Shyamalan just started a YouTube channel and admits it scares him

Right, here’s a curveball from M. Night Shyamalan, the man who made creepy children and Bruce Willis cameos his thing. He's cropped up online in a whole new way: the director behind The Sixth Sense and Trap has just launched his very own YouTube channel, and he genuinely seems a bit rattled by it. If you’re expecting a glossy masterclass, think again – he’s promising something messier, more personal, and basically just... weirder.

When I’m scared, I usually feel like I’m doing something right.

That’s Shyamalan, speaking directly to the camera in his debut video. You get the sense he's both nervous and a bit thrilled about it all. The idea, he says, is to 'reflect and get to know each other' – and, more to the point, give himself room to be imperfect for once. There’s a touch of self-deprecation in there too: 'It’s like 30 years making movies and I want to undo it a little bit, you know, undo whatever stigmas are in my head or in anybody’s head.' Not often you hear a director admit he wants to unravel his own mystique, so fair play.

The video isn’t just a static pitch; Shyamalan actually takes viewers outside his office, showing off a bench where he chills out, and points to a tree he planted in memory of his dad, who passed away earlier this year. He makes it clear that he hasn’t really got a clue what shape the channel’s going to take, but he’s up for charging straight into the unknown, which fits, considering uncertainty and surprise are kind of his brand.

I don’t know how this is going to be. I don’t know what I’m going to show you and what you’re going to show me, but the joy of it is stepping into the unknown. And so we’ll do that together.

Next up: Remain

One reason for this jump to YouTube is the timing: Shyamalan is about to drop his next big film, Remain, set to hit UK cinemas on 5 February 2027. This isn’t just another haunted house number, either – it’s a supernatural romantic thriller, written and directed by Shyamalan but developed in tandem with Nicholas Sparks (yes, that Nicholas Sparks – so expect more doomed yearning than poltergeists for once). Sparks penned the novel, Shyamalan took the screenplay and film.

Remain lands in cinemas 5 February 2027.

Jake Gyllenhaal leads as Tate Donovan, a New York architect on a bit of a midlife wobble who ends up in Cape Cod, where he runs into Wren (played by Phoebe Dynevor). The whole thing spirals into a moody, reality-bending love story, with the requisite sense of unease you expect from Shyamalan. Worth noting: he reckons it’s the highest-testing film of his career, which for him is quite the statement. He described the vibe as: ‘full of love and that quiet, lingering unease that doesn’t let you go.’ Not your standard Sparks adaptation, then.

• Jake Gyllenhaal as Tate Donovan
• Phoebe Dynevor
• Julie Hagerty
• Jay O. Sanders
• Tracy Ifeachor
• Hannah James
• Caleb Ruminer
• Kieran Mulcare
• Maria Dizzia
• Ashley Walters

While Remain ticks along in the background, Shyamalan seems properly invested in this YouTube thing, insisting it’ll embrace the ‘messiness’ of creativity. For someone known for twist endings and careful plotting, watching him fumble through life unscripted might just be the oddest twist of all.