One Big Problem that had plagued Shyamalan
Now bear in mind, while most of his movies aren't exactly great to begin with, I truly believe the big problem that has plagued Shyamalan lies in how his films are being marketed: The studios try to promote Shyamalan's movies as if they are thrillers, when in reality some of them border more on the drama side. Like for example, Shyamalan wanted to promote Unbreakable as a comic book movie, but Touchstone Pictures insisted on portraying it as more of a psychological thriller, similar to The Sixth Sense. Or how about The Happening, 20th Century Fox really went all-out on promoting it as Shyamalan's first R-rated film, but in the film there's barely little to no profanity (not even the F-word is said) and very little violence except for a little blood, but it looks clean enough to warrant a PG-13. Or maybe even Lady in the Water, which was promoted as some supernatural fantasy horror, but it came off as more like a fantasy drama.
What's going on? It feels like Shyamalan wants to make films of diverse genre, and the studios just keep slapping them on to the public as thrillers.