A small, isolated village that seems to belong to the nineteenth century lives in fear of creatures that inhabit the woods surrounding it. Watchtowers, oil lamps and a ban on the color red shape a daily life built on mistrust of the outside world. When a young villager is gravely wounded, Lucius asks permission to cross the woods in search of medicine, but the elders refuse. The story follows Ivy, a visually impaired young woman who decides to make the journey herself, as tensions within the community grow harder to ignore.

How it was made

The project was first titled The Woods, but the name was changed because a film in development by director Lucky McKee already used that title. As with other Shyamalan projects, it was surrounded by heavy secrecy to protect its ending, though the script was leaked more than a year before release, prompting early reviews and plenty of fan speculation. The village was built in its entirety in a field outside Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. Shooting began in October 2003 and was delayed because scenes requiring autumn foliage could not be filmed during a late fall. Principal photography wrapped in mid-December. In April and May 2004, several lead actors returned to the set, reportedly tied to a change in the ending compared with the leaked script. Roger Deakins handled the cinematography and James Newton Howard composed the score.

Reception and legacy

Critics were largely unconvinced: on Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 43 percent approval rating, and on Metacritic a score of 44 out of 100. Roger Ebert gave it one star and called it a colossal miscalculation, while other critics defended it, and Carlos Morales argued it was misunderstood because it was marketed as a horror film. It grossed 256 million dollars worldwide. It earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Score, losing to Finding Neverland, and Deakins won an Evening Standard British Film Award for technical or artistic achievement. Some later reappraisals have been kinder, though the film remains tied to debates about Shyamalan's signature twist.