Keith du Cros.com

M. Night Shyamalan is about to release another unpredictable movie of awesomeness in the form of “The Happening”. Yep, after the boxoffice and review killing Lady in the Water received, he’s back at it again. I’m not really sure where to begin on this one.

First off, I can say that the new trailer does at first look passable and, at least, attention grabbing. The scope and theme of the movie reminds me alot of “I am Legend” with its worldwide epidemic… but theres also the classic Shyamalan ‘twist’ factor mixed in with it. *insert sad face right about here*

I can admit that I did enjoy The Sixth Sense. Not a bad movie at all - even the twist was ok! But things have just gone downhill ever since. I think the description “one-trick pony” suits quite well actually, and it seems that everything since has just been riding off his previous success (and the same formula), and I think people are noticing.

Everybody probably just knows the name M. Night from his movie posters and trailers. Its all over the place. When looking back on his movie history, I actually noticed a pattern. There seems to be a correlation between how bad a movie is going to be and the size and marketing push of “M. Night Shyamalan” on promotional material. Check out the following posters of movies since the Sixth Sense (which, might I add, didn’t try to sell his name on the poster at all).

There is a clear link between the quality of the movie and the marketing of the director. Therefore I propose the following scientific formula:

A = (D * S) + I

Where:

A = How awful a movie by M. Night Shyamalan is going to be.
D = Distance between name “M. Night Shyamalan” and other text on promotional material
S = Size of said name in comparison to the movie title.
I = Non-marketing related problems.

Joking aside, I could of just said A = Time since the Sixth Sense, but i actually didn’t mind Signs too much. It was just very simple minded and, well, it felt like much of the same. Overall, the above seems to be a solid formula. Will it continue to be applicable in the future? I hope not. If it is, we’re in for an interesting couple of hours! See below.

Is it advertising The Happening or M. Night Shyamalan? I can’t tell!