History Film / Split

Being a Shyamalan film, the movie has dozens of twists and turns along with his iconic MandatoryTwistEnding. A [[Film/{{Glass|2019}} sequel]] came out in January 2019, but to say anything about it on this page would give away said TwistEnding.

* CreatorCameo: As per Shyamalan tradition, the man himself makes a brief appearance as a computer tech. [[spoiler: As revealed in ''Film/{{Glass}}'', it's the same character we saw in ''Unbreakable''.]]

->''"[[spoiler:[[SuperpoweredEvilSide He'll protect us. Look at what he can do.]] [[Film/{{Glass}} Let him show the world how powerful we can be.]]]]"''

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Near the start of film Casey tells Marcia to pee herself to stop Dennis making her 'dance' naked. If 'dancing' meant rape, then Marcia would have been broken by it, and the beast may well have spared her - indeed Patricia rebuked Dennis saying the 'food' would be spoiled if it 'danced' for him. Casey giving Marcia anti-rape advice may have killed her.

* FreudianExcuse: TruthInTelevision: Kevin's personalities were each created to protect him from some form of trauma or other issue he can't deal with himself. [[spoiler:Dennis was created to deal with his [[AbusiveParent mother's abuse]] and has SuperOCD because keeping everything neat and tidy prevented him from being hurt.]]

* HydePlaysJekyll: Dennis pretends to be Barry during their meetings with Dr. Fletcher, so that Barry can't reveal their EvilPlan to her. She realizes it's not Barry because of his SuperOCD and he's lacking Barry's extroverted personality.

* SplitPersonality: The film runs on this. Kevin has ''23'' of them even before the Beast begins to emerge. The names of all of them can be seen on a computer screen, but [=McAvoy=] only performs and is credited for 7: [[SuperOCD Dennis]], [[EvilMatriarch Patricia]], [[CreepyChild Hedwig]], [[TheBerserker The Beast]], [[InnocentBystander Kevin Wendell Crumb]], [[TheHeart Barry]], [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness Orwell]], and [[BrattyTeenageDaughter Jade]]

* BringMyBrownPants: When Dennis chooses Marcia for an unknown activity (it's later revealed he wanted her to dance naked), Casey tells her to pee herself as she is being pulled into another room. Ten seconds later, Dennis throws her back in, wiping his hand off, and it's shown she did as Casey said. As SuperOCD Dennis is a NeatFreak, this was especially repulsive to him. [[spoiler:It also foreshadows the reveal that Casey has been sexually abused and knows better than the others how to deal with these situations.]]

* HowsYourBritishAccent: Kevin is an American, but his personalities affect a wide range of accents, including British, which allows Creator/JamesMcAvoy to briefly use his native British accent.

* ChairmanOfTheBrawl: As Patricia prepares sandwiches for Casey and Marcia, Marcia decides to try to escape and smashes her chair on Patricia's back. Patricia quickly recovers and chases after her.

* AdultFear: The sheer efficiency with how Dennis kidnapped the girls at the beginning of the film is unsettling. Luckily, as noted below, his method is highly unrealistic.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: The main premise of the movie comes from the idea that people with multiple personalities like this can actually change their body chemistry with each individual. This is reflected in that Dennis needs glasses, while one briefly shown personality, Jade, has diabetes and needs insulin shots. [[spoiler:The Beast is capable of extreme abilities like SuperToughness, SuperStrength, and WallCrawling, which includes a TransformationSequence of sorts as his body locks into place.]] This claim [[ShownTheirWork has legitimately gone around in some medical circles]] and is being researched, although it is unlikely [read:impossible] to the extent of what the film portrays and most of the specific claims brought up by Dr. Fletcher are unverified. [[note]]Some of what the Beast does appears based on some of Billy Milligan's abilities, but he and his other selves had all taught themselves and practiced over time in the usual way. [[Literature/WhenRabbitHowls Truddi Chase and the Troops]] were capable of looking taller or shorter or appearing to have MoodRingEyes, but this had to do with their posture and the room lighting.[[/note]][[spoiler:The Beast's superpowers came from the fact that the movie took place in the same universe as ''Film/{{Unbreakable}}''.]]

* NotSoDifferent: [[spoiler:The Beast has a skewed TheSocialDarwinist viewpoint, that the sheltered and privileged cannot understand pain and suffering and are impure because of it. That is the reason he had the Horde abduct Claire and Marcia, believing they are inferior creatures. Casey was not intended to be a target, but he assumed she was the same as Claire and Marcia. In the end, the Beast sees her self-inflicted scars and recognizes her as having been purified and strengthened by trauma, the same as him]].

*** This specific example ''doubly'' counts with the release of ''Glass'', seeing that [[spoiler: Kevin's father was a passenger on Eastrail 177 -- David's train]].

* CreatorCameo: As per Shyamalan tradition, the man himself makes a brief appearance as a computer tech. [[spoiler:It's ambiguous as to whether or not this is the same character that we saw in ''Unbreakable''.]]

** [[spoiler:The Beast crushes Dr. Fletcher to death with his bare hands.]]
** [[spoiler:Once the Beast arrives, he disposes of Casey's friends by cannibalizing them.]]

* DeadlyHug: [[spoiler:The Beast murders Dr. Fletcher by hugging her from behind and crushing her to death.]]

* FanDisservice: [[spoiler:The Beast.]] A shirtless James [=McAvoy=] is normally eye-candy, but not when [[spoiler:his skin is covered with bulging, monstrous veins]].

* FightingFromTheInside: [[spoiler:Barry tries to do this through e-mailing his doctor to schedule appointments. Dennis learns of these and impersonates Barry in order to try and give off the impression that nothing is wrong.]]

** The twist that [[spoiler:the film is set the same universe as ''Film/{{Unbreakable}}'']] is foreshadowed by monumental amounts:
*** [[spoiler:The 'two types of villain' thing established in the first film fits Dennis and Patricia like a glove: the 'soldier villain' who fights the heroes with his hands (Dennis is the most physically powerful of Kevin's personalities sans the Beast, but subservient to Patricia) and the 'brilliant and evil archenemy who fights the hero with his mind' (Patricia, who is the mastermind of the entire thing). While the Beast is ''very'' powerful, he also shows some degree of intellect by taking out the lights so Casey can't target him effectively, showing traits of both types.]]
*** [[spoiler:The arch villain is the exact opposite of the hero. Depending on ''who'' the hero is, this works both ways. While Kevin and Casey have similar pasts, their ways of dealing with it are complete opposites, with Casey relying on learning ways to deal with it while Kevin created Dennis to deal with it ''for'' him. If it's the Beast and David Dunn who are the opposites, then it's their worldview: David is a ReluctantHero while the Beast ''revels'' in its power and believes itself superior.]]
*** [[spoiler:Patricia and Dennis were called 'the Horde' by the other personalities ''long'' before their SplitPersonalityTakeover. Just like Mr. Glass got his moniker a ''long'' time before he became a supervillain. The Beast was referred to as such by the Horde for some time before it actually emerged, as it was the ''reason'' they were locked up in the first place.]]
*** [[spoiler:Kevin's evil personalities are shown several times with their eyes wide, fitting the 'villains have large eyes' rule.]]
*** [[spoiler:Patricia, who's the leading evil personality, is introduced wearing a red shirt. Red is one of the colors associated with villains in ''Unbreakable''.]] In addition, [[spoiler:Hedwig is introduced wearing a ''yellow'' jacket, which was also one of the colors associated with villains]]. On top of ''that'', [[spoiler:Casey starts the film wearing a red plaid jacket, subtly implying her seeming obstructive behavior. The jacket gets taken, leaving her in a grey long-sleeved shirt. The shirt gets taken, leaving her in a thin white t-shirt. The t-shirt gets torn off in a scuffle with the Beast, leaving her in a small tank top colored olive green, green being David Dunn's heroic color]].
*** [[spoiler:Dr. Fletcher talks about what people with Dissociative Identity Disorder, Kevin in particular, are capable of accomplishing mirrors the same rhetoric that Elijah would use when describing how people could have actual superpowers. She even mentions that it could be a connection to the paranormal.]]
*** [[spoiler:The Beast emerges as Kevin is in a train car. David was also put on his path due to being on a train.]]
*** Something of a SpoilerTitle, [[spoiler:"Split" is one word and thematically similar but opposite to "Unbreakable." One poster even has a cracked glass look, similar to the posters for ''Unbreakable'', and in fact the two posters' cracks ''line up'' if the two are set side by side]].

''Split'' is a 2017 horror/thriller film written and directed by Creator/MNightShyamalan, starring Creator/JamesMcAvoy, Creator/AnyaTaylorJoy, Haley Lu Richardson, Jessica Sula and Creator/BettyBuckley.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: The main premise of the movie comes from the idea that people with multiple personalities like this can actually change their body chemistry with each individual. This is reflected in that Dennis needs glasses, while one briefly shown personality, Jade, has diabetes and needs insulin shots. [[spoiler:The Beast is capable of extreme abilities like SuperToughness, SuperStrength, and WallCrawling, which includes a TransformationSequence of sorts as his body locks into place.]] This claim [[ShownTheirWork has legitimately gone around in some medical circles]] and is being researched, although it is unlikely to the extent of what the film portrays and most of the specific claims brought up by Dr. Fletcher are unverified. [[spoiler:The Beast's superpowers came from the fact that the movie took place in the same universe as ''Film/{{Unbreakable}}''.]]

* SplitPersonality: The film runs on this. Kevin has ''23'' of them even before the Beast begins to emerge. The names of all of them can be seen on a computer screen, but [=McAvoy=] only performs and is credited for 7: [[SuperOCD Dennis]], [[EvilMatriarch Patricia]], [[CreepyChild Hedwig]], [[TheBerserker The Beast]], [[InnocentBystander Kevin Wendell Crumb]], [[TheHeart Barry]], [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness Orwell]], and [[BrattyTeenageGirl Jade]]