Hollywood filmmaker of Indian origin, M Night Shyamalan’s upcoming film Split‘s trailer is out, and it is haunting. Actor James McAvoy, known for his portrayal as the mind-reading professor Charles Xavier from the X-Men series, plays the lead in this film.
The two-and-a-half minute trailer reveals the gist of the story – three teenaged girls are kidnapped by a man (James McAvoy) and are locked in the basement of his house. The man, however, is not your average kidnapper who is driven by money or sexual motives. He has 23 personalities trapped inside him. He goes from being a nine-year-old boy to an adult “woman” in heels. But, there is one personality of his that is yet to come out – the beast. Every personality mouths the same lines, “The beast is coming”.
The trailer mid-way gives the audience a glimpse of the man chasing the three girls who hide in closets and confined spaces to escape from his worst personality yet. The film appears to have been inspired by Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock’s classic slasher film that gave rise to the character Norman Bates as a cult psychopath in popular culture.
Here’s the trailer:
M Night Shyamalan, whose last two films, After Earth (2013) and The Visit (2015), failed at the box office, appears to have gone back to his suspense-thriller films from his The Sixth Sense (1999) days. The trailer looks disturbing coupled with an engaging background score, and a menacing James McAvoy playing a psychopath with a new personality each time.
The film also stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Betty Buckley, Jessica Sula, and Haley Lu Richardson. The film is slated for a January 2017 release.
Photo credit: HitFix’s YouTube channel
