Shamaylan seems to be one of those directors whose films make money despite the fact that the critics don't seem to be all that impressed with them. Okay, he has had one massive flop, which happened to be The Last Airbender, but other than that he seems to continue to churn out films, and those films continue to make money. The other thing is that he seems to be one of those directors that has a lot more control over his films, and yeah, there are a few of them that fall into that category.
I won't say that this film has a twist though, and when people do use the word twist in the film it is put in quotes. It's sort of more of a reveal, and I have to admit that it is pretty difficult to go one better than the 'Bruce Willis is a ghost' twist that pretty much left everybody gaping in The Sixth Sense. Still, it wasn't too bad, even though I can't say that I am a particularly big fan of his films.
So, the story is about a family that goes on a vacation to an island resort, and the owner of the resort suggests that they go on a trip to a secluded beach. However, they aren't the only ones that are going to the beach, and when they get there they discover that things don't seem to be all that great, particularly since they discover a body, and then an elderly lady with them just dies. What becomes apparent though is that people seem to age much faster than normal, and I note that there is a mention that the reason they have a lot of food is because there are children with them.
I'm not sure how I would categorise this film, though Shamalyan does like his supernatural thrillers. I don't necessarily want to call them horror though because they don't seem to fall into that category, even though I consider horror films to be much more than your typical hack and slash/blood and gore type films that people seem to equate with horror (which I actually don't consider to be horror films, but that is just me).
Anyway, it isn't particularly bad, but I wouldn't be putting it up there amongst some of my favourite films, though I do have to admit that I did like the premise - to an extent. I guess the thing that I did have an issue with was that the children, while physically ageing, also seemed to not only mentally age, but also gain knowledge as well - namely with being able to communicate as an adult as opposed to being an adult, but talking as a child. I guess the reason this irritated me is because language, and communication, happens to be a learned trait, not something that is biological that develops as one physically develops. Still, other than that, it wasn't bad.
I won't say that this film has a twist though, and when people do use the word twist in the film it is put in quotes. It's sort of more of a reveal, and I have to admit that it is pretty difficult to go one better than the 'Bruce Willis is a ghost' twist that pretty much left everybody gaping in The Sixth Sense. Still, it wasn't too bad, even though I can't say that I am a particularly big fan of his films.
So, the story is about a family that goes on a vacation to an island resort, and the owner of the resort suggests that they go on a trip to a secluded beach. However, they aren't the only ones that are going to the beach, and when they get there they discover that things don't seem to be all that great, particularly since they discover a body, and then an elderly lady with them just dies. What becomes apparent though is that people seem to age much faster than normal, and I note that there is a mention that the reason they have a lot of food is because there are children with them.
I'm not sure how I would categorise this film, though Shamalyan does like his supernatural thrillers. I don't necessarily want to call them horror though because they don't seem to fall into that category, even though I consider horror films to be much more than your typical hack and slash/blood and gore type films that people seem to equate with horror (which I actually don't consider to be horror films, but that is just me).
Anyway, it isn't particularly bad, but I wouldn't be putting it up there amongst some of my favourite films, though I do have to admit that I did like the premise - to an extent. I guess the thing that I did have an issue with was that the children, while physically ageing, also seemed to not only mentally age, but also gain knowledge as well - namely with being able to communicate as an adult as opposed to being an adult, but talking as a child. I guess the reason this irritated me is because language, and communication, happens to be a learned trait, not something that is biological that develops as one physically develops. Still, other than that, it wasn't bad.