The long anticipated program, WAYWARD PINES, is promising typical plot twists in the M NIGHT style.. But the question will now be: Will viewers appreciate it after all of the duds that people have attributed to the Shyamalan name..?
Matt Dillon stars as a Secret Service agent who arrives in a tiny, picturesque Idaho town (that could be called Creepyville, USA) to investigate a case, but learns he can't leave. No one can. If people try to escape, it can deadly..
Cast members also include Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo, Toby Jones and Juliette Lewis. Shyamalan said that after casting Dillon, it was Leo's role that helped shape his vision of the series.
The UK GUARDIAN took the chance to profile Shyalaman as he leaps from movies to television (but back to movies this fall with the VISIT).. The report points out that the director went to a celebrated new version of Hitchcock to a laughing stock.. Which version shows up for WAYWARD is yet to be seen--but even more interesting will be the ratings game.
The NIGHT brand has been acclaimed before it turned lame. Movies like SIXTH SENSE were forgotten by the time THE HAPPENING didn't happen--ironically the bee collapse is in the news today. Maybe we should have listened closer in 2008.. Regardless, Night is coming back this fall with THE VISIT. The trailer for that movie about people going to their grandparents house in Pennsylvania has already become the butt of jokes..
WAYWARD PINES seems immune to such unkind words. As a matter of fact, the reviews appear to be mostly positive--helped more by Matt Dillon as an actor than M Night as a creator..
But time will tell how WAYWARD these pines get.
10 episodes begins tonight..
Will you stay for all of them?