M. Night Shyamalan would like to get this out of the way first. His new film, "The Happening," does not have a twist ending.

Nor, he's just as quick to add, do most of his movies.

Yet since the unexpected success of 1999's "The Sixth Sense" and the accolades subsequently heaped on the then-29-year-old filmmaker, Shyamalan has been saddled with the reputation as a director obsessed with yanking the rug from under your feet.

And for nearly a decade, he has been trying to escape both the characterization (which he largely blames on studio marketing) and the expectations that his movies will make "Sense"-like money. (It grossed $294 million in the United States and Canada alone.)

"It's inane," he says. "Three of my six (major) movies had twist endings, three did not. It would be just as logical to say that none of my movies had a twist ending. My mantra is to sell the movie I made. And it always ends up becoming some version of a scary movie with a twist. And people go, 'Well, that's not quite what it is.' "

So he's trying something new: a straightforward horror picture.

That doesn't mean he has given up the shroud of mystery. The movie, which opens today, has been cloaked in secrecy, even from its stars, and kept from fans and critics until a handful of screenings this week.

The film, shown last week to USA Today, is a risky departure for the man who is known more for tension than gore. "The Happening" marks Shyamalan's first R-rated film, and it is steeped in violence, including mass suicides and the murder of children.

Shyamalan, never known for lacking confidence, makes no apologies for the brutality.

"I wanted to tackle taboos," he says. "In the first version, we threw everything and the kitchen sink in. It would have gotten an X rating. Or been banned in the United States. I told the crew and the cast that we're making a B movie, but we're making the best B movie that anyone's ever made."

It will need to be one of the more profitable B movies if he hopes to remain one of the few directors who can draw an audience with his name above the title — and retain the creative control he has enjoyed on every film since "The Sixth Sense."

His last picture, "Lady in the Water," took in a paltry $42 million, giving his detractors further ammunition that his best days have passed.

"He's on the ropes," says Jeff Bock of industry tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. "When you stray from your fan base, you're going to make more enemies than friends. For the last couple of movies, the M in his name has stood for mud."

Shyamalan bristles at the assessment. Though he concedes that "Lady in the Water," a fairy tale featuring a mermaid in a swimming pool, did not connect with moviegoers, he says his earlier successes have made him a target among those who want to see him fail.

"Stars get third, fourth, eighth chances," he says. "So I expect a third, fourth and eighth chance as well."

Whether audiences give him one remains to be seen. The film opens on a Friday the 13th, and horror often does well in summer, when students are out of school. The low-budget Liv Tyler fright film "The Strangers" opened to $21 million this month, more than twice its budget, and is holding respectably, particularly for a horror film.

But the $57 million "The Happening" has some stiff competition from "The Incredible Hulk," which opens on the same day. Anything less than $60 million total gross will be seen as another step back.

With scenes of people slitting their wrists and becoming lawn-mower mulch, the film isn't exactly made for a family audience. But it's exactly the chance Shyamalan needs to take, says "The Happening" star Mark Wahlberg, who plays a schoolteacher trying to escape with his wife from a deadly natural toxin emitted by plants and trees that leads people to kill themselves.

"Say what you want about him, but he's all risk," Wahlberg says. "He's one of the few unique guys who doesn't care what people think. When you have enough success in this business, people are going to tear you down. But he ... gets right back up. He's still going to make the movie he wants to make."

And he's going to make it one way, Wahlberg says: without concession.

"He knows exactly how he wants you to walk, talk, breathe, lean," Wahlberg says. "I've never worked so much under a microscope. But it's great to work with a guy who has done his homework, who has a very specific vision of what he wants."

And he still has a diehard fan base, including actors.

"I think he changed the way suspense movies are made," says Nicolas Cage, whose supernatural thriller "Knowing" is due later this year. "He brought back that Rod Serling kind of tension, something we've needed — and something people have been copying since 'Signs.' He's one of the visionaries."