Fans Think They’ve Spotted a Connection Between Two of M. Night Shyamalan’s Worst Movies

The mystery box approach is becoming a mainstay in the entertainment industry. Creatives are putting together puzzles that viewers spend years trying to solve. J.J. Abrams is a big fan of the practice, using it in everything from Lost to Star Wars: The Force Awakens. However, there’s something to be said about directors who love a good mystery but solve it almost immediately. M. Night Shyamalan is famous for his twist endings, which started gaining steam after The Sixth Sense in 1999. Nearly every one of his films changes entirely upon a second viewing, with it being clear that he was setting the stage for the twist from the very beginning.

Despite spawning countless conversations about the contents of his movies, Shyamalan is a polarizing director. A good number of his projects fail to find critical success, with one, in particular, The Last Airbender, being considered one of the worst films of the 21st century. However, a theory floating around connects two of Shyamalan’s worst films, making them more interesting in the process.

The Villains in The Visit May Be More Dangerous Than They Seem

The idea, formulated by popular TikToker L.P. Longmire, focuses on the grandparents in The Visit, which was a return to form for Shyamalan in 2016. The horror movie features a pair of children, Becca and Tyler, visiting their grandparents, whom they’ve never met because they were estranged from their mother. When they get to town, everything seems normal, with their relatives, whom they call Nana and Pop Pop, even making a sign to commemorate their arrival. It doesn’t take long for strange things to start occurring, though, including Nana vomiting all over the floor. The kids try to look past their grandparents’ wild behavior and focus on the good, but it’s hard, especially when they’re scolded for going near a well on the property.

Read Next

Secret Sequel to One of M. Night Shyamalan’s Best Movies Is Now Streaming Free

Longmire believes that there’s a chance that Nana is actually a nymph, just like Story in Shyamalan’s much-maligned Lady in the Water. She’s trying to return to her world and believes the kids can help her get there. However, Becca and Tyler ruin everything by learning the truth: Nana and Pop Pop aren’t their grandparents but escaped psychiatric patients who killed their real relatives and took their place. The Visit‘s major twist is terrifying enough on its own, but it reaches new heights when the second part of Longmire’s theory comes into focus.

The Visit Could Also Feature a Connection to Glass

The only Shyamalan movies that are confirmed to be part of the same universe are Unbreakable, Split, and Glass. The trilogy focuses on the introduction of metahumans to the world, with Bruce Willis’ David Dunn discovering that he has incredible durability after a train accident. He picks a fight with Mr. Glass, who is obsessed with the idea of superheroes, and goes up against The Beast in the lackluster trilogy capper Glass. All three characters end up in Raven Hill Memorial, a facility that houses people with delusions of grandeur. However, by the end of Glass, it comes to light that Raven Hill is a front for an organization that hunts down and kills superhumans.

The existence of a metahuman facility means that there are a lot more than three people with abilities in Glass‘ world. Longmire explains that Raven Hill could have captured Nana and Pop Pop at an earlier point, but they escaped and went on to terrorize Becca and Tyler. Sure, there are some gaps to fill in with the theory, but it opens the door for Shyamalan movies to have their own Pixar-like continuity, where fans can see how each entry fits into a singular timeline if they look hard enough. There’s no way to know for sure whether Shyamalan intended to create a bridge between Glass, Lady in the Water, and The Visit, but Longmire isn’t grasping at straws with his idea. He knows the kind of director he’s dealing with and how he enjoys hiding massive lore drops in plain sight.

Do you believe that Nana and Pop Pop from The Visit could be metahumans? Are there any other M. Night Shyamalan movie theories that you think are true? Let us know in the comments below!