M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Seems Similar to an Upcoming Movie

Sometimes, Hollywood makes twin movies around the same time. M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap has a snappy, exciting premise. It feels a little similar to another upcoming thriller. We may never know if one film was trying to copy the other. M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ shares a lot with an upcoming horror sequel Trap is about …

Sometimes, Hollywood makes twin movies around the same time. M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap has a snappy, exciting premise. It feels a little similar to another upcoming thriller. We may never know if one film was trying to copy the other.

M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ shares a lot with an upcoming horror sequel

Trap is about a serial killer named Cooper (Josh Hartnett) who takes his daughter to a concert by pop sensation Lady Raven (Saleka). Instead of being an inspiring tale about how Ted Bundy could have been a good father, Trap is a thriller where Cooper realizes that the entire pop concert is one big trap where law enforcement is trying to snag him. It’s a tight concept for a movie that fizzles out thanks to implausible dialog, a misguided lead performance, and a mid-movie twist that doesn’t work at all.

If you go to see Trap, you’ll probably get trailers for Smile 2. Smile 2, the sequel to the supernatural horror film Smile, is about a pop star who is targeted by the smiling demon from the original film. Why are we getting two pop star horror movies in one year?

M. Night Shyamalan might understand music more than movies

It’s not like pop music and horror movies cross paths all that much. Aside from novelties like Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s “Monster Mash,” few pop songs deal with horror themes. Meanwhile, horror films centered on music usually focus on heavy metal. Even the songs from The Rocky Horror Picture Show are based more on the sound of early rock than pop music.

At least Trap understands music well enough. One of the only decent aspects of the movie is its songs. Lady Raven’s tunes are reasonable pastiches of 2000s pop music that could’ve been hits for Fergie or Aaliyah.

We have yet to know what the songs from Smile 2 will sound like in full. However, the snippets of music in the trailers suggest the film is going for a Dua Lipa-esque sound. Considering how popular she is, that seems like a good move.

‘Trap’ was partly inspired by ‘Purple Rain’

During a 2024 interview with Picture House, Shyamalan discussed the inspirations behind Trap — and they had nothing to do with Smile 2. “You know, that part kind of came last in the process,” the Sixth Sense director said. “It really was Saleka and I talking about a movie where music was critical to the movie, that the characters are watching all the songs. It’s a different form of a movie than we’re used to, and Purple Rain was kind of our inspiration… you’ve seen movies, let’s say A Star is Born or something, where you sing two or three amazing songs, but a full, full album from beginning to end, where the characters are watching. That was the goal, it started that way.

“And I’ve always loved serial killers, I love them,” he added. “That’s a subject I’ve always wanted to write something about, it’s always been an obsession: can I make a serial killer movie, a different kind of serial killer movie. I was like, maybe he’s a serial killer, or maybe one’s loose, I was trying to dance around these concepts.”

For all we know, Trap and Smile 2 will be part of a new pop horror trend.