M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Remain’ Wins Over Beyond Fest With a Surprise Premiere and Strong First Reactions
M. Night Shyamalan has one of the most unpredictable track records in Hollywood. He has not gotten ultra-positive ink from critics since the days of ‘The Sixth Sense’ and ‘Unbreakable’, though ‘Trap’ made more than $86 million at the box office on a $30 million budget in 2024. Each new project brings a fresh round of curiosity about which version of Shyamalan will show up.
His latest, ‘Remain‘, has an unusual pedigree. He co-created the story with bestselling author Nicholas Sparks, who wrote a novel version that was published in October 2025 while Shyamalan independently wrote the screenplay. The film follows Jake Gyllenhaal as Tate, a grieving architect recovering from depression who moves to Cape Cod and meets Wren, played by Phoebe Dynevor, a mysterious woman who disrupts his carefully ordered world.
Now the first audience reactions are in. On Tuesday night, Shyamalan surprised fans at Los Angeles’ Beyond Fest with the world premiere of ‘Remain’, screening it ahead of a planned retrospective showing of his 1998 classic ‘The Sixth Sense’. The early word on social media has been overwhelmingly positive.
M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘REMAIN’ earns strong first reactions:
— Film Crave (@_filmcrave) September 30, 2026
▪️ @griffschiller : « Remain is Shyamalan at his most earnest and sincere. […] Gyllenhaal is a perfect Shyamalan lead; subdued but soulful. Phoebe Dynevor is MAGNETIC balancing torment and tenderness with such charm… pic.twitter.com/784Q7duQBr
FilmSpeak host and critic Griffin Schiller said the film shows Shyamalan at his most earnest and sincere, calling it a heartfelt, romantic throwback to his early work. Another attendee, posting as The King of Burbank, called it Shyamalan’s most polished film in some time, and praised the VistaVision photography and the score by James Newton Howard.
Will the Land Man said the film calibrates romance, comedy and horror in a way Shyamalan has mastered since ‘The Visit’, while Luke Barnett wrote that nobody does fun, movie-theater horror like him. Barnett compared the humor to ‘Signs’ and the emotional ghost story to ‘The Sixth Sense’, adding that the film has plenty of great scares.
Critic Carlos Aguilar kept it short and said Gyllenhaal is wonderful. Another viewer, Amir Malekpour, went further and compared it to ‘Vertigo’, calling the film Shyamalan’s own version of the Hitchcock classic.
The leads drew the loudest applause. Schiller called Gyllenhaal a perfect Shyamalan lead who is subdued but soulful, and described Dynevor as magnetic for the way she balances torment and tenderness.
The King of Burbank said Gyllenhaal is excellent at selling the classic Shyamalan awkwardness, and noted major chemistry with Dynevor. Seth, posting as @according2seth, said the film is unlike anything Shyamalan has ever done, calling it his funniest yet, and described the two leads as electric together.
First trailer for M. Night Shyamalan's ‘REMAIN’, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Phoebe Dynevor.
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) September 8, 2026
The thriller follows a man who moves to a coastal town & is pulled into a deadly mystery by a supernatural woman.
In theaters on February 14, 2027. pic.twitter.com/kAubcdhu5c
The reactions paint a picture of a tonal cocktail. Viewers described the film as heartbreaking, heartwarming, scary, romantic and beautiful at once, with a score that pierces the soul.
The blend fits the film’s origin story. World of Reel described it as a Hitchcock-inspired ghost-story romance, and one attendee called it a delightfully pulpy ghost story that closes the clasp on several themes from his career.
Not every reaction was pure praise. One viewer noted that there is no subtlety at all, though they said that is part of the package with the peculiar blend of Shyamalan and Sparks, and they still called Gyllenhaal wonderful.
That mix of sincerity and pulpiness may be exactly why the film is generating such strong buzz among festival audiences.
Screening the film about 4 months before its release suggests confidence from Shyamalan and Warner Bros. Earlier this year, at Warner Bros. Discovery’s upfront presentation, Shyamalan said ‘Remain’ was the highest-testing movie of his career, and the response to the first trailer has also been positive.
That first teaser arrived on September 8 and showed a romance that turns sinister. The film also stars Ashley Walters, Julie Hagerty and Jay O. Sanders, and Shyamalan appears in a small role as Nash, a habit of his.
‘Remain’ was originally set for October 23, 2026, but Warner Bros. moved it to early February 2027 to land closer to Valentine’s Day. It opens in North America on February 5, 2027, with an international release beginning February 3.
Given the reception at Beyond Fest, the extra wait may make audiences more eager. For now, the early consensus is that Shyamalan may have delivered one of his most personal films in years.
How excited are you for M. Night Shyamalan’s Remain after these first reactions?
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