Shyamalan brand and the implications therein and don't really care about potential Act III dumb bombs. These people will see a movie if the trailer looks good, and the trailer for 'The Happening' certainly has that trademark glossy/creepy look Shyamalan produces so adroitly. So, I'm thinking week one could be very good for this happening, but I wouldn't hold my breath for subsequent frames once word of mouth gets out -- (by all accounts Shyamalan's latest leaves the viewer hanging just as badly as ever).

Early word on the blogosphere has been pretty much the same -- 'The Happening' ain't happening. Over at NPR, Bob Mondello says: ...The Happening is neither terribly scary, nor all that twisty... The bigger danger, after The Village and The Lady in the Water, is that he'll become known as the guy who makes the inane movie with the risible premise.

That about sums it up for me. I felt stupid for having watched my DVD of 'The Lady in the Water' (over a period of three days) that I bought for $9.99 in the discount bin at Blockbuster (there were lots of copies). If it's anything, this movie is inane and based on a risible premise. I can only feel for those who went to the theater and saw 'The Lady in the Water' in one sitting. (Ouch). I can't help but feel sorry for those who, having been suckered by well-edited trailers, will see 'The Happening' in theaters.

Anyway, my favorite entry in the current backlash is from Grady Hendrix over at MonsterFest:

Call me old fashioned, but I don't care about Marky Mark's under-developed, poorly-written marital difficulties -- especially when they revolve not around infidelity, but around dessert. Tiramisu, in fact. A horror movie in which someone is allowed to utter the word "Tiramisu" and live to the end credits is a horror movie that has given up any claims to horror. It's Hallmark Horror: Scare flicks developed for people who think Lifetime movies are too intense.

I love that...Hallmark Horror. That's good. That's Shyamalan.

More Happening

The new trailer for M. Night Shyamalan's 'The Happening' ramps up the creep factor. Problem is, the better his movies look in trailers, the more skeptical I am. I can't help it.

Show me creepy footage of a bunch of people standing still, staring forward, in the street, and I think: what's the catch.

Show me beautiful acting and cinematography and I think: well, that's what Shyamalan does -- but, how stupid will I feel for paying to see this movie.

The twist ending of 'The Village' negates the whole experience and leaves you feeling cheated, and yes, a bit gullible. This idea is something that would have made a good exercise as a short story, and might have been compelling as a stage play (for audiences that like to go to plays), but as a movie it didn't work.

The ending of 'Lady in the Water' doesn't pull the rug out from under you, but it doesn't do anything to justify such a drawn-out affair either. This one suffers from a hokiness factor that accomplishes the same effect -- you feel cheated and a bit gullible for expecting good entertainment.

The same can be said for all of Shyamalan's other movies, excepting of course 'The Sixth Sense'.

Is it too soon to call this the 'Shyamalan Effect'? Does M Night still have any credibility? Is anyone still willing to take a chance on this guy? If the creepiness in 'The Happening' doesn't lead somewhere that's cool and intelligent M Night's street cred will be shot. I love the genre -- the supernatural-psych thriller, light on gore, heavy on atmosphere and suspense -- but M Night has got to come through with some basic, solid storytelling, including an ending that isn't dumb and doesn't make you feel like a fool for having taken the time.

People complain about this -- this is what they're saying. (It's not just me). 'The Sixth Sense' was a long time ago. M Night is flirting with becoming a one-hit wonder, the punch-line of a joke. I'm hoping 'The Happening' is a hit. It could be. All this movie has to do is deliver what its trailer promises, come through with the goods. This looks like an original idea executed with panache. The problem is all of Shymalan's trailers look great -- the movies, however...

The Happening

M Night Shyamalan's latest.