There’s a terrible sense of dread lurking in M Night Shyamalan’s latest. Sadly, it has nothing to do with the boring shaky-cam story about two incandescently irritating teenagers spending some Grimm-lite time with their unhinged grandparents. Instead, it’s the horrible realisation that the film-maker who was lauded for The Sixth Sense, defended for The Village, and just about tolerated for The Happening, may actually have made a movie worse than Lady in the Water. Is it meant to be a horror film? Or a comedy? The publicity calls it “an original thriller” but it is neither of those things. Only “endurance test” adequately describes the ill-judged shenanigans that ensue, as our two young heroes film their estranged Nana and Pop-Pops scratching at the walls, puking on the floor, and mysteriously stockpiling soiled nappies in the woodshed. Can you spot the inevitable plot twist that lurks noisily in the corner? Can you listen to any more of little Ed Oxenbould’s cute comedy rapping without stabbing yourself in the ear? Can you get a refund? Bring back The Last Airbender!
