All M. Night Shyamalan Horror Movies In Order

The Sixth Sense (1999) follows child psychologist Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis), who takes on Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment) as a patient. The young boy claims he can see and communicate with dead people. Malcolm initially struggles to understand what Cole is experiencing, but he slowly realizes that there may be more to the boy's story than he first expected.

The Sixth Sense is the movie that made Shyamalan a household name, and it's easy to see why. The film doesn't rely on constant scares, instead spending most of its time following Cole as he tries to deal with something that nobody else seems to understand. The movie is also famous for its ending, and there's a reason the final reveal has remained one of the most talked-about twists in horror.

Signs (2002) follows Graham Hess (Mel Gibson), a former priest who lives on a farm with his two children and his younger brother. Their lives change when strange patterns start appearing in the fields around their home. As more unusual things take place, the family starts to believe that something may be watching them.

Shyamalan keeps the danger mostly out of sight, which makes the family's reactions the core of the entire story. Gibson also gives the story a more serious tone as Graham deals with the loss that caused him to leave the priesthood. The movie mixes sci-fi with the family's problems without making either one completely separate from the other.

The Village (2004) follows the residents of a small, isolated community who believe that creatures live in the woods surrounding their home. Ivy Walker (Bryce Dallas Howard) has spent her entire life following the village's strict rules, but those rules become harder to follow when she decides to venture beyond the area where she has always been told it's safe.

The Village is one of Shyamalan's more atmospheric horror movies, with most of the story taking place around the fear of what could be hiding in the woods. Like many of the director's movies, it also has a major reveal that changes the context of the entire story. The twist has become one of the more debated parts of the film, but it makes the movie especially interesting.

The Happening (2008) follows Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg), a science teacher who starts traveling with his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel) after a strange event causes people across the northeastern United States to suddenly behave in strange ways. Nobody seems to know what's going on, and the group has to keep moving while trying to figure out what's causing it.

As one of the stranger movies in Shyamalan's filmography, its horror comes from the fact that there's no obvious enemy to fight. People suddenly die in the most disturbing ways imaginable, while Elliot and the others have no idea where they can safely go. The movie eventually gives an explanation for the strangeness, but leaves enough questions to make you feel very unsettled.

The Visit (2015) follows siblings Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and Tyler (Ed Oxenbould), who are sent to stay with their grandparents for a week while their mother takes a vacation. The children have never met their grandparents before, so they decide to film the trip as a way of getting to know them. Things seem normal at first. But the behavior of their grandparents slowly becomes concerning.

The Visit is a much more straightforward horror movie than some of Shyamalan's earlier work, and the found-footage format gives it a very different feel. The idea of spending time with your grandparents becomes creepier as Becca and Tyler notice things they can't explain. When the truth is finally revealed, seemingly insignificant details from the beginning become more important.

Split (2016) follows three teenage girls who are kidnapped and imprisoned by Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy). While the girls try to find a way out, they learn that Kevin has several different personalities, each with their own behavior and temperament. They also discover that one of them may be far more dangerous than the others.

McAvoy does most of the heavy lifting in the movie, playing Kevin's different personalities with noticeable changes in his voice and mannerisms. The result is a performance that can be funny in one scene and disturbing in the next. Anya Taylor-Joy also has an important role as Casey, giving the movie a second character to follow as the story becomes more personal.

Old (2021) follows Guy (Gael García Bernal) and Prisca (Vicky Krieps), a married couple who take their children on vacation to a beautiful beach. The family is soon joined by several other guests when they start to notice something strange about the location. The people on the beach are aging at a freakishly fast rate, turning what should've been a relaxing day into a fight to survive.

Old is an unusual story, even by Shyamalan's standards, because its central threat is basically just aging, which everyone experiences. But the catch is that their entire lives pass by in a matter of hours. That idea gives the movie a genuinely disturbing vibe. When the reason for the beach's strange effects are revealed, the explanation about why this particular group of people ended up there is pretty deep.

Knock at the Cabin (2023) follows married couple Eric (Jonathan Groff) and Andrew (Ben Aldridge), who decide to vacation at a cabin in the woods with their young daughter Wen (Kristen Cui). But their trip becomes terrifying when four strangers take the family hostage. The intruders say that the world is going to end and force the family to make a difficult choice to stop it.

The frightening part is that the characters have no idea whether they should believe what their captors are telling them. The cabin setting gives the story a claustrophobic home-invasion feel, which is anyone's worst nightmare. Dave Bautista is particularly brilliant as Leonard, a character who seems threatening at first but is not quite what he appears to be.

Trap (2024) follows Cooper (Josh Hartnett), who takes his daughter to a sold-out concert to see her favorite singer. But their fun night out quickly becomes complicated when Cooper realizes that police have surrounded the venue as part of a plan to catch a dangerous criminal. Unlike most of Shyamalan's movies, the audience immediately learns that Cooper is the one they are trying to trap.

The premise and the setting are extremely entertaining, allowing Hartnett to play a character who's constantly trying to appear normal while secretly trying not to get caught. The movie's final stretch keeps adding new complications as Cooper's plan begins to fall apart. If you enjoy psychological thrillers that spend a lot of time inside its villain's perspective, Trap is a must.