It’s been a long time since I cared about an M Night Shyamalan movie, so I was shocked to have enjoyed this quite so much, but with James McAvoy as Kevin (et al) perhaps it shouldn’t have been a surprise. The pared back script sometimes loses focus, but the lead performances are so strong it’s forgivable, and the initial care Shyamalan takes to misdirect is welcome - this is not the serial killer movie it initially appears to be. Dennis abducts all three girls for reasons that aren’t initially obvious, and the most interesting exchanges are between him and his doctor Betty Buckley, who repeatedly steals the show from McAvoy. Making the horror of Dennis/Kevin’s mind implicit, not explicit is a clever conceit, and Shyamalan should be praised for such great casting in Buckley. It’s never really in doubt that The Beast is real, and his emergence is perhaps the most self-indulgent element of the film, but the return to super powerdom is long overdue for the writer-director, and does allow an oddly (if coveniently) cathartic conclusion for the excellent Anya Taylor-Joy. Yes she, Haley Lu Richardson and Jessica Sula are terribly wasted, and the final confrontation between Casey and The Beast is telegraphed for some time - there’s still clumsiness amidst Shyamalan’s return to his comfort zone. But this is also a very watchable thriller, which never tries to be overly clever, and at the last second emerges as a truly unexpected quasi-sequel to Unbreakable. I look forward to Glass!