M. Night Shyamalan's Split SUPER SPOILER MODE [Horror Movie Review]
Split is a horror film directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It’s about a man named Kevin with Dissociative Identity Disorder (twenty-three alters in total) who kidnaps three young women. Casey, played by Anya-Taylor Joy from The Witch, is our protagonist. Though Kevin has been nonviolent up to this point, his more aggressive alters have taken charge and assert that a superhuman alter called "the Beast" will emerge soon.
I was so engrossed while watching Split that I didn’t take notes, so here goes nothing. First of all, the acting of the two leads is wonderful. It's a shame to me James McAvoy actually isn't as well-known as he should be.
When it comes to the portrayal of DID, it's a mixed bag and how well it goes will depend on the person. There's some accuracy regarding the source of dissociation. It's established that the alters are a defense mechanism for severe abuse. As a child, Kevin suffered from paternal abandonment and maternal abuse which was physically, emotional, and possibly sexual. The alters exist to protect Kevin from his trauma because they assume control and he dissociates from his terrible reality. They cope by taking on traits to placate the abuser in what seems to be a product of internalized blame, such as Dennis, who is incredibly neat and works to subdue the mother by cleaning.
Oh, by the way, there are spoilers in this review. If you don't want to know the ending before watching the film, you can get Split below:
I'm a bit perplexed why Shyamalan chose to have twenty-four dissociative identities, except for the hyperbolic appeal. Though, at the same time, while I know no documented individuals with DID have this many alters, I’m reluctant to say it’s impossible and possibly discredit untold experiences. At the same time, only a handful of Kevin's alters have narrative importance. However, an aspect both my brother and I enjoyed was how Kevin and Dr. Fletcher, his therapist, criticized the erasure and disrespect toward DID because other doctors don't take him seriously. This is a common, infuriating issue where neurodivergent people are seen as unreliable when speaking about their own experiences and therefore dismissed.
Still, while I don't think viewers will see Split as an accurate representation of DID, the questionable sensationalization of aspects of the disorder has raised dismay, and as a neurodivergent individual, I sympathize and find those concerns valid. I tend to have depersonalization episodes and mild psychosis in especially arduous times, and it’s frustrating when these things are played for drama when, in a way, it becomes a new normal one adapts to as life progresses.
I cannot say whether those with DID or dissociative episodes will be able to look past the fact that, though the disorder is treated as complex, it's still a factor that leads to Kevin becoming villainous. Everyone is different, and though I enjoyed this film, I do often tire of mental illness stereotypes and mental health facilities (or, as they’re so often called, “insane asylums”) being so prevalent in horror media, especially considering that mentally ill people are more likely to be victims, not perpetrators, of assault.
That's not to say mental illness and post-trauma disorders should never be in fiction, because that solves nothing, but there are issues with so often aligning it with evil or as a motive for why a villain commits bad deeds, and when this is the sole representation in the story, it can hurt to watch as a mentally ill person. Consider Psycho, another horror film dealing with DID, which entails a villain so traumatized by his mother's death that he assumes her as an alter. I’d love to see more mentally ill heroes where the plot reveal isn’t that they were the killer all along, and I feel like Shyamalan tries to subvert this by making the lead Casey a sexual abuse survivor, which is set up well given her responses throughout the film to Dennis’s actions. Even so, this is a schlocky film, which is not an insult, but borderline exploitation films aren't known for their finesse with serious issues, and though some may be able to, as MovieBob says in his review, compartmentalize, it is completely understandable if someone can't see past Split's handling of trauma and mental illness.
Split, with the character of Dr. Fletcher, takes the speculative route with a controversial, real life theory about DID being psychosomatic where the alters induce different changes to their own biological, chemical makeup because the mind changes the body based on which alter is “in the light.” For example, Dennis, a major alter, has OCD needs glasses while other alters don't, whereas Jade, a more minor alter, requires insulin while no injections are required when another alter is present.
Though this is feasible given the plot twist, some may be put off by this aspect of the film because though Dr. Fletcher cares for Kevin, there is a strange fixation on insisting his DID does not just make him different, but it makes him “special” and “more” than neurotypical people. While it’s heartening she insists on not associating his mental disorder and trauma with brokenness or being less-than-whole, associating mental disorders with the supernatural as a morbid fascination strikes me as concerning.
It reminds me of Get Out when there are sentiments expressed by certain characters that they aren't racist because they actually view black people as superior in many ways, but this still relies on damaging stereotypes of black people being innately more physically and sexually aggressive than white people. This is essentially the “black people are better at physical labor” myth perpetuated to excuse slavery. Though this isn’t the same thing, an insistence from neurotypical that mental illness is actually beautiful or mystical tends to erase or romanticize the hardships because through we aren’t less, we do need to make accommodations in areas others wouldn’t think about.
I'm still unsure about the resolution where the Beast concludes that, because he seeks to kill the unbroken, the un-traumatized, Casey is pure because she is a "broken" victim of incestuous sexual abuse; again, your mileage may vary, although it's not so strange for an abuse victim to find kinship with another survivor through empathy.
Okay, here’s the plot twist:
Split is a superhero movie.
Yep. The fantastical element, hinted at with the superhuman Beast alter, becomes undeniable in the last act of the film. As predicted, the Beast alter gains control and, based off Kevin’s experiences working at a zoo, assumes characteristic of animals, including their strength, agility, and ability to crawl on walls. The official plot twist occurs when David Dunn, Bruce Willis's character from Shyamalan’s Unbreakable, a dark subversion of superhero films, shows up at the end.
This lets us know all the superhuman vibes are intentional because Split is set in a universe where superpowers are feasible. Kevin becomes a dehumanized supervillain called “The Horde,” named as such for his myriad alters, despite only one, the Beast, being homicidal and most of them being nonviolent. Split is Kevin’s villain origin story, essentially, as a set-up for a future film where he and Unbreakable’s Dunn (and possibly Casey) will clash. Admittedly, as I watched the film and the Beast alter emerged, I grew doubtful, but the Unbreakable reveal, helped along by musical cues and brilliant allusions to sequences in that film involving characters and the train accident, made a great impact.
Though I can discern this is intended to be fantastical, I'm still conflicted about the invocation of a real life disorder because the frequent establishment of the research by explaining why Kevin developed alters, as well as the terminology used, doesn't avoid that association at all.
In terms of composition, the well-shot, segmented environment helps with the enjoyment of the film. This has to be one of the best-looking, most beautiful films I've seen in years. It also, much like a Sam Raimi film or Starry Eyes, transitions from bright and pretty to grimy well, which is helped along by the consistent gold palette. I'm unsurprised Mike Gioulakis is the cinematographer; he worked on It Follows, a movie that didn’t win me over, but the competency of its art direction cannot be denied. Besides the vibrant, sharp direction, I also loved the creeping, subtle zoom-in shots and odd but effective angle choices.
As a horror movie, it succeeds by meeting some expectations and getting the viewers comfortable before completely upending the expected, such as the deaths of Dr. Fletcher and the two girls who weren’t Casey after a slow build. In many scenes, my brother predicted a jumpscare where none happened, though were this another Blumhouse film, either the director or producer would’ve inserted a jumpscare to break the tension. If I were to criticize the composition, while I understand the point of many of the therapist scenes with Dr. Fletcher, some felt bulky; for example, I'm unsure of the purpose of the scenes with her mother, or the one where Fletcher explains her feelings about DID in a Skyped-in conference panel.
Overall, Split is clever, subtle, and well-made. Not only that, but it is incredibly layered and has great re-watch value, and I’d recommend watching Unbreakable (linked below) beforehand for the full impact, or at least a refresher.
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