M. Night Shyamalan plans to keep you on the edge of your seat with his latest movie Trap. Considering the first trailer revealed a major twist of Josh Hartnett’s character being a serial killer, does that mean Shyamalan’s summer flick will get an R-rating? Despite its lead character being a murderer trapped in a large concert venue, it looks like Trap will be getting a PG-13 rating, and here’s why.
It was a Shyamalanan twist when the Indian-born director’s sci-fi thriller The Happening was the first in his filmography to get an R rating as well as Knock at the Cabin for its violence. While we’re still guessing what M. Night Shyamalan’s big twist is for Trap other than Josh Hartnett’s character being a serial killer, there’s no twist in the new movie’s rating. Like many of Shyamalan’s movies, Trap is getting a PG-13 rating, and here’s why according to Film Ratings:
Rated PG-13 for some violent content and brief strong language.
Suppose you take a look at all of M. Night Shyamalan’s movies. The Oscar-nominated director knows how to scare an audience with his mind-bending storytelling more than any use of graphic violence. Whether it’s a little boy being followed by scary ghosts in The Sixth Sense, rapidly aging on an island in Old, or three teenagers abducted by a man of multiple personalities in Split, the tension builds in never knowing what signature movie twists the director/producer/screenwriter will throw at us next.
The plot of M. Night Shyamalan’s movie Trap follows a serial killer at a concert venue trying to escape before being caught by the police. But I have a feeling the story will focus more on its suspense than any violence. Sure, the new trailer revealed there’ll be some violent distractions Josh Hartnett’s character will pull as well as him watching a video of his latest victim begging for mercy. But as Film Ratings says the upcoming horror film will have “some” violent content, it appears Trap isn’t going to fall into the realm of the best slasher movies where blood is shed at every corner.
It almost looked like Trap would head towards an R rating when M. Night Shyamalan revealed his pitch to studios for his new movie. It followed, “What if The Silence Of The Lambs happened at a Taylor Swift concert?” With the R-rated Silence of the Lambs serial killer Hannibal Lecter known for eating his victims, you’d wonder if Trap was going to go to graphic extremes like that. If anything, the Glass director used a wild real-life event as inspiration where many fugitives were trapped at a football game by police disguised as dancing cheerleaders and mascots. Definitely doesn’t sound like an R-rated event.
Trap may revolve around a serial killer trying to escape the clutches of the police while attending a concert with his daughter, but it’ll actually receive a PG-13 rating for “some violent content and brief strong language.” Even if Trap isn’t violent enough to achieve an R rating, I still have a feeling we’ll experience all of the suspense that M. Night Shyamalan is known for incorporating. Make sure to see the PG-13 2024 movie release in theaters on August 2nd.
