Split

 

For as long as I can remember, I have been a fan of M. Night's films.  Like a loyal family member I felt like I was there for him when nobody else was, like going to see the mediocre big budget films that made him one of the jokes of Hollywood.  It became so bad that I could hear people groan in the theater when they witnessed a trailer for a movie that is written/produced/directed by that man, and that happened with "The visit" as well... until the movie was released.  Now it seems like my man M. Night has found his groove again with a solid horror/thriller that is even better than his comeback  film from a couple years earlier.

Much like the lovechild between Psycho and Red Dragon, this movie is a psychological horror and sometimes body horror film that tells the story of a man with Disociative Identity Disorder (DID) who abducts three girls and holds them in his creepy cell as food until his new 24th personality emerges.  This 24th alter known as the "beast" is brought up several times as the movie progresses as this personality that's going to  eat the girls as soon as he arrives.  With that in mind, the tension in the movie builds and builds for Anya and the other girls as they strive to find a way out by working with some of the abductor's personalities while avoiding the dangerous ones.

James McAvoy as the villain with DID and Anya as the final girl carry this movie and steal every scene they're in.  I'm not going to give anything away, but lets just say that many of the other people are a means to an end, and are merely those characters in any horror film that make stupid decisions that people (like me) find joy in witnessing.  Go see this movie, and beware the beast!

4/5 stars

We Need to Cut M. Night Shyamalan Some Slack

His Humble Beginnings:  So do ya'll remember when that AMAZING movie called "The Sixth Sense" came out? and suddenly the world became obsessed once again with our buddy Bruce, and fell in love with the little pib-squeak from Forrest Gump?.. Yeah, those were the good times right?  "Sixth Senses" director M. Night Shyamalan became legend at that point, and he was even being hailed as "The next Stephen Spielberg", which is a lot of praise for a brand-spanken- new filmmaker.

Post "Sixth Sense" not that bad, be thee, says I:  Sure our ambitious new filmmaker wasn't able to make a movie to top his first one, but it's not like his follow up movies were utter failures.  He conjured up some pretty crafty thrillers with twisty endings, some of which are: "Undbreakable", "Signs", and "The Village".  These are some pretty good films that gathered some rave reviews from critics and audiences alike, it was only after those movies that things started looking iffy.

Forgive him, he knows not what he does:  Every director needs to experience some failures in order to appreciate the successes, and for M. Night Shyamalan those failures were "The Happening", "Avatar: The Last Airbender", and arguably "Lady in the Water".  I'm not going to argue that these movies weren't bad, because "The Happening" sucked and "The Last Airbender" looked like an episode of "The Wiggles", but it's not like there's no hope for the man; although he's passed puberty, there is still some growing up for him to do.

Cut him some slack, ya jerks:  Apparently there are some rumors out there that M. Night Shyamalan fans are putting out a petition for M. Night to take some film making classes.  Really?  Do these losers not have anything else better to do with their time, like going on real-life dates, or super-sizing their meals at MacDonald's?  First of all he's still young and he has plenty of movies left to make, and second of all he's sort of redeemed himself with "Devil".  C and I saw that a little while ago and we're greatly impressed, because it had the suspense we expected from him, as well as the twisty ending which we all like.  Sure it wasn't the best movie he's ever made, but it was sure as crohns better than "The Happening", and it is a definite step in the right direction.  so for all you jerks who continue to hate him, get your fingers out of your noses and give our brother M. Night a chance!