Old (2021)

July 28, 2021 6:41 AM

A thriller about a family on a tropical holiday who discover that the secluded beach where they are relaxing for a few hours is somehow causing them to age rapidly reducing their entire lives into a single day.
posted by Strange Interlude (18 comments total)

The jokes and memes about this movie have been merciless. I have to admit the idea of a "beach that makes you old" is very funny. The graphic novel the movie is based on, "Sandcastles", is actually very good, though.
posted by all about eevee at 7:27 AM on July 28, 2021 [2 favorites]

I saw this pop-up yesterday, and was kind of interested, though I long-ago migrated away from Shyamalan's stuff. Is this worth killing a couple of hours on? Nothing overtly violent or gory?
posted by Thorzdad at 9:27 AM on July 28, 2021

Thorzdad, if I were you, I'd skip it.
posted by all about eevee at 11:37 AM on July 28, 2021 [1 favorite]

I salute M. Night Shyamalan. In a world where 90% of movies are sequels and/or comic book spin-offs, he isn't afraid to run with a ridiculous (but original) premise that is almost certainly not going to make very much money.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 1:05 PM on July 28, 2021 [2 favorites]

It's not an original story, it is based on a graphic novel.
posted by all about eevee at 1:17 PM on July 28, 2021 [4 favorites]

I'm always hoping the next M. Night movie is gonna be good, and I always wait until it comes out and then people tell me not to see it. Then I check the spoilers and think "yeah, probably not."

I found the trailers for this to be really, really disturbing. Not the body-horror stuff, but the idea of parents seeing their kids lose their whole childhoods. Not the way I want to scared, but I thought it might strike an apocalyptic chord that people would find appealing.

I read the spoilers, not sure how I'd actually react if I was in the theater, but it seems like a timely issue, turned up to 11.
posted by skewed at 2:15 PM on July 28, 2021

almost certainly not going to make very much money.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at

Seems like this is almost already into making its money. $20M on a $18M production, it will be pure profit by next week, in the millions. Sure, it's not avengers money, but this movie will make a lot of damn money


https://variety.com/2021/film/box-office/box-office-m-night-shyamalan-old-opening-weekend-1235026953/
posted by eustatic at 2:54 PM on July 28, 2021 [2 favorites]

Whatever its merits as a movie, I'll just be glad when the billboard of the poor lady with the bone leg finally stops being ubiquitous in my neighborhood. After the year I've had, I really don't need to see this woman decomposing every damn time I leave the house. She's on every corner.

I get that people often use horror to process their trauma, and if this helps them deal with 2020/2021 in some way, that's a good thing. But from what I understand this movie involves blameless characters helplessly rotting away and then they all die, leaving their suddenly middle-aged children behind, and that's just a big no fucking thanks from me.

I obviously haven't seen the film and I realize I'm not contributing anything very useful to the discussion. But honestly, when everything in my life has been chronic illness and masks and aging loved ones and all this awful body horror shit, this movie's omnipresence bothers me more than it should. I want the whole thing to go away so everybody can go back to being excited about the latest big loud superhero mediocrity.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 4:40 PM on July 28, 2021 [11 favorites]

I mean, yes, this is timely, but a movie about researchers trapping people with chronic illnesses on a beach and speeding up their aging to complete "lifetime trials" of drugs feels especially weird in this pandemic environment.
posted by all about eevee at 5:18 AM on July 29, 2021 [1 favorite]

a movie about researchers trapping people with chronic illnesses on a beach and speeding up their aging to complete "lifetime trials" of drugs feels especially weird in this pandemic environment.

"Oooo the paranoia dollar, huge numbers. A lot of people are feeling that paranoia and we can ride the anti-science train to riches"
posted by fullerine at 11:08 AM on July 29, 2021 [1 favorite]

I'm just glad he's taking a break from making movies about how dangerous and scary mentally ill people are
posted by maxsparber at 10:48 AM on July 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

I dont think I've ever seen such awkward, stilted acting as was in this movie. Was that a...stylistic choice or something? Everyone spoke like robots, with zero inflection in their voice.

I thought this could've been a great movie if every single actor was different.
posted by silverstatue at 11:07 AM on July 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

I'm just glad he's taking a break from making movies about how dangerous and scary mentally ill people are

Oh, he indulges in a bit of that with Rufus Sewell's character. Sewell starts out the movie as kind of a pissy upper-class racist, only to become a stabby psychopath when he starts experiencing early-onset dementia/Alzheimer's symptoms due to the beach's influence. Shyamalan really doesn't do well with writing mentally-ill characters, which is a shame because I thought the movie was pretty effective for the whole first hour before it lost its way in the end.
posted by Strange Interlude at 2:05 PM on July 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

They said at the end he was a schizophrenic, not that he had dementia, which makes thing worse.
posted by all about eevee at 7:27 PM on July 30, 2021 [3 favorites]

> I found the trailers for this to be really, really disturbing. Not the body-horror stuff, but the idea of parents seeing their kids lose their whole childhoods.

I would normally have the same reaction -- I don't like to watch any "child in peril" stuff, and this certainly qualifies. But when the trailer was shown at a theater I was at recently, there was a whole lot of laughter. I honestly thought it was a parody at first and would turn out to be a reminder to turn off my cell phone.

(I haven't seen it, I'm not going to see it, I'm curious what other people thought of it anyway.)
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:00 PM on July 31, 2021

I long-ago migrated away from Shyamalan's stuff.

I'm always hoping the next M. Night movie is gonna be good, and I always wait until it comes out and then people tell me not to see it. Then I check the spoilers and think "yeah, probably not."

I thought this could've been a great movie if every single actor was different.

Oh, come on, you guys have standards too rigorous for summer movie schlock; I love Shyamalan movies. They're always idiotic and frequently insulting but they're great to watch (okay, you're right: with exceptions). I'm so mad I can't go see this in the theater with all my friends and a giant popcorn and smuggled-in melted butter. Maybe we could also sneak in a thermos or three of G&Ts.
posted by Don Pepino at 5:29 PM on August 2, 2021 [2 favorites]

Now available for digital rental in the US.

We went in with low expectations and those were met. I wouldn't dream of making a case that this was good, but it is upper middle level Shyamalan, so depending on your tolerance for that...

Anyone concerned with body horror can watch, but as soon as Rufus Sewell starts the fight on the beach, go take a bathroom break or get a beverage and don't come back until you hear calm.

The calcium deficiency lady breaking herself into pieces and then rapidly healing into increasingly messed up shaped was memorable and scary.

If you're squeamish, you won't wanna see that.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:44 PM on October 7, 2021 [1 favorite]

I just watched this at the recommendation ("recommendation") of a coworker. I by pure chance happened to be drinking a tall glass of milk during the calcium deficiency lady scene and had to put it down because I started laughing so hard I almost spilled it.
posted by phunniemee at 5:01 PM on July 2, 2022