“The Fall and Rise of M. Night Shyamalan” is how Rolling Stone once described the Indian-American filmmaker. There’s no arguing that Shyamalan has made a name for himself in the filmmaking world, however. He first came on the Hollywood map after his smash hit, The Sixth Sense, earned six Academy Award nominations. Although some of his movies since then have been duds (we’re looking at you, Lady in the Water and The Happening), he certainly has gems across his expansive filmography. And his small-screen effort Servant is a juicy thrill ride from start to finish. A master of the twist, Shyamalan has delivered some of the most surprising and shocking movie endings of all time. Even the folks of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia are on board with his work. There is little doubt that Shyamalan’s next feature Knock at the Cabin will be another tale of unease and terror that will flip audience expectations in its final act. It is fitting, then, to go back and look at a series of interconnected movies from Shyamalan’s filmography, dating back to the start of the millenium…

The Unbreakable trilogy is an American superhero thriller and psychological horror film series consisting of Unbreakable (2000), Split (2016), and Glass (2019). The entire franchise features the character David Dunn, played by a phenomenal Bruce Willis in a powerfully subdued turn. We are sad to see Willis enter retirement amid his reported aphasia diagnosis. In honor of the legendary actor, and as we await Knock at the Cabin’s release, here’s a closer look at the Eastrail 177 trilogy — aptly named so in reference to Dunn’s crash depicted in Unbreakable that set everything in motion.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

3 Glass (2019)

Leading up to the release of Glass, were you excited when Sarah Paulson first appeared in the thrilling theatrical trailer? (See above.) The final film of Shyamalan’s superhero trilogy was a disappointment, as was the case with a handful of Shyamalan efforts. (The truth hurts.) The movie continued the adventures of David Dunn (Willis) as he faces off against The Beast (James McAvoy), a human monster with dissociative personality disorder, and Mr. Glass (Samuel L. Jackson), who knew of Dunn’s hidden superpowers before any of us did. The end result was no match for its 2016 predecessor — and especially the OG effort dating more than 20 years back.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

“I was in London when I heard the U.S. reviews for Glass were poor. I was in a makeup chair for a TV show, and I cried,” Shyamalan once revealed during an NYU lecture. “We’d just come back from the London screenings, which were through the roof. We had only great screenings of the movie around the world. So essentially I wasn’t prepared. I had this false sense of being a part of the group in a safe way. But boy, did I feel distraught that day.”

2 Split (2016)

     Blinding Edge Pictures

Split is the second movie in the Unbreakable series, featuring a stellar cast led by James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Betty Buckley. It’s where we first meet the aforementioned Beast, a man struggling with dissociative personality disorder that has spawned 23 personalities. One night, his personality named Dennis takes over and kidnaps three girls outside a birthday party. They attempt to escape from him before his “Beast” persona takes over. McAvoy is dynamite in the role, further solidifying his A-lister Hollywood status.

“I’m not trying to be reductive here, but wandering around in high heels playing [one of the characters] was really f—ing hard,” McAvoy once told The Hollywood Reporter. “And everybody had assured me that I was wearing very comfortable high heels, and all the women on set were like, ‘You’re actually wearing really comfortable high heels, dude.’ They were killing me. That was difficult physically. And artistically, the hardest part was playing the character that comes up at the end — the much-talked-about, avenging character at the end. He was difficult because he couldn’t just be a bad guy, but he also couldn’t be an over-the-top, monstrous villain. He had to be somewhat in between that.”

1 Unbreakable (2000)

     Touchstone Pictures

“Do you see any Teletubbies in here?” is perhaps Samuel L. Jackson’s best quote from the entire Dunn trilogy. Released in 2000, Unbreakable marks the beginning of the series — and cinephiles are sometimes correct when they say the initial effort is always the best. A former star quarterback-turned-security guard boards a train, which then crashes — cue the “Eastrail” name origin. When he wakes up in the hospital, David Dunn (notice the superhero-name alliteration) is miraculously unharmed. He begins realizing that he has never been sick and that he shows paranormal capabilities when it comes to strength, thus making people believe he is indeed a superhero. The powerful scene where Dunn’s son aims a gun at him echoes that reported George Reeves incident where a child once aimed a pistol at the Superman actor. The twist at the end of Unbreakable also marks one of the finest Shyamalan moments to date — and it’s why this 2000 film takes the No. 1 spot on our list.