M. Night Shyamalan is currently working on his enigmatic new thriller Old. The project is shrouded in mystery, though word has it that it’s based on the graphic novel Sandcastle by Pierre Oscar Levy and Frederik Peters, which tells of an idyllic beach that contains a dark secret – it makes people… old. In the book, we find a group of adults and children trapped in the cove, each half-hour ageing them and bringing them closer to the reaper’s clutches.
The movie is reportedly inspired by rather than a direct adaptation of Sandcastle, but judging by the title, they’re keeping the core supernatural premise (though given that this is Shyamalan, we’re all expecting some kind of twist). Deadline recently reported that Old will be fully unveiled with a trailer during this Sunday’s Super Bowl and the director has just posted a short teaser on Twitter to hype that up which you can see below.
— M. Night Shyamalan (@MNightShyamalan) February 2, 2021
Everything we’ve heard makes the story sound like a great fit for Shyamalan. Right now, he’s on something of a hot streak, with his last three movies (The Visit, Split and Glass) cumulatively grossing $625 million on relatively low budgets. Of course, the filmmaker is also the executive producer of Apple TV show Servant, which has been a big hit.
Old sounds as if it’s going to be a truly scary existential horror that grapples with a process we’re all experiencing and all slightly scared of. If M. Night Shyamalan can capture the dread of parents helplessly watching their hair turn grey and skin wrinkle while their young children age into adults in front of their eyes, we could be in for a seriously disturbing movie. Personally, I can’t wait to check out the full trailer on Sunday.
Old is scheduled for release on July 23rd, 2021.
