Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan was hyped as the new Alfred Hitchcock after his breakthrough The Sixth Sense, but hasn’t been able to live up to the hype with every one of his projects over the last 25 years. Just think of The Happening or the universally despised Avatar adaptation The Legend of Aang. Will he find his way back to his old form with Trap?
The trailer for his new serial killer thriller from Warner Bros. was released this week shown at CinemaCon 2024 and generated some positive reactions among visitors. Among other things, from colleagues at Slash Film, who can report that Shyamalan at least lives up to his reputation as a twist baron.
Serial killer thriller with a twist that is already revealed in the trailer?
In the trailer for Trap, Josh Hartnett is seen as a father who accompanies his daughter to a concert by a singer named Lady Raven (Saleka Shyamalan). Arriving at the venue, there is suddenly unrest as the police arrive with flashing lights. As it turns out, the entire concert is a trap for the notorious serial killer nicknamed The Butcher.
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M. Night Shyamalan on the set of Knock at the Cabin
At the end of the preview then the twist: Hartnett’s father figure looks at his cell phone to watch live video of a person locked in the basement. He himself is the butcher in question that the police are after!
Was that the twist of the film? Is the surprise like in The Girl from the Water that there isn’t one at the end? Or is the film so packed with unexpected twists that Shyamalan can be lavish with them in the trailer? The answer to this will be available no later than on August 1, 2024, when Trap hits local cinemas. As soon as the trailer appears online, we will sound the alarm.
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Trap: Twist-rich thriller as a touching father-daughter project
Despite the dark killer theme, Trap is a Shyamalan family project that the famous father took on with his daughters. Ishana Shyamalan already has her first film in the starting blocks, They See You, and is also a musician, as her father proudly said at CinemaCon.
According to his own statement, his upcoming film was born out of the desire to combine their shared passion for live concerts into exciting films. On the other hand, his other daughter Saleka, who is even known as an R&B singer, plays the role of the performing artist in the film.