The Sixth SensedirectorM. Night Shyamalanreturns to screens this summer season with the haunting supernatural horror outing,Old, which has now been officially given a rating of PG-13. The rating has been handed down by the movie gods on high thanks to “strong violence, disturbing images, suggestive content, partial nudity, and brief strong language,” suggesting that, much like the majority of his cinematic output,Oldwill not be a family-friendly experience.
Oldbegins with a family on a tropical vacation on a perfect beach day, or so they thought. The family, who are joined by several others, soon discover that the idyllic cove filled with rock pools and sandy shore, encircled by green, densely vegetated cliffs is not what it appears to be. No, this utopia hides a dark secret. First there is the dead body of a woman found floating in the crystal-clear water. Then there is the odd fact that all the children are aging rapidly. Soon everybody is growing older every half hour, reducing their entire lives into a single day, and there doesn’t seem to be any way out of the cove…
The movie isinspired by the French graphic novel Sandcastleby Pierre Oscar Levy and artist Frederik Peeters, which was brought theUnbreakabledirector’s attention thanks to his children, who gifted him with a copy of the novel for Father’s Day. Shyamalan was instantly enamored with the premise, quickly purchasing the rights to the graphic novel, with the storyline said to have heavily inspired the script forOld.
Old, whichwrapped in November of last year, features an all-star ensemble cast led byCocoandThe Motorcycle Diariesstar Gael García Bernal as Jack, withPhantom Threadstar Vicky Krieps as his wife, Kate.HereditaryandJumanji: Welcome to the Junglestar Alex Wolff also stars as Mark, Jack and Kate’s son. Making up the supporting cast areLittle WomenandSharp Objectsstar Eliza Scanlen,Jojo RabbitandThe Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies’Thomasin McKenzie,Kryptonstar Aaron Pierre,Mad Max: Fury RoadandThe Neon Demonstar Abbey Lee,Jupiter Ascending’sNikki Amuka-Bird,The Fatherstar Rufus Sewell andLost’sKen Leung.
The movie sees Shyamalan return to the kind ofexistential horror storythat has often served him so well in the past, withOldsure to tackle the universal question of mortality while putting through the characters through the filmmaker’s unique brand of psychological terror.
Oldis just the first part of M. Night Shyamalan’s recent two-movie deal with Universal Pictures, with another as-yet-untitled project currently slated for a February 2023 release date. Shyamalan has discussed the deal in the past, suggesting that all the movies could be linked much like the likes ofSplitandGlass. “I just had two movie ideas I felt very strongly about,” Shyamalan revealed.
“For me, there are ideas and they’re in journals sometimes and they don’t quite have the meat yet or whatever that thing is that makes it so I’m ready to commit two years of my life to making this-to writing and directing this-some of those ideas don’t have that yet. They have to gestate a little bit. But there were two ideas where right away I was thinking about making them. And, interesting enough, there might be a third thing that came to me that might end up going in between these two. So there might be three.”
Oldis scheduled to be released in the United States on July 10, 2025, by Universal Pictures. This news originated atComicBook.com
