James McAvoy Has 23 Personalities in M. Night Shyamalan's Split

Posted on July 27, 2016

James McAvoy stars in the first trailer for M. Night Shyamalan's Split. McAvoy plays Kevin, a young man who has multiple personality disorder. He has 23 personalities that his psychiatrist knows of, and they are all quite different from one another. They all seem to be in agreement that he must kidnap three young women, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, Jessica Sula and Haley Lu Richardson.

The girls are terrified and want to escape. They gradually come to realize that their captor is actually many different personalities so they use that to try to get some of the more sympathetic ones to help them. One young boy personality lets them know that there is a really, really bad personality that they haven't seen. And that one does terrible things to people.

What makes this film veer into the supernatural is the revelation that some people with this disorder can actually change their physical appearance when they change personalities. So when they talk about the Beast coming soon, we have to wonder what in the world Kevin is going to turn into. And given the love of M. Night Shyamalan for twists, who knows what's going to happen to the girls.

M. Night Shyamalan was the wunderkind who directed The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and The Visit. But his career got off tract after The Village and The Last Airbender's dismal box office and equally dismal reviews. The buzz for this one is good and McAvoy is incredible. The trailer is gripping. Take a look: