James McAvoy is Creepy AF In M. Night Shyamalan’s SPLIT Trailer

M. Night Shyamalan has a love hate relationship with movie fans. He came out of the gate with movies like The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, but then he gave us stuff like The Village and the Happening. I’m not even going to mention his take on The Last Airbender. Now, after winning back a surprising amount of street cred with his work on the TV show Wayward Pines, he’s come back with a new film that looks like it might actually be kind of awesome.

If Split does end up being as great as it could be, no small part of that will be thanks to what looks to be an insane performance by James McAvoy, who is playing a man with 23 personalities. That’s a big chunk of what we know right now. He kidnaps some girls, and may or may not be a shape shifter. Personally, I just hope that his trademark twist actually helps the story and doesn’t pull another village or Lady in The Water on us all.

Writer/director/producer M. Night Shyamalan returns to the captivating grip of The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs with Split, an original thriller that delves into the mysterious recesses of one man’s fractured, gifted mind. Following last year’s breakout hit The Visit, Shyamalan reunites with producer Jason Blum (The Purge and Insidious series, The Gift) for the film.

While the mental divisions of those with dissociative identity disorder have long fascinated and eluded science, it is believed that some can also manifest unique physical attributes for each personality, a cognitive and physiological prism within a single being.

Though Kevin (James McAvoy) has evidenced 23 personalities to his trusted psychiatrist, Dr. Fletcher (Betty Buckley), there remains one still submerged who is set to materialize and dominate all the others. Compelled to abduct three teenage girls led by the willful, observant Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy, The Witch), Kevin reaches a war for survival among all of those contained within him—as well as everyone around him—as the walls between his compartments shatter apart.

For Split, Shyamalan and Blum reassemble their core team from The Visit, the No. 1-grossing horror film of 2015. Their fellow collaborators include producer Marc Bienstock and executive producers Ashwin Rajan and Steven Schneider.