Connect with us

News

‘Split’ Finds Shyamalan Whole Again – Film Review

Published

on

Split

If The Visit was M. Night Shyamalan’s return voyage in the open waters of the low-budget horror-thriller, Split is where he’s found his sea legs.

Shyamalan has again teamed up with Blumhouse Productions (Paranormal Activity, Insidious, The Conjuring) to create a film that allows him to explore his creative storytelling without the pressures of a big-budget fantasy feature.

via IMDb

In Split, Kevin, a man with 23 unique personalities, abducts three teenage girls to prepare for the arrival of his 24th and final personality, “The Beast”. The unfortunate trio are abducted in broad daylight and brought to an underground bunker where they must try to escape their ominous and unknown fate.

Anya Taylor-Joy – who has secured her place as the new genre darling after her roles in The Witch and Morgan – plays Casey, a troubled teen who becomes the de facto leader of the group after demonstrating her quick wit and observational skills.

Taylor-Joy adds a doe-eyed, terrified, still-waters-run-deep balance in her scenes with James McAvoy. She successfully holds her own, which is no easy feat here.

via IMDb

McAvoy delivers an impressive full-throttle performance with all the delicate twists and turns of an extreme roller coaster. His physicality morphs and adapts to each personality as it takes control.

You can see each individual personality through his eyes, body language, and facial ticks so clearly that it’s possible to catch one masquerading as another. McAvoy wholly conquers this fragmented character.

The relationship between Kevin’s personalities and his psychologist, Dr. Fletcher, is like a well-rehearsed waltz on a field full of land mines. One misstep, one stumble, could be devastating. However, there’s an implicit trust that carries the weight of years of work and understanding. Her devotion to her patients is respectful and, overall, quite beautiful.

via IMDb

Cinematographer Mike Gioulakis, whose stunning work you might have seen in It Follows, brings his talents to the structure of each scene. Close-up shots are frequently implemented to bring a tight focus on the skill of the actors. The viewer is tuned in to every minute change in expression and click of a sudden realization.

The sets and lighting echo the dichotomy between Kevin’s dark, dizzying, claustrophobic underground maze and Dr. Fletcher’s airy, bright and welcoming office. Every scene in Kevin’s lair left me with conflicting feelings; the action was so fantastic I didn’t want it to end, but by god did I want to be anywhere other than that dark hold.

via IMDb

Split focuses on Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), but doesn’t feel exploitative or flippant in its portrayal. Shyamalan has previously referenced his interest in the concept of multiple personalities. As he discussed in an interview with iHorror’s David Grove, he’s “always been fascinated with the elements of psychology”.

As one of the most controversial disorders with no clear method of diagnosis, it’s quite refreshing to see DID discussed openly and with an appropriate attention. In Split, the psychological process is the whole focus of the film. DID is not a throwaway plot twist, it’s a defense mechanism to severe abuse and trauma.

At the risk of saying too much, that’s what Split is all about; the adjustments we make to respond to and cope with a bad situation.

via Universal Pictures

Overall, Split is a challenging thriller with as many leaps and bends as Kevin’s internal struggle. It dives into an exploration of our personal belief system and what physical affects those commitments can have.

With moments of dark comedy mixed in with high tension, it’s a genuinely engaging film. Above all else, Split is the perfect evidence that we have entered the renaissance of M. Night Shyamalan. I, for one, can’t wait to see what’s next.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

Movies

‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

Published

on

It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.

We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.

Evil Dead Rise

“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”

Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:

High Desert Hell
The Gemini Project

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Continue Reading

Movies

‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

Published

on

Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Continue Reading

News

Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

Published

on

Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Continue Reading