Having tried his damnedest to obliterate his own career by churning out movies of alarmingly diminishing quality, M. Night Shyamalan was in dire need of a reboot. Found footage horror comedy The Visit was a solid start, but it was Split that marked the beginning of his rise back up the industry ladder.
Even if it wasn’t for the jaw-dropping Bruce Willis cameo at the end that tied the story to Unbreakable and set the stage for the crossover we didn’t even know we wanted until the credits rolled, the twisted psychological thriller would still have been lauded as a lo-fi gem that took an intriguing B-tier concept and elevated it through smart storytelling and a tour-de-force James McAvoy performance.
Split hauled in $278 million at the box office on a $9 million budget, and the Shyamalan comeback was on. However, there was some pushback regarding the depiction of dissociative identity disorder, with many mental illness campaigners calling for boycotts of the heightened genre piece, while numerous petitions have been launched in an effort to try and have it removed from various streaming services.
Smash hits that drew strong reviews and made big money are clearly still capable of coming under fire, then, but Split continues to enjoy long-lasting life on the small screen regardless. As per FlixPatrol, the eerie descent into the mind of McAvoy’s Kevin Wendell Crumb has snatched a top spot on the Prime Video global charts, providing a taut and efficient roller-coaster of a thrill ride for subscribers.
