Dark thriller

The worst thing about reviewing an M. Night Shyamalan film is how little you can talk about it without revealing vital plot twists.

His latest thriller, Split, has enough veers and corkscrews to put a roller coaster to shame, and it will keep viewers on the edge of their seats. But while it marks a strong return to form for the notoriously uneven writer/director, it’s his darkest film to date and feels like it pushes the bounds of its PG-13 rating. However, when you sit back and consider the actual content—two or three instances of profanity, a couple of scenes with girls wearing bras no more revealing than bathing suits, and only one half-second glimpse of gore—you realize it’s arguably restrained for a horror flick. It only seems worse because of the subject matter and because the tension is so strong throughout.

When three teen girls are kidnapped and locked in an underground bunker, you think you have an idea of the kidnapper’s motive. Trust me, you don’t. Without James McAvoy playing the villain—a man suffering from dissociative identity disorder that manifests itself in 23 separate personalities—the story would be ludicrous. And even with his tour-de-force, scene-chewing performance that includes a sophisticated lady, a flamboyant fashion designer, and a 9-year-old boy, titters erupt now and then (though I suspect Shyamalan intends the joke).

Split possesses a dark sexual undercurrent that’s all the more unnerving because it stays beneath the surface. Nothing explicit occurs. Flashbacks to one of the girls’ pasts imply she’s more equipped to deal with abduction, and you can’t help feeling there’s something exploitive and glib about using an abusive childhood this way. On the other hand, it also carries a message that our brokenness can be transformed into strength—that even the ugliest things can be redeemed for good.

I can’t describe it without spoiling it, but one of the movie’s biggest shocks suggests Shyamalan was groping for a more thought-provoking theme than one usually finds in a scare fest.