The Shyamalan Amalgam
The Shyamalan Amalgam: or Signs the Unbreakable Lady in the Water from the Village has a Sixth Sense
Elijah Price persuades a group of large, muscular orderlies to break him out of the institute for the criminally insane. He has learned about the existence of a village where most of its inhabitants believe they are living peacefully in 19th century America. His plan is to seize control of the people by brutal force, using the hospital henchmen as muscle.
Cole Sear, a young Philadelphia psychology professor at U Penn, is strolling around campus when he encounters an apparition who goes by the name Walker, who bids Cole to embark on a journey into the Pennsylvania countryside. The ghost tells him about the peaceful inhabitants of a hidden village who are now living under the shroud of fear, and asks him to look for school records regarding a History professor named Edward Walker, his son.
Cole doesn't know what to make of this. He walks around the University grounds and enters the football stadium, immediately bumping into one the security guards; David Dunn.
Upon contact with the young man, David has a vision of the village people (no pun intended) who are being terrorized by the evil Mr. Glass. Lucius Hunt, the bravest villager, has been mortally wounded by one of the henchmen, scaring the rest into submission. He leaves Ivy Walker a widow, who is in a fit of rage as they lock her in the outhouse. This horrible act forces Edward Walker, the owner of the estate and father of Ivy, to sign the necessary legal documents that will give Mr. Glass power over the Walker family fortune. David knows of this man's terrorist ways and what he could do with all those funds at his disposal.
David asks Cole who he is, but the young man is in shock. It seems David reminds him a lot of Dr. Malcolm Crowe, the child psychologist who helped Cole to cope with his ghostly problem over a decade ago. After a hearty conversation, they decide to join forces against Mr. Glass.
Once in the Philadelphia outskirts, David and Cole meet the Hess family. Rev. Graham Hess, the patriarch, his brother Merill, a cocky ex-baseball player and now a bitter alcoholic, Morgan, a young UFOlogist and his sweet younger sister Bo, who seems akin to Cole's unique ability.
David and Cole learn that the Hesses where the victims of an elaborate UFO hoax, and realize that Mr. Glass was in fact responsible for it. The Hess farm is adjacent to the Walker Wildlife Preserve and Glass wanted their land as a strategic position to enter the village. This makes Rev. Hess mad (Max) as hell, but explains that as much as he would like to help, he cannot leave his farm unprotected. Merill, on the other hand, grabs his Louisville slugger and offers to tag along. The three of them go off into the heart of darkness.
Soon as night falls, the trio approaches the village, where they encounter a large, grotesque porcupine-looking creature shrouded in a red cloak. Merill explodes into action, slugger in hand. After a few swings, the monster knocks Merill unconscious and grabs the bat with amazing speed, breaking it on its knee. The creature then turns to young Cole, but David quickly steps between the two. Cole implores David not to fight, but he replies: "Don't worry kid, I don't break that easy" David and the monster are in a standoff. The creature leaps upon the security guard and beats him savagely with its hard, razor-sharp claws. David lies on the ground, apparently defeated. Once again the monster turns to Cole. Just as the creature is about to leap onto him, David, from behind, rips off the monster's mask and locks his arm in a vice grip around the muscular orderly's neck. As the helpless man struggles to break free, David has another vision. We see how Mr. Glass ordered his henchmen to dress in these spiky red outfits, since the people of the village had been kept from the outside world through fear of these "mythical" creatures Now these monsters were going to do more than just spread fear. Last is a glimpse of where the frighten Ivy is held captive. When David's vision fades, we see the big man sprawled on the ground, dead.
They pick Merill up, who has a deep stomach wound and is loosing a lot of blood. David, carrying the unconscious Merill, tells Cole to follow him; he knows where to go.
The outhouse is locked. David breaks the door open and we hear a scream. Ivy sits in a corner, dirty and scratched all over. Cole moves closer to her and soon realizes that she is blind. Ivy on the other hand, gets calmer and calmer as the young man approaches. It seems that she can distinguish auras that certain people emit, and that Cole's and David's are the brightest she has ever seen. Cole tells her that they have a wounded man with them and asks if there is any medicine around. She pulls out a box from a dark corner and produces some bandages, penicillin, etc. Leftovers from when she made a desperate journey into "The Towns". She doesn’t quite know what to do with it, though, to which David responds: "I'll take care of that". He removes a walkie from his backpack and radios in for help
They ask her to stay with Merill and wait for assistance; both will be safe there.
Lightning crashes, followed by a deafening thunder, making Ivy and Cole jump. It starts to rain. Ivy tells them to put on the yellow cloaks hanging on the wall. Cole grabs one for himself and gives one to David, who says: "I brought mine" He pulls a green poncho from the backpack and slips it on.
Ivy touches Merill's face and we see her eyes light up. "Oh my God, it's my Lucious!"
David and Cole leave Ivy with Merill and proceed to the main house on the compound, looking like Batman & Robin.
We see that Mr. Glass has gathered everyone in the main structure; three of the creatures/henchmen are patrolling the building, mainly to be seen through the windows by the frightened villagers inside. Glass is sitting on a high chair, like Julius Ceasar, delivering a typical super-villain speech.
We hear a scream. "Elijah!!!" David makes sure the three creatures see him as he approaches, without fear. The three monsters ominously surround him. The villagers watch from the inside, in awe, as one by one, the imposing red monsters are taken down like chess pawns.
Meanwhile Mr. Glass activates a custom-made transmitter on his cane and informs everyone that he has the whole village wired with high-grade explosives. The elders freeze, the others are shaking in their boots. Edward Walker implores with him not to take these people's lives. At that precise moment, Cole appears, wearing the yellow hood. He tells Glass about a traumatic experience he had on an amusement park as a kid, breaking his bones while on a ride. The mad man is shocked, gradually breaking down into nothing more than a sobbing child. The people stare at Cole as if he were some alien from another world.
David appears and pulls back the green hood, revealing his face. He carefully grabs the glass cane and steps back. The elders gather around the weeping Elijah, who believes he is about to be lynched. Instead, they show compassion and help him up, back to the chair. The rain begins to fade.
The villagers hear a strange sound; a motor engine. They evacuate the main house and in the distance, they see this strange vehicle with bright lights park beside the outhouse. Two men wearing strange clothing walk into the small hut.
The head of security at the Walker Wildlife Preserve (who looks like M. Night Syamalan himself) and a short middle-aged man carrying a doctor's bag; his name is Cleveland Heap. Upon seeing Ivy, he says: "S-S-Story! Is it r-really you?" Ivy smiles, responding to the kindness in his voice.
David and Cole arrive on the Hess farm a week latter. Rev. Graham Hess comes out, fearful that something might have happened to Merill. Where's my brother!??? – He yells. David tries to calm him down when Bo appears. She locks eyes with Cole and smiles. Graham sees this and gives her a quizzical look, to which she responds: "Don't worry dad, uncle Merrill is at peace now".
LEGEND: THE NEXT FALL
Open on a luminous wedding ceremony. Merrill and Ivy are smiling, as Edward declares them man and wife in front of the whole village.
We slowly pan across the crowd, back, back, all the way back, until we see buzz-cut Kevin, looking upon the whole happy scene; creepy evil grin on his face. Suddenly, he sighs, pauses for a few seconds and finally, decides to split.
Leave the gun, take the cannoli