![]() In aligning the scene with this classic sequence, Shyamalan is drawing parallels between his character and Norman Bates, helping us to understand his antagonist’s motives, and condition, a little more clearly by also making us think about the differences between the two. This is similar to the way Alfred Hitchcock put the shower scene together. The director describes the “jagged”, fragmentary nature of Fletcher’s death as he cuts from her face, to the Beast’s arms around her middle, back to her face, which repeats with a couple of additional angles thrown in. Shyamalan’s kill sequence also mirrors Hitchcock’s in the way it’s shot and edited. Just as the Split sequence begins with Dr Fletcher writing, so the famous Psycho scene starts with Janet Leigh’s Marion Crane doing the same. It’s surely no accident that elements of the Split scene are reminiscent of Psycho ’s shower scene. A sentiment, incidentally, that creator M Night Shyamalan tells us he identifies with, adding weight to the notion that the Beast is arguably one of cinema’s more complex villains of recent years. Three of whom make up an entity known as the Horde, working in collusion to support the Beast’s vision, which is to cleanse the world of the ‘impure’ making way for the ‘pure’ to inherit the earth. Split ’s similarities with Psycho don’t end there, and, like Norman Bates, the Beast’s story is a captivating one, unfurling as it does throughout the film via James McAvoy’s character Kevin and his various personalities. Though people weren’t necessarily up in arms for the same reasons back then. In Hitchcock’s influential pic, Anthony Perkins’ Norman Bates identifies as his deceased mother when he kills. ![]() Just as Split was taken to task for its potentially damaging look at DID, Psycho - another film featuring an antagonist with the condition - also faced dissent for its split personality ‘gender-bending’. And if there’s any doubt that Split is a significant addition to horror’s annals, you’d do well to consider a classic it’s clearly influenced by - Psycho. ![]() Of course, no horror film worth its salt is without controversy. Psycho Killer Patricia is one of Kevin's 23 alternate personalities, and is a key member of the Horde, three identities working in collusion with the Beast. Such was the strength of feeling towards Shyamalan’s on-screen portrayal of the real-life condition known as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) with Shyamalan’s antagonist, whose original identity is Kevin Wendell Crumb, having to contend with 23 alternate personalities. While Split proved a hit both critically (scoring 76% on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer) and commercially, it appalled some viewers, however. Of course, by the end credits, it’s clear that Split is a comic-book movie dressed in (genuinely unsettling) horror clothing a stealth sequel to Unbreakable - his lukewarmly received superhero offering from 2000 that has since garnered a cult following. Audiences were excited for Split, and its success cemented his reputation as a major player when it comes to scary movies.Ī captivity horror with (of course) a twist, the film marked Shyamalan’s third in the genre. The Visit marked Shyamalan’s first sojourn into horror since his breakthrough supernatural chiller The Sixth Sense in 1999, and its success laid claim to the notion that horror is where Shyamalan’s strength lies, following a string of flops setting foot in other genres. Shyamalan as Horror Maestro James McAvoy as the Beast in Split.Ĭoming hot on the heels of Shyamalan’s most profitable film ever at that point in time - 2015’s modestly budgeted The Visit, which made $98.5 million at the global box office on its tiny $5 million, Split ’s punch was all the more powerful. We look at Shyamalan’s horror credentials, his masterful construction of the scene itself and how he increases its impact in the moments leading up to it, and why it’s so significant. It also provides proof that Shyamalan - who’s had varying degrees of success in his directing career - is at his best when he’s dabbling in horror. With the Beast one of Shyamalan’s most complex screen creations and pivotal to Glass, the final piece of Shyamalan’s Eastrail 177 trilogy puzzle, this timely scene breakdown helps us to understand both who he is and the role he plays in the overarching superhero/villain story. We eventually see him repeat this technique in Glass, early on, when James McAvoy’s antagonist finally comes face to face with Bruce Willis’s unbreakable superhero, David Dunn, and then again later in a starkly contrasting confrontation with a hospital orderly. The scene in question comes in the film’s final act when we witness the Beast’s first kill the moment a modus operandi is established as he crushes Betty Buckley’s Dr Fletcher to death using his ‘anaconda’ grip.
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