M. Night Shyamalan is a director known for his signature suspenseful thrillers with plot twists. Born in Mahé, India, his breakthrough film was released in 1999 with The Sixth Sense which was a massive commercial and critical success, earning him a reputation as a talented writer-director to keep an eye on. He experienced continuing success following the releases of 2000’s Unbreakable, Signs in 2002 and The Village two years afterwards. Shyamalan's early career was marked with high expectations and comparisons to one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Steven Spielberg… So much so that Newsweek famously referred to Shyamalan as being “the next Spielberg” in 2002.
However, his subsequent films failed to live up to the hype and his reputation began to suffer. For a period of about seven years, Shyamalan released flop after flop beginning with Lady in the Water in 2006 through to The Happening, The Last Airbender and After Earth.
Going into the mid 2010s and beyond, Shyamalan's films including The Visit and Split have been received positively by critics and audiences alike indicating that he may be making a gradual comeback. The filmmaker has shown a willingness to experiment with different genres as evidenced in 2021’s Old which is a horror-thriller based on a graphic novel. While it remains to be seen whether Shyamalan will be able to recapture the magic of his early career, his recent successes demonstrate that he still has the talent to create gripping and entertaining films. Here is every film M. Night Shyamalan has directed ranked and where to find them.
