Night Shyamalan’s latest film, Split, has become a hot topic of the media, just days after its release. Since its unsettling trailer surfaced, it has been trending which explains its strong box office numbers at 40.2M -surpassing current movies including Hidden Figures, Sing, and La La Land. As this movie’s plot revolves around a serious topic of mental illness and dissociative identity disorder, it has spawned mild controversy among critics.

According to author Sara Rose, who writes for Movieweb.com, “We’re at a point in society where male-bodied people wearing dresses shouldn’t be portrayed as offensive, strange, or scary, but films like this do nothing to counteract that narrative. Additionally, this film paints mental illness as a horror movie plot, and not a real issue that should be addressed seriously and with profound compassion.” She as well as others offended by the movie’s “glorification” of mental illness have resorted to boycotting the movie entirely.

Anticipating such a response, before the release Shyamalan answered, “We’ve had no issues from people that have seen the finished film, just zero… The only way you can approach this subject matter is by bringing humanity to it and not demonizing [it]” (Yahoo.com/movies). Needless to say, his intention was not to offend anyone. More so, he wanted to connect this film with past iconic horror, thriller films such as Unbreakable and Psycho.

From viewing it the opening day, in my opinion, the film was average. I have not watched many films of this genre, but at some points the plot was predictable and sporadic. Nonetheless, the acting was well done by James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, and others. Although I wouldn’t watch it again, I do recommend others watch it for their own interpretations.