Valentine’s Day is about to get seriously unsettling. Jake Gyllenhaal and Phoebe Dynevor appear to be falling madly in love in the first trailer for M. Night Shyamalan’s Remain, until the romance takes a terrifying turn.

The upcoming film brings together two names rarely associated with the same kind of story: M. Night Shyamalan, the filmmaker behind The Sixth Sense and The Visit, and bestselling romance novelist Nicholas Sparks.

What begins like a dreamy love story quickly becomes something far stranger.

A Perfect Romance Takes a Disturbing Turn

The Remain trailer initially presents Wren, played by Phoebe Dynevor, and Tate, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, as a couple caught in a seemingly idyllic romance.

They laugh, play games, and grow closer as Tate seems to emerge from his isolation.

Then everything changes.

Wren suddenly asks Tate a devastating question: “Why can’t we be together, Tate?”

His response, “I think you know,” immediately suggests that the relationship is hiding something much darker.

The trailer then plunges into disturbing imagery, with Wren apparently on the verge of violently hitting her head against a bathroom wall before seemingly disappearing in front of Tate.

The movie’s tagline offers perhaps the biggest clue: “Trust the unknown.”

And with Shyamalan behind the camera, that warning is unlikely to be accidental.

Shyamalan Meets Nicholas Sparks

Remain is not simply another Shyamalan thriller.

The project represents a collaboration between the filmmaker and Sparks, whose novels have inspired romantic dramas including The Notebook, A Walk to Remember and The Choice.

The story began as an original concept created by M. Night Shyamalan and Sparks, and it also became a novel.

Sparks previously revealed that the two filmmakers have a history dating back decades. Shyamalan was once among the writers considered for an early version of The Notebook screenplay before the project took a different path.

Years later, the two reunited to develop an entirely new story.

This time, however, Sparks’ romantic storytelling collides directly with Shyamalan’s obsession with secrets, supernatural possibilities, and devastating reveals.

Jake Gyllenhaal Plays a Troubled Architect

The film follows Tate, a reclusive architect who relocates to a small coastal town to complete his latest project.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s Tate’s isolated existence changes when he meets Wren, an alluring young woman who draws him out of his shell.

But their relationship soon pulls him into a dangerous mystery surrounding the town.

That setup gives Remain an unusual genre identity: part romance, part supernatural mystery, and part psychological thriller.

The Remain trailer deliberately refuses to explain exactly what is happening, leaving viewers to question whether Wren is real, whether Tate can trust what he sees, and what secret is buried beneath their relationship.

Shyamalan Says It Could Be His Best-Tested Film

The hype around Remain isn’t coming solely from its unusual premise.

Shyamalan has previously described the film as the most-tested movie of his career.

That is a significant claim from a director whose filmography includes The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, The Visit, Split and Knock at the Cabin.

His most recent feature, 2024’s Trap, starred Josh Hartnett as a serial killer who takes his daughter to a concert while police secretly close in around the venue.

Remain appears to be taking Shyamalan back toward the kind of mystery-driven storytelling that has defined much of his career — but with romance at its center.

Valentine’s Day Just Got a Lot Stranger

The cast also includes Ashley Walters, Julie Hagerty, Jay O. Sanders, Tracy Ifeachor, Hannah James, Caleb Ruminer, Kieran Mulcare and Maria Dizzia.

The film was initially scheduled for Halloween 2026 before moving to Valentine’s Day 2027.

That release-date switch may make the film even more intriguing.

Instead of arriving as a conventional horror movie during Halloween season, Remain will enter theaters when audiences traditionally expect romance.

But the trailer suggests Shyamalan has something else in mind.

This Valentine’s Day, love may be the most dangerous mystery of all.