Split (2016)

It is nice to be back home after a trip to North Carolina. While it is nice to visit with family, that it a long drive and I often return exhausted and worn out. Plus, I usually miss my typical horror fix. To get back into the swing of things, I went to Family Video and picked up the 2016 thriller Split.

Plot/ Three girls are kidnapped by a man with a diagnosed 23 distinct personalities, they must try to escape before the apparent emergence of a frightful new 24th.

As many already know, movies by M. Night Shyamalan can range from awesome to terrible, and honestly, you never know what you will get. I was relieved that Split fell closer to the good productions. While not a perfect film and it does have a few clichéd moments, the performances within the storyline (especially James McAvoy) make it easy to overlook those. Besides McAvoy, the performances are solid, the story is engaging, and the direction was solid. This one was definitely an atmospheric thriller that was better than I expected. Unfortunately, it was somewhat predictable and the twist ending was not needed. In the end, there was a lot to like about this movie and it appears that Shyamalan has again put together of entertaining thrillers. Hopefully, he keeps up this trend with his next entry.

The Visit (2015)

After taking a couple days off to work on an important project, I decided it was time to get back at it and found something different to help fuel some of what I was writing. What was that movie? It was the 2015 independent thriller The Visit.

Plot/ Two siblings become incredibly frightened by their grandparents disturbing behavior, while visiting them on vacation.

Sometimes it is hard to figure what will come from a M. Night Shyamalan movie, some are awesome and some leave such a miserable impression that you do not want to ever go back. Fortunately, this is one of the better entries from him and it has a lot going for it. While it does feel forced ay some points, overall it has an interesting dynamic going on with some solid performances, a touch of comedy, and just enough tension to make it watchable; even some of the shaky cam moments come across in a sound manner. Unfortunately, mixed in with some of the forced moments, the twist ending is somewhat expected and is not a huge surprise. In fact, it was rather predictable the deeper you went into the movie. In the end, this movie will likely be polarizing and viewers will either love it or hate it. Personally, I went in with low expectations and found it rather refreshing. If you follow that path, you may enjoy it as well.

Devil (2010)

 After enjoying some decent comedy last night, my wife brought home Devil. This tale, written by M. Night Shyamalan, sounded interesting, but so did some of his other films that were huge disappointments.

Plot/ A group of people trapped in an elevator realize that the devil is amongst them.

I like many have stayed away from Shyamalan movies, for me it had been since I was extremely disappointed by The Village. With that being said, I am glad that I broke down and watched this one of his Night Chronicles. The pacing, atmosphere and subtle cinematography were tremendous, with a sound storyline. Yes, there was some cliché, almost no character development and at times the acting was a bit pedestrian, but it came together nicely. The flick did lack gore and major special effects, part of falling into that PG-13 trap that is plaguing movies today. While more of a mystery than horror, this tale of death despair and redemption is far from perfect, but it is an underrated and entertaining ride.