11 Awesome Movies With Disturbing Messages

10. Mentally Ill People Should Be Feared - Split

Split released at the start of the year and seems to confirm that writer-director M. Night Shyamalan is making something of a comeback, aided immensely by James McAvoy's stunning performance as dissociative identity disorder-afflicted man Kevin Wendell Crumb aka The Horde.

Despite largely positive reviews and and raking in over thirty-fold its budget, Split was taken to task shortly after its release for the role it plays in stigmatising those suffering with mental illness, especially dissociative identity disorder.

While it can be argued that the movie's version of the disorder, which sees Crumb's body chemistry change as each personality emerges, is too heightened and ridiculous to have any real-world parity, it nevertheless feeds into a long-standing cinematic tradition of painting the mentally ill as violent people to be afraid of.

It'll be interesting to see if Shyamalan re-jigs the character at all for the upcoming follow-up, Glass, in wake of the outcry from mental health support groups the world over.