Dylan O’Brien’s Creepy New Thriller Is Now Streaming, And There’s An M. Night Shyamalan Twist

Dylan O’Brien stars in the new thriller Caddo Lake, and it has a direct connection to writer and director M. Night Shyamalan. Written and directed by Celine Held and Logan George, Caddo Lake was released on Max on October 10, 2024, and quickly climbed into its top 10 most-watched movies. At the time of writing, Caddo Lake has an 81% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and an 82% audience score, both fresh ratings. So far, Caddo Lake has been praised for the performances of its main actors and its creative story, even if it gets tangled towards the end.

Caddo Lake takes the audience to Texas, to the area of the title lake, to follow a young man named Paris (O’Brien) and a teenager named Ellie (Eliza Scanlen). When Ellie’s eight-year-old step-sister Anna mysteriously disappears, Ellie separates from the search team to look for Anna on her own in a strange part of the lake. Meanwhile, Paris tries to piece together his mother’s past and illness, and both he and Ellie end up making shocking discoveries. Caddo Lake has been compared to M. Night Shyamalan’s works, and there truly is a connection between them.

Dylan O’Brien’s Caddo Lake Is Now Streaming On Max, And M. Night Shyamalan Is Involved

M. Night Shyamalan Serves As Producer In Caddo Lake

As mentioned above, Caddo Lake was written and directed by Celine Held and Logan George, and among its producers is M. Night Shyalaman. Caddo Lake is now streaming on Max, right in time for spooky season, and despite Shyamalan not being a writer nor being directly involved in Caddo Lake’s story, his influence is very clear. Shyamalan is one of the modern masters of horror, but also one of the most controversial writers and directors in the horror and thriller genres due to his plot twists.

Shyamalan’s works often deal with supernatural themes and include plot twists and twist endings that don’t always work out as expected. Movies like The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Split are known for their surprising and effective plot twists and surprise endings, but others like The Village and The Happening didn’t have the same effect. Shyamalan produced Caddo Lake under his production company Blinding Edge Pictures, and his influence is very obvious from the beginning, but even more around half of the second act.

Caddo Lake Is More Than Just A Thriller

Caddo Lake Mixes Drama With Big Plot Twists

Caddo Lake mixes drama (mostly family drama) with suspense and bits of sci-fi to explore the mysteries of the title lake. Paris struggles with his family’s past, particularly his mother’s, who he believes had a misdiagnosed illness after Paris did more research and found his father’s note on the episodes his mother had. On Ellie’s side, she has a complicated relationship with her mother, with whom she constantly fights, and she doesn’t accept her stepfather as her family, despite being the one who raised her after her father left.

The twists that follow are very reminiscent of Shyamalan’s style, despite him only being a producer.

What keeps Ellie linked to her mother is Anna, as she lives with her and Ellie’s stepfather (Anna’s father). Anna’s disappearance is a turning point for Ellie but also for Paris, as they both make disturbing and life-changing discoveries at a very specific part of the lake as a consequence of Anna’s vanishing. This reveal and the twists that follow are very reminiscent of Shyamalan’s style, despite him only being a producer. Thanks to all these elements, Caddo Lake is more than a thriller with major twists, as it does add some depth to its main characters.

Dylan O’Brien Has Another Big Movie Releasing This Week

Dylan O’Brien Is At The Front & Center Of Another Big Movie

Dylan O’Brian began his acting career in 2011, starring in the TV series Teen Wolf as Stiles Stilinski, a role that gave him worldwide recognition. On the big screen, O’Brien’s first big role was in 2014’s The Maze Runner, where he starred as Thomas, a role he reprised in the sequels. In 2021, O’Brien starred in Taylor Swift’s All Too Well: The Short Film alongside Sadie Sink, and the following year he played Colin in the black comedy drama Not Okay. Caddo Lake isn’t O’Brien’s only project in 2024, as he stars in another, even bigger movie this year.

O’Brien is part of the all-star cast of Saturday Night. Directed by Jason Reitman, Saturday Night takes the audience back to 1975 to take a look at the fun yet chaotic minutes leading up to the very first episode of what would become Saturday Night Live. The movie has a wild all-star cast to play the all-star cast of the first episode of SNL, with O’Brien playing Dan Aykroyd, who started as a writer and became part of the cast before the show’s premiere. At the time of writing, Saturday Night has received positive reviews from critics, making it Dylan O’Brien’s second hit this year.