Every M. Night Shyamalan Movie Ranked Worst To Best

The Village, for all its virtues, was the first sign for many that Shyamalan was not meant to last; that his last-minute twist gimmick was only cute the first couple of times, but was destined to get old in a hurry.

But ignoring its finale, which is as awkward and desperate to recreate his previous success, the film is a rollickingly fun example of tension-building, following a town living in perpetual fear of the mysterious creatures that are said to lurk in the surrounding woods.

It has a great cast giving it their all (including, amongst others, Bryce Dallas Howard, Joaquin Phoenix, Sigourney Weaver , Jesse Eisenberg and William Hurt), and Shyamalan's command of setting and tone is sharp, but it falls at the last hurdle, and in the end that's probably all you'll remember about it.