How does one fall from the dizzying heights of the almost universally beloved Sixth Sense to make a film that scores a 39 on MetaCritic. M. Night, what happened to you?

A sampling of the criticism:

• A sense of humor might have helped “The Village.” It couldn’t have hurt. The truth is, nothing could have hurt. — SFGate
• To call it an anticlimax would be an insult not only to climaxes but to prefixes. It’s a crummy secret, about one step up the ladder of narrative originality from It Was All a Dream. It’s so witless, in fact, that when we do discover the secret, we want to rewind the film so we don’t know the secret anymore. — Roger Ebert
• If you long to hear dialogue like “You needn’t be scared. We have the magic rocks. They will keep us safe,” then M. Night Shyamalan’s nubby woolen sock of a thriller “The Village” is the movie for you. — Stephanie Zacharek
• The ubiquitous advertisements for “The Village,” which opens today nationwide, promise that “nothing can prepare you.” Nothing, that is, except M. Night Shyamalan’s last three movies and a passing acquaintance with “The Twilight Zone.” — A.O. Scott

Nubby woolen sock, y’all.