The directorial career of M. Night   Shyamalan has been , without a uncertainty , one of Hollywood ’s most bizarre . While he first became have it away for his films ' sullen , suspenseful aesthetic and clever plot twists in the other 2000s , he after gained infamy as the director of several poorly - receive flops , and many of his detractors have credit this to what they comprehend as arrogance and illusions of grandeur on his part .

He ’s one of the most complex , three - dimensional directors of all time , and with a huge catalog of films , we ’re go to front at his better and bad cinematic exercise .

Worst: Glass (2019) - 37%

M. Night Shyamalan ’s raw moving-picture show was reasonably of a dashing hopes . Tying together his old filmsUnbreakableandSplit , superhero and supervillain line of descent stories respectively , Glasswasn’t able to pair the energy , shiver , or creativity of its predecessors . It keep up three men , all of whom were featured in the previous two films - a vigilante superhero , David Dunn ; a villain most notable for his 23 separate personality , The Beast ; and Mr. Glass , a global terrorist with big design for both of them .

critic view the film as a dissatisfactory conclusion to Shyamalan ’s trilogy , noting that the rise of superhero movies over the last ten made the motion-picture show less groundbreaking as its predecessors , while also criticizing the motion picture ’s gimmicky tone and overly busy ambiance .

Best: The Visit (2015) - 67%

Shyamalan has experimented with quite a few dissimilar writing style over his vast moving picture calling - and with found - footage becoming such a popular genre , his psychological horror filmThe Visitwas a welcome addition to his repertoire . The film abide by two teen , Becca and Tyler , who are leave at the star sign of grandparents they ’ve never met so their female parent can go on vacation .

Bored , they set about documenting their experience , only to encounter strange , disturb phenomena . The film was praise for being Shyamalan ’s perceived homecoming - to - form , as many found it a soundly piquant character geographic expedition wrapped in a horror narrative that nail all of the genre ’s signature factor .

Worst: Lady in the Water (2006) - 25%

Lady in the Wateris one of Shyamalan ’s most perplexing films . It follows Cleveland Heep , an apartment complex superintendent who find out a water nymph in the swimming pool , eventually come to the actualisation that he and his neighbour are characters " roleplay out " a fairy tale .

It ’s a freakish passion project that features Shyamalan in his first act role , which some reviews criticise as being an egotistical number ; others remark that the moving picture was campy , far - fetched , and almost expansively arrogant on the part of Shyamalan .

Best: Unbreakable (2000) 70%

In Shyamalan ’s first direct speculation sinceThe Sixth Sense , he combined element of the superhero and thriller musical style to create the filmUnbreakable . It play along David Dunn ( Bruce Willis ) , a security guard who learn he has superhuman power after he is leave as the only subsister of a ruinous train crash . He meets Elijah Price ( Samuel L. Jackson ) , a wheelchair - bind comic book lover who believes David is a superhero and bid to become his wise man , and together they discover the full scope of David ’s crime - fight ability .

The movie has become a cult classic and is considered one of the bestnon - Marvel or DCsuperhero films to escort , with congratulations for its genre - deform plot , as well as its performances , visual esthetic , and suspense .

Worst: The Happening (2008) - 18%

Shyamalan ’s apocalyptical catastrophe filmThe Happeningtries too hard to be dominant with the grandeur discover in earlier films likeSignsorThe Sixth Sense , and because of this bungles a semi - promising premiss , quickly come down into a confusing , muzzy mess . Its plot concenter on a orphic personnel that is inexplicably causing million to put self-annihilation across the northeastern United States , as a high school day science instructor , his best friend , his wife , and his daughter endeavor to navigate the disaster .

While some critics praise the film as so - bad - it’s - good or even high - quality B vitamin - movie fare , many draw off issues with the film ’s yard , characters , and writing , with many citing it as an deterrent example of the perceived cold nature of many of Shyamalan ’s piece of work .

Best: Signs (2002) - 74%

After his success with films likeThe Sixth SenseandUnbreakable , Shyamalan once again gave audiences his signature thriller with a twist end in the course of 2002’sSigns . The movie follow a small - townspeople former non-Christian priest and his family as they fight for selection in the thick of an foreign invasion , and critic praised it for its suspense , characters , and atmosphere , with Roger Ebert praising Shyamalan as a " born filmmaker . "

After hype for the celluloid had dissuaded , later on reviews find inconsistency in the film ’s patch and claimed it was more shallow than first believed , although many critics still consider it one of Shyamalan ’s best and most electrifying films to day of the month .

Worst: After Earth (2013) - 11%

Often , Shyamalan disappoints when working withlarger budgets and less creative control ; one of the clear examples of this isAfter Earth , asterisk father - and - son playing duo Will and Jaden Smith . It follows Cypher , a prominent superior general on the planet Nova Prime , and his overshadowed boy Kitai , as they clash - ground on an exotic satellite - Earth itself , which humankind abandoned   nearly a millenary ago due to an environmental crisis .

The film was criticized as having poor performing , writing , and direction , as well as for being a fairly ready-made exercise in scientific discipline fiction , and it represents one of the miserable percentage point of Shyamalan ’s life history .

Best: Split (2016) - 77%

Up untilSplitwas released in house , barely anyone knew it was a sequel to Shyamalan ’s collide with filmUnbreakable , primarily because it had n’t been marketed as such . Another original idea the movie had was rivet itself on being a supervillain origination write up , a practice that would n’t become democratic until later films likeVenomandJokerreplicated it . It follow a adult male with twenty - four dissimilar personalities , who appear as " Dennis " to kidnap a radical of three girls , with the intent to sacrifice them to another one of his personalities , " the Beast . "

While some audience viewed it as amisrepresentationof dissociative identity disorderliness , most critics praised the plastic film for its performing , dramatic play , and witty air of unconventionality .

Worst: The Last Airbender (2010) - 5%

When it was denote that the popular Zanzibar copal - influenced Nickelodeon seriesAvatar : The Last Airbenderwould be go a live - action adaption , lover were confused , to say the least . While some praised the theme , others say one of the show’sbestqualities is its discrete optical panache , and thus a live - action variation would n’t be able to match the magic spell of the master . The Last Airbenderfollows four land - Water , Earth , Air , and Fire , which home " benders " - those able to control their country ’s element using psychokinesis and martial artwork . Everything changes once the Fire land attacks , leading to a seemingly never - ending war . However , a century after it began , Aang , a new son capable of manipulate all four elements , is determined to bring an close to the conflict .

The motion-picture show was unrelentingly lambasted by critic and fans of the serial publication , with some of the plastic film ’s gist problems being its act , direction , piece of writing , and needless compression of importantscenes and subplotsfrom the serial .

Best: The Sixth Sense (1999) - 86%

Headlined by Bruce Willis and often considered one of the great films of 1999 ( aboard hits likeFight ClubandTheMatrix),The Sixth Sensefollows a child psychologist who is disquiet and beat by his strange affected role yet , a boy who take he can talk to all in . With one of Shyamalan ’s touch twist finish , alongside a chilling standard atmosphere that houses awesome performances , the film remains the best - survey and most democratic film for its managing director .

It ’ll be interesting to see if Shyamalan will ever conjure together another moving-picture show that can even compare to this horror - thriller behemoth - a thought-provoking chore to say the least .

NEXT : Every M. Night Shyamalan Plot Twist , Ranked

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A selection of M. Night Shyamalan’s best and worst films

Three very different characters take center stage in the trilogy-concluding Glass

The children speaking to their mother over video call in The Visit.

Lady in the Water deconstructs the fairy tale genre, unsuccessfully

Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson at an event in Unbreakable

Four friends fight to survive a global disaster in The Happening

Signs Movie

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A villain’s origin story in Split

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