Old

Old is a 2021 horror film by M Night Shyamalan that follows a group of resort guests who become trapped on a beach where they begin to age rapidly.

 Although it’s an ensemble cast, it focuses primarily on a married couple and their two young children. The children are there, at least at first, just so the audience can quickly grasp the physics of the beach, as we watch them age into adults in a matter of hours.  But the story quickly becomes that of the marriage, and how our relationship with time and death alters how we deal with one another. It’s almost a sweet romance,  if you disregard the blood and fear and supernatural murder.

I’m a fan of Shyamalan, but like most of his work there are flaws that jump out at you. Once again, a mentally ill person is given the role of villain in his films. Once is fine. Twice is co-incidence But when four or five of your movies use “mental illness” and “criminal” as synonymous, you’ve got some explaining to do.

And the end, the very last few minutes? No, it isn’t a problem with a “twist” – he’s moved past that. It’s that it wasn’t believable. And when you watch a movie about a beach that turns you old in a day, and it’s the ending that makes you say “man, that wouldn’t happen,” then you done messed it up.

Grade: B