Shyamalan is Back

Rating: 8/10 (20 February 2017)

I want to stress as I write this review that the ratings I give at the bottom are reflective of my ratings on my IMDb profile. I often times find it difficult to rate movies on their scale because one movie may be an easy 8 but is it a 9? It's no question a high eight so might as well give it a 9, right? So from now on I will have a more fluid and descriptive rating at the end of my reviews that does not give a number or pros and cons.
One of the great things about this movie, right off the bat, is that it does not mess around. Within the first five minutes the scene from the trailer of the girls being kidnapped happens and it is edge of your seat suspense the entire way through. For all the trash that M. Night Shyamalan put out over the years, I think it is safe to say that he has had his midlife crisis and has moved back into what made his movies great. I would like to give a quick shout out to The Visit which came out two years ago, movie because that really was his return to form and it seems apparent he is back and better than ever.
The plot is almost fully given away in the trailer which really says a lot for this movie because you are still engaged the entire time waiting for The Beast to show up and to see if these girls get out alive. If you haven't seen the trailer, three girls are kidnapped by a man with 23 different personalities that are all vying for control of the body of James McAvoy who does a phenomenal job playing so many different people including a woman and a child. I don't want to say more about the plot because it is a movie you just need to go see.
I will let all of you in on a secret, which my brother can attest to. Upon viewing the trailer for maybe the second or third time during other movies, one night I had a really scary nightmare that I was trapped by that guy and the movie spooked me ever since. I almost didn't want to go see it but I faced my fears and I'm glad I did. One of the reasons I got so scared during the trailer was the jumpy music in spots where Kevin aka Barry aka Dennis aka the bad guy pops up very quickly but in the movie the music is more relaxed and intricate than jumpy. I think the trailer was trying to portray this as more of a horror movie when it is really a thriller and thinker. When learning about the main girl, Casey's past, that is when the real sadness crept over me due to how terrible her life was as it unfolded in flashbacks. Anya Taylor-Joy is in top form and is a rising start to watch after seeing this and her performance in The Witch.