Shyamalan pins hopes on his new movie

New York: Acclaimed Indian-American filmmaker Manoj Night Shyamalan is set to return with a comedy thriller movie, a media report said on wednesday.

Set to be released on September 11, "The Visit" is an intimate family drama tucked inside a horror picture, the New York Times reported.

Written, produced and directed by Shyamalan, the $5-million film is about two teenagers visiting their oddly behaving grandparents who scratch the walls at night and have a weird secret in the shed, among other places.

After the failure of "Lady in the Water", "The Happening", "The Last Airbender" and "After Earth" at the box office, the "The Sixth Sense" fame director is looking forward to repeat his success story with "The Visit".

The film has been an unexpected hit with audiences in sneak-peek screenings. It was lauded at the Comic-Con International held in San Diego in July.

"I admit that I was skeptical going in," an attendee said, adding, "But it was one of the best horror movies I have ever seen. And it was funny.

"M. Night Shyamalan's best film in a very, very, VERY long time," William Bibbiani, a critic at CraveOnline, wrote on Twitter after attending a screening of the movie last month.

After four flops in a row, Shyamlan became a part of the team behind "Wayward Pines," a mystery series on television and gathered much praise.

"Because there are fewer resources in television, I learned how much fat I had on me, how many puffed-up bad habits," Shyamalan was quoted as saying. "There was this great feeling of slowly shedding the fat," he added.