1. There will always be a “twist.” Shyamalan hit it big with The Sixth Sense, which was revered for its amazing “twist” at the end. The only problem is that Shyamalan should have quit while he was ahead. Since then, he devised the too twisty, and somewhat foreseeable Unbreakable, the twist-laden crop circles in Signs, and the twist deemed laughable by some critics in The Village. Regardless, Shyamalan keeps cashing in at the box office as the public seems to want more twists, while the critics ask for more sense.

2. Someone will whisper a lot, and sometimes it will be a trendy line. Once again, The Sixth Sense popularized this idea with “I see dead people,” which got to be annoying four years ago, and still continues to this day. Count that up with the mutterings of Bruce Willis in both that and Unbreakable, and Shyamalan’s own distant acting as Ray Reddy in Signs. The trendy line was added once again, to huge audiences with The Village and the whispering of the line, “Don’t let them in,” which no doubt could become an overdone term in the upcoming weeks, and continued to be said by people who don’t lock the doors of their respective toilet stalls in public restrooms.

3. Shyamalan is the master of horror today…horror that is rated PG-13. What makes a good horror film? Blood, guts, scariness, and certainly an R rating. Well, Shyamalan has managed to defy the latter. All of his major films have been rated PG-13, probably in order to reach a wider scope of individuals, allowing him to sell more tickets and make more moolah. Shyamalan is purported to be such an amazing writer and filmmaker, capable of scaring the bajimminies out of you, but has anyone actually been scared on numerous occasions from his films? Highly unlikely.

4. Shyamalan attempts to add depth, but it is only a Hollywood depth. The Sixth Sense was the first example, as its “twist” took us beyond actually taking anything, if there was anything beyond the idea of “belief,” to the film. Unbreakable took comic books to a crazier level than anyone could have imagined. Signs dealt with faith at such a mundane level that maybe it shouldn’t have even been included. And, The Village makes a sad attempt at delving into human thought and instinct.

There are many more assessments that can be made about the films of M. Night Shyamalan: the frequent use of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania as a backdrop, and other sci-fi clichés. Regardless, as long as his films garner opening weekends of $50 million-plus, and M. Night keeps looking for the bread, why would he change things? Like they say, don’t fix that creature if it ain’t broken. That was a pathetic way to end this article.