Old is a thriller by M. Night Shyamalan, which is well-tensioned and quite frightening in the context of the consequences of a certain beach that makes the people age significantly faster. This is a story of a family who goes on vacation to a tropical location, Guy and Prisca and their kids Maddox and Trent find out that a couple of hours spent on this secluded beach rapidly ages them too far down the road, in minutes. With the characters having to deal with the fact that their bodies are changing, they become ill, the movie gets to explore a sense of mortality, time, and human frailty, effectively making the film claustrophobic, making you feel on edge.
The movie presents a wide scenery of characters, all with certain underlying medical conditions that can render them more prone to the consequences of being at the beach, making the atmosphere much more tense and filled with the ominous impression of something bad about to happen. Shyamalan is known to create slow-building suspense, which is also prominently displayed at the worsening of the characters situation, including shocking deaths and dreadful physical mutations. The plot of the story makes a very dark twist too when the reader realizes that the beach he sees is not there by nature but serves as a part of a malicious experiment of a pharmaceutical company which intends to fulfill lifelong trials with drugs in only one day. This disclosure introduces a dimension of ethically-questionable and ethical censure of business ethics to the story.
The visual part of “Old” is heavily charged and shows us the infinities of time through alarming but enticing imagery. The natural environment and confinement are well used to boost the suspense by giving the feeling of helplessness. The speed of the movie is picked up slowly and then the excitement of Maddox and Trent running away is wound up which finally reveals the dark secret behind the beach. Although the plot is confusing and somewhat too abrupt to some viewers, Old will make a lasting impression on people on a very visceral level because of how thin life can be and how the clock cannot be stopped, no matter how much one wants to.
