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Old
(Universal Pictures)
By Lucas Allen
After a string of disappointing failures, writer/director M. Night Shyamalan scored a comeback with 2017’s “Split,” though its followup, “Glass,” left critics in the cold and largely ignored at the box office. Now he returns to try to make amends with his newest high-concept thriller, “Old,” which was shot on location in the Dominican Republic during the 2020 pandemic. It’s based on the 2010 graphic novel “Sandcastle,” written by Pierre-Oscar Levy and illustrated by Frederick Peeters.
Somewhere in the Caribbean, Guy (Gael Garcia Bernal) and his wife Prisca (Vicky Krieps) bring their two children Trent (Nolan River and Alex Wolff) and Maddox (Alexa Swinton and Thomasin McKenzie) to an island hotel for some fun and relaxation. What the kids don’t know is that their parents are there to deal with their crumbling marriage and Prisca’s terminal illness. The hotel’s manager (Gustaf Hammarsten) offers the family a day at a private beach as an extra incentive. Upon arriving there, another couple, Charles (Rufus Sewell) and Chrystal (Abbey Lee), as well as his mother and younger daughter Kara (Mikaya Fisher and Eliza Scanlen) join the group, along with a woman named Patricia (Nikki-Amuka-Bird) and her nurse Jarin (Ken Leung).
Things get off to an eerie start when the body of a dead woman washes ashore and a rapper named Mid-Size Sedan (Aaron Pierre), who arrived the night before, seems to be responsible. However, both couples then realize their kids are growing quicker than usual. Worse, the adults are also aging rapidly but are also experiencing sudden age-related sickness including Prisca’s developing tumor. Eventually, they start to figure that the beach has some sort of power that causes each of them to experience many years of their lives in a matter of hours. As each of them perish one-by-one, it’s becoming impossible for them to find a way off the beach.
The story’s concept certainly feels like it’s straight out of an episode of “The Twilight Zone” or “Tales from the Crypt.” But in Shyamalan’s hands, there’s a good chance it can end up going south like some of his other bad films. It almost does, but he seems to be trying to bring more effort to create a family drama within a horror film. It’s a commendable effort especially when he makes beautiful shots using the Dominican beaches as a great backdrop.
Still, the end result could possibly be the director’s strangest film yet. Anytime there’s drama, there’s also some unintentional comedy because of the script’s clunky dialogue. At the same time, the rapid aging process for the characters creates plot holes the more you look into it. For example, there’s questionable science jargon about how the human cells are affected. Also, notice that the lack of the adult characters’ additional gray or fully white hair in the later scenes. There’s some serious weird stuff to be found in this film, though long-time fans of the director’s films can expect that.
Up until the final 10 minutes, the movie is mostly fine, and there is some good filmmaking to be found. But once it gets into the final outcome, it takes a nosedive into the absolute absurd. It didn’t need to add all that exposition and explanation in that short amount of time.
The acting is a mixed bag, all things considered for a Shyamalan film. Some of them do give decent performances, while others deliver flat line-readings. Surprisingly, the best performances come from both Wolff and McKenzie, who each get act like little kids in older teenage bodies like a horror movie version of “Big.” Shyamalan makes another trademark cameo role that’s actually incredibly meta as the hotel van driver.
“Old” is too strange to be actually terrible and too odd to be all that good. It’s not Shyamalan’s worst horror film (looking at you The Happening), and it’s not one of the worst movies of the year. In fact, its strangeness gives it charm and does make it worth just one viewing.
THE MOVIE’S RATING: PG-13 (for strong violence, disturbing images, suggestive content, partial nudity, and brief strong language)
THE CRITIC’S RATING: 2.5 Stars (Out of Four)
