Daniel Stamm director of the shaky-cam horror flick The Last Exorcism has signed on to direct the second of M. Night Shyamalan’s Night Chronicles, Reincarnate.
The script, penned by Buried screenwriter, Chris Sparling and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit writer, Paul Grellong, follows a jury as they seek answers in a murder case – while being plagued by supernatural forces.
While a straight forward narrative style will be a new element for emerging director Stamm, whose past works both made use of documentary aesthetics, what’s most worrisome for this project is it’s connection to Shyamalan, who’ll serve as producer and earns the ominous writing credit “from the mind of M. Night Shymalan.” A credit that has made people groan and laugh in turn when it appeared in the trailer of the Night Chronicles’ first feature, Devil, which opens Friday.
All Night Chronicle productions will be birthed from the twisted mind of Shyamalan, and it appears they will be marketed as such. It’s a confusing move when the public seems to jeer the self-aggrandizing directors name.
I’ve personally witnessed the groaning of moviegoers giving way to fits of laughter three times in theaters this summer. After such massively panned movies as The Last Air Bender, The Happening and Lady in the Water, I’m perplexed why Shymalan’s name is being used to promote a property he had little to do with.
Devil is co-directed by Quarantine‘s writer/director, John Erick Dowdle, and co-writer, Drew Dowdle, and written by Hard Candy screenwriter, Brian Nelson. Yet Universal is promoting the “story by” credit of a director whose been raked over the coals all summer long:
Whether or not Shyamalan’s laugh-worthy reputation will affect Night Chronicle’s box office remains to be seen. But if Devil makes bank, expect monsters to pop up in more boring locales.
First elevators, then jury duty, where will the next Shyamalan specter pop up? Take your guess in comments.