Multiple chills — and personalities — in scary 'Split'

• Critic's rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

M. Night Shyamalan’s films are known for their surprises, and “Split” has a big one: It’s actually pretty good.

Maybe that’s not a total shocker, coming on the heels of the generally well-received “The Visit” in 2015, but it’s good to see him continue rounding back into form. For genre fans he got a free pass for making “The Sixth Sense” and “Unbreakable” — and with duds like “The Happening,” “The Last Airbender” and “After Earth,” he seemed determined to use it.

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But here he’s got an intriguing story that he directs with passion and intensity, and James McAvoy is just over-the-top good as a man with 23 personalities, some of whom may be dangerous.

McAvoy plays Kevin — and Dennis and Miss Patricia and Hedwig and Barry and several other manifestations of his dissociative identity disorder, or DID (sometimes known as multiple personality disorder). At the beginning of the film he kidnaps three girls, pals Marcia (Jessica Sula) and Claire (Phoenix native Haley Lu Richardson) and outsider Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy), who was a “mercy invite” to Claire’s birthday party.

He stashes them in a suitably creepy basement-looking lair, locking them in a room. Then he comes back, but he’s different. Where before he was a stern, menacing man, now he is dressed as a woman, crisp and polite. Later he will act like a boy. The girls are surprised, of course, but we know what’s happening, thanks to Kevin’s visits with Dr. Fletcher (Betty Buckley), a psychiatrist. He sends her urgent e-mails asking for emergency sessions, but he downplays things once he’s there, insisting that everything is fine.

Fletcher specializes in DID, Skyping into a conference in which she suggests that it may be so pronounced in some people that the personalities are physically different — one may be blind, while the others aren’t. It could lead to an unlocking of the mind, and perhaps even allow for supernatural abilities.

This is an M. Night Shyamalan movie, after all.

Fletcher has treated Kevin long enough to know which personality is present (“in the light,” as she calls it) — and to know when one is hijacking the others. This allows McAvoy to chew some serious scenery, playing someone who is playing someone else while pretending not to, in some cases. And he’s terrific. The changes in his personality are remarkable, sometimes occurring one right after the other. It’s outrageous but not quite hammy, and always chilling.

Oh, who are we kidding? It’s really hammy, and really fun.

Taylor-Joy is also good; her Casey harbors some secrets that make her better equipped to handle abduction than the other two girls (who, unfortunately, go forgotten for much of the movie).

It’s all building toward the supposed arrival of the Beast, which Kevin’s various personalities warn of. This, by the way, is not one of Shyamalan’s signature twists, as it is foretold early in the film. But those twists do arrive eventually, and frankly,the ones arriving late in the game are letdowns. Shyamalan has built a career on surprises, so it’s impossible to watch his films without looking for them. Horror films are notoriously hard to end. Notable exception: “The Sixth Sense.”

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So this one doesn’t end, exactly. Of course that’ll only make sense if you see “Split,” and, despite a few maddening shortcomings, you should. After that streak of deadly misfires it’s nice to see Shyamalan enjoying himself again.

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: twitter.com/goodyk.

'Split,' 3.5 stars

Director: M. Night Shyamalan.

Cast: James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Haley Lu Richardson.

Rating: PG-13 for disturbing thematic content and behavior, violence and some language.

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