Who would’ve thought it would be modestly budgeted horror that would allow M. Night Shyamalan to get his mojo back? But that’s just what happened, with the director scoring a hit last year with the no frills “The Visit.” Now he’s back with “Split,” and if advance word from the surprise screening at Fantastic Fest last month is anything to go by, he’s done it again.
James McAvoy leads the picture playing a man with dissociative identity disorder, who kidnaps two young women for…well, that’s probably all that should be said. Here’s the official synopsis which teases a lot but leaves much unsaid:
While the mental divisions of those with dissociative identity disorder have long fascinated and eluded science, it is believed that some can also manifest unique physical attributes for each personality, a cognitive and physiological prism within a single being.
Though Kevin (James McAvoy) has evidenced 23 personalities to his trusted psychiatrist, Dr. Fletcher (Betty Buckley), there remains one still submerged who is set to materialize and dominate all the others. Compelled to abduct three teenage girls led by the willful, observant Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy, The Witch), Kevin reaches a war for survival among all of those contained within him—as well as everyone around him—as the walls between his compartments shatter apart.
Also featuring “The Witch” star Anya Taylor-Joy, Betty Buckley, Jessica Sula, and Haley Lu Richardson, “Split” opens on January 20, 2017.
