5. The Village (2004)
What Everybody Remembers: The first movie in M. Night Shyamalan's canon that truly emphasised all of his worst traits as a writer/director, and the picture that begin his steady decline as a filmmaker of merit. Shoddy in ways that
The Sixth Sense,
Unbreakable, and
Signs weren't, it also embraced a predictable plot twist.
Why It's Nowhere Near As Bad: The Village is often cited as "the beginning of the end" for M. Night Shyamalan, and whilst it's true that this movie is not up to the same standard as the first three movies in his twist-orientated series of motion pictures,
The Village is nowhere near as bad as people who have seen it might lead you to believe. In fact, for most of its runtime, it's a creepy, effective thriller with some genuinely scary moments and heaps of atmosphere. It's a shame that Shyamalan felt obliged to go down the twist route, and although the last 20 minutes or so are lackluster and convoluted as hell,
The Village's reputation as a terrible, terrible movie isn't really justified. It's just become shorthand for "when Shyamalan started not being as good," that's all.