Film of the week: Split

The big Hollywood studios had written off M. Night Shyamalan, but they shouldn't have been so hasty. The master of chills is back with a vengeance in the new film Split.

When Shyamalan sent the screenplay for Split to James McAvoy, he mailed him back before he had read it to ask what his character's name would be. "Uh, just read the script," came Shyamalan's response.

If you are planning on going to see Split, I would recommend that you avoid finding out any spoilers. The less you know about this scary thriller the better. It is one of those films made according to the principle that suspense works best when you and the characters themselves gradually discover what's going on, rather than the narrative tension building because you have more information than the characters do (the basic formula of many of Hitchcock's thrillers).

Split starts as a kidnapping drama. Three teenagers are kidnapped by a creepy villain (an astonishing McAvoy) who locks them in his cellar. What follows can perhaps best be described as a kind of freaky variation on Psycho, but one in which painful childhood traumas are just as important as grotesque transformations resulting from dissociative identity disorder.

The tense confrontations between the always unpredictable kidnapper and the victims who are trying to escape produce emotionally gripping, entertaining, and horrific suspense that is shot calmly but very oppressively. Granted, Shyamalan occasionally flirts with nonsense, but if you don't enjoy this gruesome dress-up party, you must either lack a sense of humour or be dealing with dark psychology with a twist.

After a few poorly received films, Shyamalan decided to take a break and focus on some small-scale projects for a while. That definitely seems to have helped – see also The Visit – because like The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, Split ranks among the horror visionary's best work.

> Split. US, 2016, dir.: M. Night Shyamalan, act.: James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Betty Buckley, 117 min.
> Kinepolis, White Cinema