Split (2016)

2016
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Starring James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Betty Buckley, Haley Lu Richardson and Jessica Sula

I remember a time when I used to enjoy going to movies.  Like, actually going to theaters to see them.  It seems like a long, long time ago, way back to that mystical wayback land of the early 2000s when the Lord of the Rings movies ruled the roost and the rabid anticipation for each new superhero movie to get released.  Remember that?  Remember when they were special and there weren't 27 of them per year?  But there was another ever-present thing from that time period that I was always jacked for every time it came up - the new M. Night Shyamalan movie that was about to be unleashed.

I'm sure I've told the story on this here blog in the past, but fuck it, here we go again.  Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs.  Those flicks were a breath of fresh air to me throughout high school because they were so different from any "scary" movie that I'd seen previously (although the second one isn't quite a scary movie, but stick with me).  Yeah, they had their moments of legit tension.  But they were such satisfying slow burns that spent a LOT of time on their characters and getting you emotionally invested in what you were watching.  And I loved them.  And then I made the mistake of calling Shyamalan the best director currently working, and then his career immediately took a dive for the shit.  As such, I didn't hold out much hope for Split when I heard that it was about to be released and didn't give it a chance.  But then, word of mouth came along.  Curiosity got the better of me.  And I paid the $14.99 to buy a digital copy.  Well, does it live up to the hype?

The movie opens with a scene that grabs your attention within the first five minutes.  We meet popular high school students Claire (Haley Lu Richardson) and Marcia (Jessica Sula), hosting a party of sorts where shy, withdrawn Casey Cooke (Anya Taylor-Joy) is also present.  Casey is waiting for someone to pick her up...and waiting...and waiting...and nobody shows, leaving it up to one of the girls' dads to drive her home.  Spoiler alert: he never makes that drive, as the dad is knocked out by mysterious man who soon incapacitates the three girls with an aerosol spray.  Cue opening credits, and I'll admit to actually being excited to see that big, giant masturbatory "Directed by M. Night Shyamalan" marquee again.

Essentially, Split is a horror flick about these three girls being trapped in an undesirable situation and trying to get out.  They wake up together in a room locked inside a smaller room, and they're aware of the guy on the other side who likely wants to do bad, bad things to them.  Spoiler alert #2: Some bad, bad things do happen in this movie, but the movie has some fun dealing with the personalities of the captives.  Almost immediately, Casey stands out as the star of the show, and played by a very game Anya Taylor-Joy she's a firecracker.  I'll admit to not caring all that much for her two companions, but amazingly enough they grew on me as the running time ticked by.  And then there's James McAvoy.

It's hard to call his character any sort of real name.  Mainly because there are 23 of them.  The title of the movie comes from the fact that he suffers from dissociative identity disorder, and that the guy who kidnapped the girls is "Dennis," an obsessive-compulsive neat freak who has a thing for underage girls.  We also get to know "Patricia," a slightly scary matriarch; "Hedwig," the child-side of the character's personality; and "Barry," the dominant personality who is a fashionista and makes a pile of money selling art.  The usual trappings of a movie like this occur as the girls attempt to escape while we get bits of McAvoy interacting with them.  Spoiler alert #3: McAvoy is fucking boss in this movie.  Like, legit it's one of the best horror movie performances I've ever seen.  On paper, some of the things he does here should make you laugh, but he manages to come off as creepy in all the right places and even relatable in some others. 

The movie has a framing device that it keeps going back to in regards to McAvoy's relationship with renowned psychologist Karen Fletcher (Betty Buckley), who believes that DID is the key to unlocking human possibilities.  When you think about it, it really is amazing how a blind person can have an alternate personality that regains sight, isn't it?  Well, it can also be scary, as the periodic bits where we hear about a latent 24th personality named only "The Beast" become more frequent.  The final thirty minutes or so of the movie where "The Beast" shows up are absolutely electric, and while I wasn't exactly pissing myself in terror and was able to sleep like a baby immediately afterward I'll admit to being on the edge of my seat watching our characters in peril attempt to evade this guy.  And man, he has powers and abilities that rival anything the Ultimate Warrior or Hulk Hogan did in the WWF's glory days.

As a psychological horror flick, Shyamalan really managed to craft something special here.  There are scenes in this movie that would have been either utter bores or unintentionally hilarious in some of his mid-period misfires (and there's no need to bring up the names of those films - "you eyeing my lemon drink?"), but they're handled with care and restraint here.  There are also little touches that get you to genuinely project yourself up there on that screen, especially with the character of Casey.  Every once in a while, we get a glimpse into her childhood and a hunting trip that gives us all the reason we need as to why she is such a shy, introverted person.  Spoiler alert #4: this stuff also gives us an ending that while it is happy on paper also leaves us with a feeling that kicks you right in the gut unlike anything I've seen in a long time.

Yeah, dear readers, this is a movie where pretty much everything fires on all cylinders.  You get the camera work and directing chops from Shyamalan that manages to catch your eye without pounding you over the head how hard the guy was trying to create an artsy shot, you get solid performances up and down the board and a truly legendary one from McAvoy, and you get a script that shows pretty much never-ending invention and logic.  The cherry on top?  A final scene that gives us a kick-ass setup for something that I'm actually looking forward to watching in a theater.  And yes, I plan on making the 45-minute drive for this particular upcoming film, due out sometime in 2019. 

Rating time.  Wait for it...**** out of ****.  A stunning return to form for M. Night Shyamalan years after I'd written the guy off.  Let's see if I can avoid giving him the Lick Ness Monster curse this time around.