Familiar and unfamiliar......

Rating: 9/10 (28 January 2017)

Split is both familiar and unfamiliar.The most obvious film to compare Split to is Hitchcock's Psycho.
That said, Split does at least one new thing, Psycho never did and does so, for the most part, with considerable deftness. Without spoiling things, the contentious psychology associated with split personalities is taken a step further and infused, with a supernatural elements.
Its a clever mechanism, that lets ice cold dread slowly seep into the this film as it gradually unfolds. For the most part, you can see where this film is going but its still "jump in your seat" terrifying, when the moment of real horror, finally arrives.
I think a special mention needs to be made of the performance by James McAvoy. He's simply exceptional in the role of Kevin, a man who appears, on the surface, to have multiple personalities, when in fact its clear something far more awful is going on.
Perhaps, my only criticism here, is the handling of the end of this film. Personally I felt, the physicality of the final scenes of this film, would have best been cast aside in favour of a "less is more", approach.Seeing the victims reaction to an unseen horror, they are finally confronted with, would have offered, I believe, far more emotional impact. Not to mention being more in keeping with M. Night Shyamalan's typical approach to direction.
That said, this remains an excellent film, that's really quite special. Nine out of ten from me.