MovieChat Forums > Split (2017) Discussion > Surprised so many people missed the real...

Surprised so many people missed the real twist (SPOILERS)

posted 7 years ago by storydays
9 replies | jump to latest

I see so many people comment about the twist in the message board and also in reviews but the miss the real twist of the movie.

The real twist is Casey also has SPLIT personality and displays superhuman body chemistry change at the end of the movie (Skin deformations at the end). While Kevin develops split personalities to deal with his mother's physical abuse, Casey was sexually abuse by her uncle/guardian and retreats into her psyche to draw superhuman strength at the end.

The thesis of the movie is people who are abuse retreat to deep into their psyche and tap into a resource that is superhuman. Shymalan suggests that there might be lot of people with superhuman talent and suggests what can't kill you can only make you stronger!

Interesting question is did Bruce Willis also suffer from some abuse before he became superhuman?? Shymalan seems to suggest that as per the split-mythology there are positive superhumans like Bruce and negative superhumans likes Kevin.

Anyway, based on audience reaction looks like the "twist" didn't work as Shymalan expected. Not sure he meant twist to be this subtle. This is going down more like the twist in "Life of Pi"....."Why didn't Richard Parker(tiger) didn't turn and look at him"

Interesting to see audience enjoy this movie even if they missed the twist. For me, it is an okay movie.

[–] Oldguy69 7 years ago

Looked like self mutilation to me and the monologue by the beast sort of lead me to believe that was actually the case. It was there all the time but hidden by her shirt

[–] smidget28 (769) 3 months ago

thank you, yes.

[–] DoubleUK 7 years ago

All the IMDb boards will close and be deleted within a week.

A lot of us have moved on. So this is what you can do:

- delete your IMDb account.

- Meet us at https://www.themoviedb.org

For instance, continue the discussions about 'Split' on https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/381288-split/discuss

Love to see you there, soon.

[–] RainingBullets 7 years ago

Casey displays no symptoms of dissociative identity disorder (also known as DID, which is what Kevin has). The "skin deformations" are scars from cutting, a type of self-harm.

The connection between them is they're both abuse survivors and in some ways they understand each other and have shared experiences. Just like survivors IRL. If Kevin didn't have alters in conflict trying to bring out the Beast and was instead a man more deep in recovery, they probably would've gotten along in some way had they met in a different situation.

The fantasy element in this movie is the Beast alter with superhuman ability, I don't think Shyamalan was also trying to make a fantasy element out of being a survivor, which is what you imply in your 3rd paragraph.

I doubt Dunn was abused, he was just born with the ability. Mr. Glass was also born with his intelligence. The Beast alter is a play on how IRL people with DID may have different abilities and features between their alters, such as one being left handed instead of right handed or one having different eyesight. This is in Split too, where Dennis has OCD for example. Shyamalan took it a step further with the Beast.

[–] storydays 7 years ago

Good point about self harm. Kevin could be just relating to her because of the abuse. My interpretation could be wrong. I will have to see the film again. Thanks for that post.

[–] ipaczal 7 years ago

I am sorry, but nothing suggests that Casey had split personalities. The scars in her skin is there during the whole time.
As for David Dunn, his strength didn't come as a consequence of abuse. Kevin('s body becomes super strong) because some of his personalities believed strongly in the Beast. The whole point of Unbreakable was that DD didn't believe in himself until Elijah opened his eyes.

[–] Mappy2004 7 years ago

IMO, I don't think the twist had anything to do with Kevin or split personalities or super-human strength. The twist was that this was actually a sequel to Unbreakable, which was why Dunn (Bruce Wills) was in the diner at the end reminding the lady that the 'other' villan with a nick name was Mr. Glass (Samuel L. Jackson).

According to M Night, the original villan in Unbreakable was supposed to be Kevin, but he decided to go with Samuel L. Jackson's character instead. But he never forgot about Kevin while filming Unbreakable. If you remember, while Bruce willis was at the stadium, just before chasing the drug dealer, be bumped into a mother and child and saw visions of child abuse. This was Kevin at a young age.

M. Night also stated that if Split was successful, he would do a third film, most likely with Dunn (Bruce Willis) and Kevin (James Macavoy) facing off against each other.

[–] ipaczal 7 years ago

I doubt M. Night intended to put Kevin and his mother in Unbreakable (did he know that he will wait with the sequel for this long?), but it's possible that he had that scene in mind when he wrote and filmed Split, and maybe he will reveal the connection in the third movie. But I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out that Kevin was not in Unbreakable. Philly is a big city, it's not necessary that they bumped into each other, and maybe we will see more flashbacks from Kevin's childhood with a new child actor.

[–] Mappy2004 7 years ago

It's not uncommon for directors to think long term. Tarantino said he would make a third kill bill based on Green's Daughter hunting down the Bride for killing her mother, but he said he wouldn't do it until 15 years later. And now, 14 years later it is in production.

Plus good story tellers (despite M. Night's recent failures ... I still think he is a good story teller) always put scenes in for a reason. To have something like a child abuse scene in Unbreakable and then just say, Meh... back to the story... is not his style.

Plus, one of Mr. Glass' comic makes reference to 'The Beast', so there are probably more little hints in Unbreakable that prepare us for Kevin we haven't picked up on yet.

Perhaps M. Might didn't intend to wait 15 years for this project to continue, but I definitely think he had this storyline in mind when directing Unbreakable.