“Split” is a 2016 psychological thriller written by M. Night Shyamalan released on Jan. 20, 2017.

In the movie “Split”, actor James McAvoy possesses 24 distinct personalities and plays the role of Kevin Wendell Crumb, who was abused as a child. Dissociative Identity Disorder (previously known as multiple personality disorder), is a mental process which produces a lack of connection in a person's thoughts, memories, feelings, actions or sense of identity. This disorder can be the result of childhood abuse.

The movie begins at a birthday party, where three teenage girls are kidnapped in the mall parking lot. Claire, Marcia, and Casey are held captive by “Dennise,” one of the many personalities present in Crumb’s mind. He takes the girls to his house where he locks them in a room together. At this point of the movie, I was having mixed feelings. I wondered why they didn’t even try to escape when they were being taken. Claire and Marcia are popular and close friends and Casey is more of an outsider, but the smartest of the bunch. The girls soon catch onto his different personality changes. They know that they have to work together to escape.

Kevin has a psychiatrist, Dr. Karen Fletcher, who he trusts. She is concerned to receive emails from Kevin asking to have meetings with her, which was also concerning to me. When Kevin does meet with her, he denies sending the emails and says that everything is fine. Certain personalities are stopping him from talking to her about what is going to happen and that he has girls held captive. He wants to tell her about a personality that has not submerged yet which is more powerful and that will dominate all of the others, known as the “Beast.”

My favorite personality of Kevin was “Hedwig,” a nine-year-old boy who might know a way to help the girls escape. I thought that McAvoy played this role the best.

While the girls were held captive, they went through traumatizing experiences. Having to deal with his constant personality changes and never knowing what to expect put them in a difficult and terrifying situation to escape from. Even though the girls remained brave, things did not turn out the way I expected.

I was disappointed with how the movie ended because it really left you thinking about what will happen next. They are suppose to be coming out with a “Split 2” so I’m looking forward to that.  

The constant plot twists, scary components, “etc.,” had me sitting on the edge of my seat, I highly recommend to give this movie a watch. It was entertaining and kept my interest the whole time.