M. Night Shyamalan has a reputation for ending his thrillers and horror films with a signature shocking twist. His movies often follow everyday people who find themselves in supernatural and dangerous situations. The characters of these films are usually incredulous at the scenarios they find themselves in, making the audience suspect the reality of the situation as well. Since his first major film, The Sixth Sense (1999), audiences have come into Shyamalan films expecting a twist. From science fiction to historical period pieces, M. Night Shyamalan finds a way to bend the audience’s expectations. Even his Apple TV+ show, Servant, is laden with mystery and labyrinthine plots.
However, just because M. Night Shyamalan films have plots that develop in unexpected ways doesn’t mean that every film has an authentic twist. While Shyamalan is widely considered the movie twist master currently, his catalog is not entirely composed of films that rely on them. Shyamalan’s movies usually have an added layer to the story that makes for complex watches. Plot development is not the same as a twist, even when the developing finale isn’t easily foreseen by the viewer. Despite that, enough of Shyamalan’s films have textbook twists that put the director in the same company as Alfred Hitchcock when it comes to the trope.
The Films That Have Plot Development & Not A Twist
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M. Night Shyamalan’s long and varied filmography runs the gambit from classic sci-fi horror in films like Signs (2003) to superhero franchise movies like Glass (2019). When Shyamalan film trailers are released one of the questions is always, “what will the twist ending be?” even if out of the 13 feature films he’s directed, only five have true twists. From the worst to the best, nearly all Shyamalan’s films deal with the supernatural. Sometimes the paranormal circumstances are biological like in The Happening (2008), or they’re fairytale in nature, like in Lady in the Water (2006). His films never take a standard path to get to the finale.
A twist ending in any film is a very specific type of conclusion. Thrillers, horror, and other science fiction films tend to have endings that surprise or shock by their very nature. The same is true for all of Shyamalan’s films, they careen towards an ending where plot devices, seemingly unimportant character beats, and story clues return to create a conclusion that makes the final 15 minutes of his films more important to watch than anything before it. Surprising plot developments don’t equal twists, however. Many of even M. Night Shyamalan’s sillier movie endings can be defined similarly: a unique and creative plot development disguised as a twist.
The Films That Have Twists
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There are five M. Night Shyamalan films that have legitimate twist endings that are more than just an unusual development of the movies’ plots. The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable (2000), The Village (2004), The Visit (2015), and Old (2021) all end with revelations that change how the earlier events of the movies are understood. What makes a twist ending in any film is a climax to the inevitable end that leads the story in an unexpected direction. When Shyamalan does this correctly, he leaves memorable breadcrumbs so that when the twist is exposed, audiences don’t feel blindsided. The films where the twist seemingly comes out of nowhere end up being Shyamalan’s more divisive movies.
Five films with legitimate twists is not easy to pull off. Once the audience knows about a filmmaker’s signature, they tend to expect it. This makes creating a twist in subsequent films even more difficult as eagle-eyed viewers are paying closer attention to any hints that are dropped of an incoming twist. Despite his reputation, M. Night Shyamalan still manages to surprise. As recently as Old, the director has managed to create an ending that most audience members would not have seen coming. It’s either his curse or his honor that every Shyamalan film will always be thought of as a vehicle for a twist, first and foremost.
