6. The Village (2004)
It's Incredibly Similar To... Running Out Of Time (1996) If a director's fourth movie is the one that ends their career and convinces everybody that they're a useless coasting hack, then
The Village is M. Night Shyamalan's fourth movie. It's also the movie that proved that ol' Shyamalan was running out of ways to shock audiences, because there's only so many times you can make a movie with a big twist at the end. Well, that's in my opinion: M. Night Shyamalan would probably disagree. So although we all sensed he was losing it, I still doubt anybody had this guy down as a plagiarist of sorts. The plot of The
Village concerns a secluded community living in the 19th century. Nobody is allowed out of the settlement, because they've been led to believe that there are monsters waiting for them outside. The Village ends when a young blind girl - granted permission to leave on the basis that she brings back medicine - goes outside the boundaries and discovers that it's actually the present day, and M. Night Shyamlan made an entire movie to in order to use that twist. It's a shame that it was actually ripped from a YA novel called
Running Out Of Time. Yep:
Running Out Of Time was released years before the movie, with a plot centered around a young girl who ventures out into society to find that, she too, has been living a "fake" life in the 19th century when it's really modern day. Oh, she also goes out to pick up some medicine, just like in M. Night Shyamalan's remake. My research tells me that author Margaret Haddix did actually considering suing the director for stealing her plot, but as far as I can tell no legal action was undertaking. Plot twist: Haddix
is M. Night Shyamalan.