Let’s Talk About the Last Scene of ‘Split’
Have you seen Split? That new Shyamalan film getting decent reviews where McAvoy plays a crazy person with 24 personalities?
No? Then you’d better leave. The movie drops a massive twist at the end and we’re going to talk about it. Our review is fairly spoiler free if you’re interested. And the distributor hates us spoiling new movies, so please don’t read further.
Still here? I’ll assume you have seen it. Right let’s talk about the twist.
The twist is…
Wait for it…
This is the buffer so the blurb doesn’t show the twist in social media feeds…
The twist is that Split is a sequel.
Specifically a sequel to Unbreakable, the one good Shyamalan film.
Right, so let’s explain. Some people don’t consider this a twist because it doesn’t really impact the story but it does and you can make that argument about any of Shyamalan’s films. Also it’s a story reveal that subverts audience expectation. That’s a twist.
In the final scene of the movie we hear a news reader announcing that authorities have nicknamed this killer (McAvoy) ‘The Horde’. This is both an amazing coincidence because that’s what he called himself and nonsense because they don’t know about his condition. Then we pan through a diner where some customers announce in LOUD SLOW VOICES that it’s “LIKE THAT GUY THEY ARRESTED YEARS AGO. YOU KNOW…IN THE WHEELCHAIR? WHAT WAS HIS NAME?”
Then amazing enough we reveal Bruce Willis in his outfit from Unbreakable and he says “Mr. Glass”, the villain from that film. The message is clear…The Horde and his amazing spider/man powers are the new villain for Unbreakable guy and Split isn’t a movie, it’s just a set-up for another Unbreakable film.
Many movie goers have been pleased with this twist, even praised it. I disagree. It’s terrible. Here’s why.
IT DOESN’T WORK AS A GOOD TWIST

Like finding out the killer was TREES.
An example might help. Fight Club has a brilliant twist. When initially watching the movie you’re likely to find Marla Singer (played by Helena Bonham Carter) to be a confusing character. She acts erratically, turns up into scenes out of nowhere and has no motivation. Once you’ve seen the movie to the end, learned the twist and rewatched it you’ll realise that you had her entirely wrong. Marla was completely sane (well, to a point) and it’s the main character who is acting in a confusing manner…we just saw it from the wrong point of view. THAT’S a good twist.

“By the way, what was your name?”
The big twist in Split has nothing at all to do with the two hours that precede it. You can cut it out and it still works as a complete movie. In fact, it diminishes it because the presence of the ‘it’s a sequel!’ twist means we’ve been robbed of a conclusion to the movie we just watched.
IT DESTROYED THE CLIMAX
Don’t you find it strange that Split ended on such as unsatisfactory note? She got away and…he got away. The Beast didn’t get defeated, the girl didn’t win anything or come out better, they just kind of…went their seperate ways. This is a terrible ending for a horror film, and that’s because this isn’t a horror film. It’s an extended prologue for a superhero movie we haven’t seen yet.
In addition to ruining the ending of Split, the twist marks this as not a stand alone film but a set up for a bigger ‘extended universe’ franchise. This business plan is all the rage in Hollywood right now. Now, for shits and giggles, let’s name all the franchises who have done this successfully:
- Marvel
Still, with this one example (which had immensely strong groundwork and still took a huge gamble that succeeded against all the odds) everyone and their dog thinks they can do the same thing with one new release.
Here’s some examples of movies that have fallen flat or been less than stellar because they’ve tried to be the first part of a massive franchise: Batman v Superman, Suicide Squad, The Legend of Tarzan, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Ghostbusters, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Warcraft, Gods of Egypt…and those are just from 2016. There are more this year such as The Mummy, Skull Island and so forth. Movies more invested in their sequels than telling a good story are passable at best. And if you want to argue that any potential sequel doesn’t impact on Split, remember that Split doesn’t have an ending.
WHY A SEQUEL TO UNBREAKABLE?
The only reason they might make a sequel to Unbreakable 17 years later is because it’s generally referred to as Shyamalan’s only good film after The Sixth Sense (I disagree, it’s his ONLY good film). It’s built up a cult following over the almost two decades since it was released for this very reason.
But it’s still not widely seen. It was considered a flop when it was released. It has a cult following but very, very few people are going out of their way to see a movie two decades old by a film maker largely considered to be a joke for the past decade. When Split ended on the sudden appearance of Bruce Willis a large section of the audience was left confused. People around us were heard explaining to each other what that was about. It’s obscure enough that it might have been easier to have Shyamalan pop up during the credits to to explain it.

“I don’t get it either…I just know these idiots keep giving me funding.”
So, in conclusion, Split is a secret sequel to Unbreakable which is as stupid an idea as a sequel to The Boondock Saints released 15 years after the original. It robbed Split of having a satisfying ending for a cheap, ineffective twist so they can set up a movie that will likely bomb. Great job, Shyamalan, you still suck.

Time Magazine called him the ‘new Spielberg’. They were sooooo drunk.
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Obviously you have strong feelings on this. Lol. I’ve never been a fan of Unbreakable but I only watched it once. Sixth Sense, Signs, The Village, and Lady In the Water I like but everything sense then is don shit.
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So glad you told the ending, because that’s all I wanted to know about this film and i’ve been hunting for spoilers. Now I know for sure I don’t want to see it!!
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I couldn’t agree with you more!
The film itself was exceptionally well acted, and I utterly enjoyed the ride!
That was …until the end!
It came across WEAK to me…
It felt as though he (no matter what M.Night is saying about this) had no true ending for the film…
This was NOT a “twist”, and I felt sorry for those whom have not seen Unbreakable – like, the couple in the seats in front of my friend and I…
We could hear them desperately trying to gain …GRASP …some …ANY, understanding from the ending we were all excited to experience as a TWIST …yet didn’t come!
I took it upon myself to point them in the direction Unbreakable, which they had clearly not seen. And although I was very happy to do that …I shouldn’t be needing to DO THAT!!
…and even after they do, it adds nothing to Split!
If anything, if felt as though M Night is trying to tap into Super Hero Sequel money making monster …thus fore fitting giving us a TRUE M Night twist, which I for one adored in Unbreakable, The Village, Signs and The Sixth Sense…
Unbreakable, is an outstanding film, it’s a thinking persons Superhero Story …and I for one, rate it very high indeed …however, does it need a sequel? Okay, secretly, I’m intrigued, I am …it’s true! But also, I’m worried that it will never catch the atmosphere of the first one… we already KNOW the twist of Unbreakable, so, the sequel will simply be another Superhero movie …which, don’t we have enough of … or will a more mature Superhero sequel possibly be somewhat refreshing …”et cetera”?!
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So accurate!
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