The master of the twist ending, M. Night Shyamalan is known for putting out very talked about and popular movies, even if those movies aren’t always well-received by critics. While his famous stories use sharp turns in the plotting quite frequently overall, critics often find them to be plagued with bad set-up, making them appear to come out of nowhere in the worst examples of their usage.
But which of M. Night Shyamalan’s movies so far are actually considered to be his worst and which are considered to be his best? There are numerous opinions on the subject floating around the internet, most of which are very passionate in one way or another, but that’s not what this list will be looking at. Looking at the scores calculated by review aggregate site Metacritic, this list should answer the question in a more fact-based way. Here are the director’s 5 highest-ranking movies on the site and his 5 lowest-ranking too.
Best: The Sixth Sense (1999) - 64
The Sixth Sense, starring Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment, is widely considered to be one of the best supernatural thrillers ever made and is still touted by both fans and critics alike as the director’s best effort to date. The twist ending quickly became one of the most famous in movie history, if not the most famous, with the movies lead performances also being widely praised for extracting a high degree of emotionality from the somewhat fantastical plot.
It’s been parodied, or even just used as a punchline very frequently since its release in theaters, but the story of ghosts, and a gifted child who can see them, has resonated with audiences the world over and easily takes the top spot on this list as the director’s highest-rated movie.
Worst: Glass (2019) - 43
Serving as the conclusion to both Unbreakable and Split, Glass focusses on Samuel L. Jackson’s villainous character as they manipulate the course of events going on in a mental institution, overseen by Sarah Paulson’s head therapist, that treats people who believe that they are superheroes.
Bringing back a huge number of returning cast members, including both Bruce Willis and James McAvoy, Glass was not as successful as its two preceding movies with either critics or audiences but was still a success in general, managing to take a worldwide box office gross of $247 million on only a $20 million budget.
Best: Split (2016) - 62
Seen as an undeniable return to form from the director by a majority of critics, Split continued ideas that Shyamalan had worked on to great success over a decade prior and delivered one of his most famous and well-liked twist endings.
The plot follows James McAvoy’s disturbed villain, who suffers from an almost-supernatural case of disassociative identity disorder, and utilizes the director’s flair for horror. It would produce a sequel, Glass, which would sadly be ranked on the opposite end of the scale listing the director’s accomplishments, as will be seen further down the list.
Worst: Lady In The Water (2006) - 36
Lady In The Water is really a pretty weird movie, even for Shyamalan. The story does a lot of strange things with mythology and also functions as the first movie to star the director in a major role. While he doesn’t play the lead, the way he cast himself was particularly self-indulgent.
The odd plot revolves around a man finding a mythical water creature in his pool, and deciding that he has to save it from an evil beast known as a “Scrunt”.
Best: Unbreakable (2000) - 62
Unbreakable stars Bruce Willis in his first role as the protagonist of a kind of trilogy, David Dunn. Dunn realizes after a horrific accident that he’s taken absolutely no physical damage. From there, he delves into the possibility that he may be superhuman.
Samuel L. Jackson’s supporting role would steal the show, however, and his character’s philosophy would lay the groundwork for the other two installments in the series of movies.
Worst: The Happening (2008) - 34
The Happening revolves around a family trying to survive a bizarre occurrence where human beings begin committing suicide en masse without explanation.
The movie stars Mark Wahlberg in the lead role alongside Zooey Deschanel but alienated most critics and audience members with its story and lack of satisfying explanations.
Best: Signs (2002) - 59
Signs stars Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix. It tells the story of a small family who become to be some of the first people on Earth to make contact with a sinister alien race.
While not one of the highest-rated of Shyamalan’s directing efforts, the movie still has its fans and is often counted in the upper half of his filmography.
Worst: After Earth (2013) - 33
This movie and The Last Airbender are frequently bundled together to represent the lowest point of M. Night Shyamalan’s career.
The film stars Will Smith and Jaden Smith as father and son in a futuristic world where humans have long since abandoned their homeworld but find themselves marooned there through an accident involving their spaceship. Among the things that got criticized are the writing, the melodramatic feel of it all, and the performances.
Best: The Visit (2015) - 55
The Visit combines the found footage formula with the archetypes of creepy old people in horror movies with both critics and audiences responding more positively than they had for a while to one of the M. Night Shyamalan’s movies.
The movie showed off Shyamalan’s love for both frights and laughs with its often comedic story and was championed as a return to form for the director.
Worst: The Last Airbender (2010) - 20
A live-action adaptation of the show of the same name, The Last Airbender is often cited as the director’s worst movie and one of the worst animation-to-live-action adaptations ever.
The movie won 5 Golden Raspberry awards and maintains a vitriolically hateful anti-fanbase of sorts.
