Night Shyamalan is such a powder keg of hit and miss that its almost unfathomable to even picture a world in which his films wouldn’t create a world war of discourse. Primarily due to the fact that Shyamalan ends his films with big Twilight Zone like twists, the guy is placed in the line of fire far more than not. So, his latest film, which in itself is a piece of well born originality, is of course under fire. But in this instance, like in the instance of the abysmal Lady in the Water and The Happening, is the shade warranted?

Shyamalan’s latest film, Old is a brave, breakaway from the traditional that combines with both eco and body horror all in an explosive if not at times goofy mixture.

Old revolves around vacationing families who were lucky enough to have won some big tickets to a fancy resort. The resort is all encompassing spot that you would want to spend an ideal vacation. Eventually, certain families are chosen to visit an off the beaten path part of the island. A nice cove that isn’t known by a lot of tourists. Big memories and beauty is promised to the entire family. There is a lot of nicely written foreshadowing that is peppered in organically throughout the dialogue in the films first act. Character traits such as a young woman who has calcium deficiency or a character revealed to have a small tumor are all revealed here. Shyamalan does a nice job of connecting these dots throughout the film to have tremendous moments later in the film that either equal to big horror, big goofines or truly heartfelt and endearing moments.

Once the family arrives at the vacationing spot, they are automatically taken in by a truly brilliant vista. The audience is almost lulled into the tranquility with a sense of false security along with these families. However, by this time, it’s already too late for the vacationing family and the audience. The good times are about to end and swirl into an insane ride, that is almost the most on brand Shyamalan that has ever Shyamalaned. This surrounding tension is illustrated in a camera that had previously been sitting completely still to a camera that is wildly kinetic and becomes a family’s 8mm vacationing camera. Wildly pitching left and right and carelessly zooming. The intense closeups on characters faces is almost too close for comfort. Everything cinematically becomes panicked.

It’s around this time that tragedy strikes and the families discover that they are unable to leave the island. Anyone who tires is automatically met with a feeling of pressure in their head that makes them succumb instantly. All directions or hope is off limits to the now panicked groups. From this point on Shyamalan turns up the kettle’s boil and fashions the groups into a small microcosm of the world, with every one being represented. As you would expect, society doesn’t get a long and is even worse when unnerved. Much like in Stephen King’s The Mist, you end up with people turning on each other for their own strongly held ideals. Essentially, their true selves are revealed two-fold.

As the title suggests, the trapped group also begins to age very quickly and to get Old at a rapid pace. Easily calculating that they could age 50 years in one day.

The fun and horror in the film comes from this element of body horror and being able to watch it all unfold as well as guess what could happen next. You are watching their own bodies and a natural process become the monster of the film. In a society that is all about looks and plastic surgery to fight off aging, you are watching a societies worst nightmare unfold… and it’s a blast to watch. Those foreshadowing setups I mentioned earlier, start to come into play and creep up on the group in strange and terrifying ways. Old is unforgiving and doesn’t wait to give a breather or allow for a break. It’s drama sped up to 1000 miles per hour. The human condition put into a grinder with no off switch.

There has always been a very goofy side to Shylaman’s writing. I’ve never been able to pin down if the audience is supposed to be laughing at  certain junctures in his films. There is a strange playfulness that is combined right along side the horror that is totally separate from any other mainstream directors that I know of. For the life of me, I don’t know if its intentional or not and I may never know. But, that feeling is loaded throughout the entirety of Old. Sometimes I love it, and sometimes it throws me off.

Shylaman and his cinematographer are shooting the hell out of a movie here. Old, looks fantastic and moves in really innovative ways. Incorporating the same movements that families in the 80s had with their choppy and shaky 8mm vacation films, is really smart. They also put these zoom lenses right up in the actors faces to slowly reveal these little changes that are occurring throughout the film. It’s subtle at first. A little graying of the hair at the temples, the eye lid slightly lower than it was in the previous shot. The make-up effects are changing from shot to shot and at first its doing it so subtly that I don’t think that audiences will fully appreciate the full scope of what the make-up schedule must have looked like. The make-up effects team is absolutely having a blast here and doing some truly tremendous work.

The biggest flaw in Old for me, comes from the fact that there is exposition pouring out of every single scene. I didn’t mind hearing characters guess at what was happening to them once or twice, but this film hits you with it savagely and doesn’t stop. Also, the ending of this film, lowered my score a lot. I don’t think that it needed the big overly blown ending that it has. And even if it did, I don’t think that we needed it explained as much as they explain it here. Audiences are smart and this over-explained ending talks down a bit to them. It’s too large, I loved the mystery of Old… why take that away so thoroughly?

As with all of Shylaman’s films, this will be divisive. But, he really did create something original that moves with the force of gravity and aging itself. It’s completely unforgiving and just keeps upping the ante of the game from moment to moment. Watching aging become the monster is brilliant. Also, combining body horror with this mysterious bit of eco horror that pushes back around every corner is smart. Sure, the ending is a bit too much and should have been dropped and ended earlier… but it doesn’t take away from the good time that I had leading up to it. Old, is worth watching in theaters for those big effects and constantly unraveling goofy insanity. Nothing is more terrifying than getting old and being forgotten, and Shylaman has his blade set carefully on that jugular.