Director M. Night Shyamalan pulled off another surprise ending in a battle with his neighbors in the tony Williston Township suburb of Philly.

The secretive 36-year-old piqued residents' interest when he bought a 123-acre estate there two years ago for $17.9 million. Ever since, he's been hard at work creating a renovated manor house and formal gardens that mesh with the local country club aesthetic. No problem so far. But Shyamalan is also hell-bent on keeping out intruders—otherworldly or not—and has guaranteed his privacy with an eight-foot fence around the circumference of the estate.

Trouble is, it's made of plastic (given the God-awful box office take on Lady in the Water, perhaps he's tightened the purse strings).

And neighbors have beef with the director's choice of white-trash materials on a piece of property once owned by a Rockefeller heiress. Members of the Radnor Hunt and others nearby are worried about their property values and even took their case before a judge in November. But this week, the local judge ruled that Shyamalan could keep his privacy intact with the plastic disaster, effectively ensuring that deer, aliens, dead people, Ladies in Water—anyone, really—will be kept off his Arcadian grounds.

Then again, he could be prepping for his next film shoot—Shyamalan has a reputation for picking Pennsylvania locales. Brace yourself for a horrifying look into the mystical world of bad landscaping.

Photos: Getty Images, Philadelphia Enquirer