A split opinion of “Split”

In the psychological horror film, “Split” starring James McAvoy, legendary director M. Night Shyamalan managed to produce an epic sequel to the already spectacular movie, “Unbreakable.” “Split” follows Kevin, a mentally ill kidnapper with severe dissociative personality disorder. He has 24 different personalities.

Throughout the course of the film, the audience is introduced to seven of the 24 different personalities, the most of sinister of all being Dennis. Dennis is sort of the ring leader of the rest of the personalities and has convinced the others that there is a “beast” that requires food- humans to be exact.

My favorite personality was Hedwig, a nine year old with a lisp. McAvoy did an amazing job of portraying all of his personalities and Hedwig was one of the most complex. He was cunning yet naive and I was in no way dissatisfied.

In attempts not to spoil the ending so my head is not taken by avid move goers, I will not go into great detail about my dissatisfaction with the ending. The premise of the ending was totally justifiable, but the way it was executed invalidated the realness of the whole story.

While the movie was good, it does kind of give me a weird vibe strictly from the fact that is marketed as a horror movie. I will admit that yes, at times I found myself clutching the arm of the chair in alarm, however; the jump scares were not the only things that made me feel uneasy.

Ideally, movies about characters with mental illness make the audience feel sympathy for them, not be afraid of their illness. “Split” as a whole seemed to criminalize Kevin, not because he is a serial killer and a kidnapper, but because he was mentally ill. That being said, mental illness is scary; the fact that the brain can no longer control itself and the mind has a mind of its own is scary, but it is a filmmaker’s job to make sure the nightmare is accurately depicted and not criminalizing victims of mental illness which is sort of what Shyamalan did.

4/5 stars