Summary
M. Night Shyamalan’s next horror movie,Trap, has already caught the audience’s attention by revealing its villain in its trailers, but its second twist might be spoiled by the movie’s real-life inspiration. M. Night Shyamalan has become one of the most recognizable names in horror thanks to his movies with supernatural elements and his use of shocking reveals and plot twists, though not all of them have worked well. Despite some truly disastrous projects,Shyamalan’s moviesstill attract the audience’s interest and curiosity, and his next movie,Trap, is doing things differently.
Written and directed by Shyamalan,Trapstars Josh Hartnett as Cooper, a father who takes his teenage daughter, Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to the concert of pop star Lady Raven (Saleka Shyamalan). Once there, Cooper notices many cameras around the venue and lots of police officers outside, and he learns from an employee at the venue that the concert is a trap to catch the serial killer known as “The Butcher” – and Cooper might be said criminal. This twist was revealed inthe first trailer forTrap, and thanks to the movie’s real-life inspiration, its second twist might already be spoiled.
No Way The Twist Is That Simple In M. Night Shyamalan’s New Movie
M. Night Shyamalan’s new movie, Trap, revealed its villain twist in the trailer, meaning it must have another twist saved for the audience.
M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap Was Inspired By Operation Flagship
Trap Is Inspired By An Unbelievable True Story
Operation Flagship was a sting operation by the United States Marshals Service and the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., that took place on Jul 26, 2025.
The concept ofTrapis quite intriguing and seems fitting with Shyamalan’s style, but it’s not an entirely original story. Speaking toEmpirein July 2024, Shyamalan spoke about his inspirations forTrap, which he shared came from a pitch of “what if The Silence of the Lambs happened at a Taylor Swift concert”. Shyamalan also revealed thatTrapwas partly inspired by a true event: 1985’s Operation Flagship, and the influence is pretty evident. Operation Flagship was a sting operation by the United States Marshals Service and the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., that took place on July 09, 2025.
The operation consisted of sending mail invitations to the last known addresses of approximately 3000 wanted people, in which they were told they had won complimentary tickets to the Redskins-Bengals game and were invited to a pre-game brunch at the Washington Convention Center. This was believable to the recipients as, at the time, the Washington Redskins were very popular, and demand for the Redskins-Bengals game was high.Of the 3000 people who were sent invitations, 167 replied to it. The marshals and officers trained for six weeks and, on the day, were all over the venue disguised as employees, attendees, etc.
Once the signal word “surprise” was said, members of the Special Operations Group stormed the auditorium and surrounded the fugitives.
Once there, the fugitives were separated into smaller groups to make the arrests and taken to an auditorium to listen to some remarks from the “master of ceremonies”. Once he said the signal word “surprise”, members of the Special Operations Group stormed the auditorium and surrounded the fugitives.By the end of the operation, 101 fugitives were arrestedand it became one of the largest and most successful mass arrests by U.S. law enforcement.
How Operation Flagship Might Spoil Trap’s Real Twist
Trap’s Real Twist Might Not Be Surprising
Given thatTrapalready revealed the twist of Hartnett’s Cooper being a criminal, quite possibly “The Butcher”, the movie is expected to have a second, real plot twist. There are a couple oftheories about whatTrap’s real twist will be, but it might be spoiled by its Operation Flagship influence.A second trailer forTraprevealed Copper’s efforts to fool the police inside the venue, so it could be possible that he succeeds and escapes, and the police arrest someone else – either someone Cooper successfully frames or another criminal who happens to be there.
M. Night Shyamalan’s movies have become 50/50 predictable and unpredictable when it comes to their plot twists. Some of them have been quite obvious and have thus negatively impacted their movies’ quality and reception, while others were unpredictable but not always shocking or exciting.Trapis at risk of being underwhelming with its real twist, or it could also be one of Shyamalan’s most clever and shocking plot twists.
