So much of a movie’s success depends not only on the story, the actors and the plot but on the star power of the director. This week we are taking a look at films from the controversial filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan.

M. Night Shyamalan was born in India and raised in the US. He is known for his distinct directing style which includes lots of spooky plot twists and shock endings. In 2000 he received two Academy Award nominations, one for Best Director and one for Best Original Screen Play. Both were for the movie “The Sixth Sense,” which is probably the film he is best known for.

“The Sixth Sense” is a psychological thriller which came out in 1999 starring Bruce Willis as a psychologist whose patient was played by the child star Haley Joel Osment. This movie really was Shyamalan’s best work in my opinion. The film is really good and the plot twists are so unexpected. It was nominated for a total of six Oscars and grossed a total of $672,806,292 at the box office worldwide.

In 2016 Shyamalan released another psychological thriller, “Split.” The film stars the actors James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Betty Buckley. McAvoy was praised for his portrayal of a man with dissociative identity disorder and depicts 24 personalities in the movie. Shyamalan himself played the minor role of a security guard in the movie. Interestingly, he is known for giving himself small roles in a number of his films.