9 Years Ago Today, This Record-Breaking Horror Thriller Set Up an Unlikely Superhero Movie Trilogy

Nine years ago, a record-breaking horror thriller from Blumhouse made its debut — and it set up an unexpected superhero trilogy. The superhero and horror genres don’t often collide, despite the potential of bringing them together. While both categories lean into spectacle, superhero films tend to have lighter tones and see good overcoming evil. Such elements don’t mesh well with horror, though we’ve seen the genres blended in projects like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and The Batman.

And in 2017, one horror-thriller that wasn’t marketed as a superhero title led to an unlikely trilogy. The film itself wasn’t much of a superhero story. It stuck to the dark themes promised in the trailers and read like a standard horror. However, it wound up bridging the gap between one unconventional superhero project from 17 years earlier and a long-awaited sequel. On a rewatch, it’s clear it’s a supervillain story, and it’s one that allowed creator M. Night Shyamalan to see his vision through to the end.

9 Years Ago, Split Made Its Debut & Broke Records

Nine years ago, on January 17, 2017, Blumhouse’s Split arrived in theaters — and it upended expectations of what the film would be. The main story was marketed in trailers leading up to its release. It chronicled the kidnapping of Anya Taylor-Joy’s Casey Cook by James McAvoy’s Kevin Wendell Crumb, who has Dissociative Identity Disorder. As anticipated, Split explored topics like mental illness and PTSD, while delivering a suspenseful narrative and some major twists. And one of the biggest revelations was saved for the film’s post-credits scene: its connection to M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable.

Until Bruce Willis’ David Dunn appeared on-screen, there was little indication that the two projects would be related. However, the character’s arrival made sense of the inhuman strength and speed exhibited by Kevin, or “The Beast.” The connection also laid the groundwork for one more film tying up both David’s and Kevin’s stories. With Split being such a success — it made $278 million on a $9 million budget (via The Numbers) and became Blumhouse’s highest-grossing movie until Five Nights at Freddy’s — Glass was likely a no-brainer for Hollywood.

Split Bridged the Gap Between Unbreakable & Glass, Leading to an Unlikely Trilogy

Split‘s unexpected connection to Unbreakable shifted the film from a standard horror title to a supervillain movie — and its success enabled Shyamalan to finish out the story that began in 2000’s Unbreakable. Split set the stage for a showdown between David Dunn’s “The Overseer” and the Beast, which Glass gleefully delivered on. It wasn’t what audiences were expecting, but it served as a reminder of Unbreakable‘s potential. While the 2000 film was fantastic, it was pretty much forgotten by the time Split arrived. The latter’s end-credits scene reignited interest and proved demand for a sequel.

What’s hilarious is that M. Night Shyamalan didn’t even tell studio executives about the twist, something he revealed on CinemaBlend’s ReelBlend podcast. Despite Unbreakable and Split being released by different studios, the filmmaker got the proper permissions to connect the two. He surprised Universal executives with that during their screening:

“The lights go down. They watch the whole movie of Split. Then this scene comes on, and they’re completely flummoxed. They look at me, and they’re like, ‘What are you saying? That’s a Disney movie!’ And I go, ‘It’s all good. We have the permission to do it!’ Can you imagine? You are the chairman of the studio, and the guy shows you that it’s a sequel to a movie from another studio?”

He’s right that it might not have gone over so well, so it’s probably for the best that Shyamalan showed proof it could work instead. It resulted in an incredible horror trilogy. And if we’re being honest, the connections to Unbreakable and Glass make Split more impressive in hindsight.

M. Night Shyamalan’s Horror-Thriller Is More Impressive in Hindsight

Split stands on its own as a horror film, but its role in the Eastrail 177 Trilogy makes it a more impressive addition to the movie landscape. For one, it demonstrates how well-crafted horror projects can defy traditional genre constraints. Part of the reason Unbreakable and its sequels work is because they take familiar narratives and tropes and twist them into something grittier. The fact that Split walks the line between its own standalone story and a bridge between films is also impressive. It speaks to Shyamalan’s craft. And the fact that his hopes for the trilogy worked out only make Split look better, both on an individual level and within the series.

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