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Shyamalan’s ‘Split’ Has a Bit of a Twist Problem

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*THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS. AVOID READING UNTIL YOU’VE SEEN SPLIT*

It should come as no surprise that Split has a twist. A really cool one.

M. Night Shyamalan’s Split is an immediately compelling film. Three young women are kidnapped from a parking lot by a mysterious man who clearly isn’t playing with a full deck, and they’re taken to some sort of underground bunker that’s strangely well-furnished. We quickly learn that the man has multiple (well over 20 of them) personalities within himself, but like the characters themselves, we have no idea why these women have been kidnapped. We have no idea what the man’s plan is. And we really have no idea what’s even going on. We just know that the many personalities seem dead set on the idea that a so-called “Beast” will soon be making an appearance. And goddamn is it tense while we wait for his arrival.

It’s no secret by now that Shyamalan is a filmmaker who builds most of his movies around a final act twist, and Split is certainly no different. We’re promised answers to all the questions we (and the characters) have been pondering throughout, and we can be pretty sure that things won’t turn out how we’re expecting them to. But the strange thing about Split is that they do. For the most part, everything about the core story ends up in the exact place we’d most expect it to. Everything the multiple characters residing within the villain (including a man, a woman, and a child) have been telling the women turns out to be true: one of those personalities is a “Beast” of sorts, and he ends up killing and consuming two of the women.

The other one, the clear survivor from the outset… she survives. Go figure.

So what’s the big twist? After the movie’s title comes up on screen and it seems to be over, we’re treated to a post-credits stinger of sorts. The occupants of a diner are watching a news story about the events we just witnessed. One of them remarks that the story seems similar to something that happened years prior: a train was blown up by a man given a villainous moniker by the media. The man sitting next to the woman who makes the comment turns out to be Bruce Willis’ heroic character from Unbreakable (and yes, he’s played by Willis). “Mr. Glass,” he tells the woman, when she inquires about the train attacker’s name. Yes, Split is revealed to be, in the literal final moment, freakin’ Unbreakable 2.

Okay so that’s super cool. My jaw honestly dropped nearly to the floor, and though I’m pretty sure most everyone else in the theater with me had no idea why such a big star like Bruce Willis was popping up for a cameo appearance at the tail end of a horror film (‘wait, is this a Die Hard movie?!‘), I can confirm that I was genuinely shocked and totally surprised. Like Shyamalan’s best twists, I damn sure didn’t see this one coming, and as I left the theater and walked to my car, I had a huge smile on my face. I was thrilled. And totally won over.

There’s simply no denying that Split‘s twist is a treat for longtime Shyamalan fans, ending the film on the highest of notes; but as I made the drive home and the thrill of that shocker wore off a bit, I began to remember that just prior to that post-credits stinger, I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the film. In fact, I was downright disappointed by the way the initially riveting events played out. The twist, though it distracted from the movie’s flaws, only distracted me for so long.

Highlighted by an incredible performance (or series of performances, really) from James McAvoy that would probably earn him an Oscar nomination had this not been a horror film, as well as yet another one from Anya Taylor-Joy that suggests she’s quickly on her way to becoming genre royalty, Split is a fine film, but it’s also one that just doesn’t really go anywhere. As compelling as it is in the early going, it eventually starts to drag and, worst of all, feel longer than it actually is. It feels as if Shyamalan didn’t quite know where to go with the clever concept (using multiple personality disorder as the basis for, essentially, a body-horror film, is pretty damn clever), and by the time the end title popped up on the screen, I had almost completely lost interest in the whole thing. The story doesn’t really even end, at least not in satisfying fashion, and in many ways it feels like a film that’s missing a few final scenes that it really needed to feel like a complete whole that said something and was worth sitting through. It could’ve also used a trim in the editing room, but that’s not what we’re here to talk about.

Let’s get back to that totally awesome twist, which provides the illusion of making the film feel complete and satisfying. It makes you forget that the actual story wasn’t very good, because holy shit, that’s Bruce Willis and this was a sequel to Unbreakable. But when you take that away, and look at the story that was actually being told in Split, you’re left with an incomplete movie that, let’s be honest, kind of shits the bed in the final act. Sure, the twist is the coolest we’ve seen in a handful of years, but it’s also one of the cheapest we’ve ever seen. Shyamalan pulls that card out way too late in the game, and he damn near pulls it from the bottom of the deck. Rather than focusing on telling us a new story, he instead chooses to remind us of an old one, hoping that we’ll be too awestruck to care that he didn’t really bother to finish that new story or create something on the level of the old one.

And it works… if only for a few minutes.

Ultimately though, Split‘s twist makes the film feel like a prequel to the nonexistent movie you’d rather watch instead: Unbreakable 2. It reminds, and not in a good way, of those superhero movies that build up excitement for the future while not actually delivering anything worthwhile in the present. I admire Shyamalan for creating his own super-villain universe of sorts (the brilliant Unbreakable, my personal favorite of his films, remains the best grounded-in-reality superhero movie ever made), and I’m hoping he does build upon it in the future, but I can’t help but be baffled by the choice to make Split a half-ass sequel to Unbreakable rather than a full-on one or, well, its own thing entirely. Had David Dunn (Bruce Willis) showed up earlier in the film, I’d probably have a new favorite movie in Split, but connecting the two in literally the final moment had a cheapness to it that rubbed me the wrong way. It was fan service, to be sure, but it was fan service that seemed specifically designed to distract us from the fact that Split was a half-cocked movie that couldn’t stand on its own two feet.

Split deserved better than its cop-out ending, cool as it may have been.

SPLIT

Writer in the horror community since 2008. Editor in Chief of Bloody Disgusting. Owns Eli Roth's prop corpse from Piranha 3D. Has four awesome cats. Still plays with toys.

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

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Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

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Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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