A slick, high-concept thriller with a knowingly goofy streak, Trap is more interesting as a premise and performance piece than as a tightly engineered suspense machine. If you enjoy M.… Read more
11% ★☆☆☆☆ (1,213,581)
Trap
Where to watch: Max
Movie · Crime · Horror · PG-13
2024 · 1h 45m · ★ 11% (1.2M)
30,000 fans. 300 cops. 1 serial killer. No escape.
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Night Shyamalan
Overview
A father and teen daughter attend a pop concert, where they realize they're at the center of a dark and sinister event.
Director
M. Night Shyamalan
Production
Blinding Edge Pictures
Cast
Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Night Shyamalan, Alison Pill, Hayley Mills, Jonathan Langdon, Mark Bacolcol, Marnie McPhail, Kid Cudi, Russ, Marcia Bennett, Vanessa Smythe, M. Night Shyamalan, Lochlan Ray Miller, Steve Boyle, David D'Lancy Wilson, James Gomez, Nadine Hyatt, Michael Brown, Hailey Summer
Where to watch
Max
Curator Review
Verdict
A slick, high-concept thriller with a knowingly goofy streak, Trap is more interesting as a premise and performance piece than as a tightly engineered suspense machine. If you enjoy M. Night Shyamalan’s mix of tension, absurdity, and twisty contrivance, it’s an easy watch; if you need airtight logic, it will likely frustrate you.
Best for
fans of high-concept thrillers
viewers who like darkly comic suspense
M. Night Shyamalan completists
audiences open to campy, self-aware genre play
Skip if
you want realistic police procedure
plot holes pull you out of movies
you dislike tonal whiplash
you want a straight horror film
Overview
Trap is built on a deliciously ridiculous premise and mostly survives on the energy of that idea. The concert setting gives it a fresh visual engine, and Josh Hartnett leans into the role with a performance that keeps the movie hovering between menace and comedy. That tension is the film’s biggest asset: it wants to be a thriller, but it often plays like a dark farce about how badly everyone in the room is reading the situation.
Worth noting
The movie’s pleasures are less about suspense mechanics than about watching Shyamalan push a single concept as far as it will go. Some scenes are genuinely tense, but plenty depend on implausible behavior, overexplained plotting, and a willingness to accept that the film is operating on its own eccentric logic. For some viewers, that’s the fun; for others, it’s the point where the spell breaks.
Bottom line
If you approach it as a sleek genre toy with a mischievous streak, Trap is entertaining enough to recommend. If you want a disciplined cat-and-mouse thriller, it’s more likely to feel like a clever setup in search of a sturdier payoff.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Zoe (3.5★) · 30076 likes
this is gonna ruin the tour.
Karsten (4★) · 26899 likes
you gotta wonder if m night shyamalan has ever had a conversation with a human being
ram<3 (3.5★) · 20341 likes
american psycho (taylor’s version)
Reece (4★) · 19346 likes
before the movie, M Night came out on stage and shared that he came up with this ENTIRE movie solely to give his singer daughter her very own concert film. he then proceeded to spend 30 minutes individually thanking a multitude of crew members by name, the entire cast AND supporting cast (even actors with legit 2 lines), and told all aspiring filmmakers in the crowd to follow their dreams. M NIGHT. THE MAN YOU ARE. (and yes, the movie is thrilling but mostly so silly and fun, see it with friends and get ice cream after)
justinwuah (5★) · 17165 likes
the actual trap was sitting through this entire movie
A classic captivity thriller that thrives on escalating discomfort, manipulation, and the terror of being trapped with the wrong person.
Themes
serial killer, concert setting, father-daughter relationship, identity and concealment, surveillance, performance and persona, dark comedy, cat-and-mouse thriller
Topics
thriller, crime, horror, dark comedy, psychological tension, concert setting, serial killer, cat-and-mouse, camp, 2020s