Split (2017)
Kevin has 23 distinct personalities. The 24th is about to be unleashed.
Though Kevin has evidenced 23 personalities to his trusted psychiatrist, Dr. Fletcher, 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, 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.
| Type | Movie |
|---|---|
| Released | 19 January 2017 |
| Genre | Horror, Thriller |
| Director | M. Night Shyamalan |
| Starring | James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy and Haley Lu Richardson |
| Runtime | 117 min |
| Rated | PG-13 |
| Scores | Rotten Tomatoes (average) 6.5/10 · Rotten Tomatoes 78% · Metacritic 63/100 · TMDB users 7.3/10 |
| Budget | $9 million |
Where to watch Split
Split is streaming on Netflix ($17.99 a month) in the US. If that is the only reason to subscribe, one month of Netflix is $17.99 at list price.
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What kind of watch this is
Split is a 117-minute thriller where a man with 23 distinct personalities kidnaps three teenage girls. The hook is simple: the 24th personality is waking up, and it is going to be a problem. M. Night Shyamalan directs a film that treats the idea of a fragmented mind less like a medical condition and more like a haunted house. James McAvoy plays the different sides of Kevin, while Anya Taylor-Joy plays Casey, the girl who notices things the others miss. The tension comes from the walls between these compartments starting to shatter. It is a tight, paranoid watch where the monster is not outside, but inside the head.
What the critics said
Rotten Tomatoes reports a 78% Tomatometer score as of August 2024. That is a solid number for a film that leans hard on its lead. Metacritic lands at 63, which it calls generally favorable. The ratings suggest a movie that works when you look at it, even if the logic frays at the edges.
Jordan Hoffman of The Guardian called it a "masterful blend of Hitchcock, horror and therapy session." He gave it four stars, which is high praise for a genre film. Not everyone was so charmed. Anthony Lane of The New Yorker saw an "old-fashioned exploitation flick" that Shyamalan could not redeem. One person’s thriller is another person’s degradation, a distinction that matters more than the star count.
How it did with audiences
$9 million cost. $278 million return. That is the entire argument for why horror remains the most efficient business model in Hollywood. Deadline calculated a net profit of $68.2 million, which is enough to buy a small island, a very large yacht, or just a lot of coffee. On TMDB, users rate it 7.3 out of 10. People watched it, they liked it, and they paid for it.
What came next for the cast
James McAvoy went from X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) and X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) to It Chapter Two (2019), Glass (2019), and Dark Phoenix (2019). Anya Taylor-Joy moved from Peaky Blinders (2013) and The Witch (2016) to Glass (2019), The Menu (2022), and The Queen's Gambit (2020). Jessica Sula shifted from Skins (2007) and Scream: The TV Series (2015) to Michael (2026) and Panic (2021). Haley Lu Richardson followed The Edge of Seventeen (2016) and The Bronze (2016) with Five Feet Apart (2019), The White Lotus (2021), and Operation Finale (2018). The credits list what happened, not why.
If you liked this
TMDB's recommendations for people who watched Split.
Sources
- Split on TMDB — synopsis, cast, ratings and recommendations
- Wikidata Q21869840 — review scores, box office and awards (CC0)
- “Split (2016 American film)” on Wikipedia, by its contributors (history) — reception, audience figures and legacy, summarised and adapted here under CC BY-SA 4.0
- Where to watch and prices: Binge Boss, from TMDB watch-provider data (powered by JustWatch) and our own provider list
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