M. Night Shyamalan might see dead people, but he doesn’t see himself as a horror filmmaker.
Sitting down with the Daily News at The Whitby Hotel last week, the “Signs” writer-director, best known for the twists that end most of his supernatural films (including “The Village” and “Split”), revealed that he doesn’t think his films fit into the horror genre.
“I make mysteries,” Shyamalan, 49, explained of his storied twists. “So by the nature, you’re going to learn something at the end of a mystery. And so it comes inherently with the genre that I’m in. I don’t consider myself a horror filmmaker, so that’s not the genre I’m in.”
Of the 13 films Shyamalan has directed thus far, IMDb has only identified “The Visit” (2015) and “Split” (2016) as horror movies as is his new show, “Servant,” which dropped on Apple TV+ over Thanksgiving.
“Servant” – which Shyamalan says utilizes a “mixture of genres” – follows a married couple who substitutes their dead baby with a baby doll who is mysteriously replaced by a living, breathing, fussing infant.
The India-born, Philadelphia-raised director told The News he doesn’t even believe “The Sixth Sense” — which centers on a little boy who can “see dead people” and remains one of his most popular films — is not a horror film, but “a classic psychological thriller.”
“I don’t mind scares, but that’s not the predominant thing,” Shyamalan told The News of the 1999 gem. “I took what would typically be done in a horror genre, but [did] it in [a] psychological thriller. And that’s a distinction that’s important, because horror has its goal … as solely scares, whereas this is something that’s a mystery. ‘What is that noise in the other room? I thought we were alone.’ … And then there’s a mystery added: well, who’s there? And what is it? Where is this going? How does this affect the story?”
The “Sixth Sense” was, ironically, highlighted last month in Forbes’ run down of the “Highest-Grossing Horror Movies of All Time,” coming in the number two spot for the lifetime domestic gross ($293.5 million) and in the fourth spot for adjusted rankings ($518.8 million).