Film Theory: Split Is More Than A Standalone Sequel To Unbreakable...

Note the keywords ‘sense of the supernatural.’ What can be gleaned from this sentence, if we look a little more closely, is Fletcher’s apparent assumption, to a room of educated people no less, that the supernatural is a given, and our connection with it is something widely known. Now comparatively with Shyamalan’s backlog of work, this combination of the supernatural and the scientific comes into play with decided clarity in his seminal piece of work: The Sixth Sense.

Split comes 18 years after the release of that film, providing plenty of time for the understanding of people with special clairvoyant abilities to come into the forefront - perhaps this is the very research that Fletcher is undertaking and presenting on through DID. Both her and the 24th alter ego of Kevin, The Beast, centre their logic on suffering unlocking previously unreachable brain function, elevating them to new plains of consciousness.

The only other mention of the exact word ‘supernatural’ in the film also comes into play around the doctor, with another character claiming she ‘speaks of them [DID patients] like they're supernaturally gifted.’ Perhaps this is all the clue we need to a world where a connection with another plane of reality, the supernatural realm, is known - and the cause or effect of suffering from mental health issues is our link to it in both a literal and metaphorical sense.