M. Night Shyamalan's 2004 mystery-thriller *The Village* is being made available to stream on Peacock this month, giving audiences a chance to revisit—or discover—one of the director's most divisive films. Coming after the acclaimed *The Sixth Sense*, *Unbreakable* and *Signs*, the film marked the first time Shyamalan's work drew notably negative reviews, though it still performed strongly at the box office, helping cement a cult following that has grown over the following two decades.

The film follows a blind woman living in an isolated 19th-century community surrounded by a forest said to be home to monsters, and starred Bryce Dallas Howard alongside Joaquin Phoenix, Adrien Brody, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Brendan Gleeson and Jesse Eisenberg. It grossed over $250 million worldwide against a $60 million budget, but currently holds just 43% on Rotten Tomatoes, with the late critic Roger Ebert famously awarding it one star and branding it "a colossal miscalculation" over its twist ending. Shyamalan went on to make several poorly received films—including *Lady in the Water*, *The Happening*, *The Last Airbender* and *After Earth*—before later rebuilding his critical reputation.