It's no secret that M. Night Shyamalan became a bit of a punching bag after having such a run of remarkable films. He became the punchline reference for ridiculous twist endings. His attempts at big budget movies like The Last Airbender and After Earth were met with scorn. People were ready to write him off completely.

And then The Visit came out.

The faux documentary about two kids visiting their creepy grandparents was his first movie rated "Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes in the 13 years since Signs. It made nearly $100 million around the globe. Sure, it had a twist in it, but it was one that audiences more or less embraced this time around. People started to wonder if the mind behind The Sixth Sense had finally gotten his groove back. Now that we've seen his next movie, we can quite confidently declare Shyamalan is back in a big, bold way.

Split doesn't hit theaters until January 20, 2017, but it world premiered last night at Fantastic Fest and we are happy to report it is quintessential Shyamalan. James McAvoy - giving a truly incredible performance that makes the movie worth seeing all on its own - stars as Kevin, a man with Dissociative Identity Disorder who is leading as routine a life as he can until several of his multiple personalities start to believe that he has a hidden form called The Beast that is capable of superhuman things. These personalities force him to kidnap three girls who will be stored as sacred food for The Beast.

The bulk of the movie alternates between Kevin and his 23-competing personalities contrasted with Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy), the most timid of the three girls, and her own haunting backstory revealed in flashbacks as they try to escape his underground lair. We obviously won't spoil how everything comes together, we'll just say that it's ambitious, daring and totally, perfectly befitting of what unfolds throughout.

Basically, Split is everything you want from a Shyamalan movie and resolidifies him as someone who deserves to be a cherished, celebrated filmmaker. When he's on fire, he finds exciting new angles to approach material or genres you've already seen done to death. Whether it's a ghost story, an alien invasion story, or a superhero story, Shyamalan is deft at shifting your perspective, of weaving actual stories that resonate based on their ideas, not on their spectacle. That's a skill that's lost in a lot of mainstream movies these days, but it's classic Shyamalan.

Watching a good Shyamalan movie is like sitting around a campfire, listening to a great orator draw you in to a world that's bigger than what you're being told or shown. And Split is good, 'ole fashioned Shyamalan. It will greatly reward those who have still stuck with the filmmaker throughout his career and will hopefully introduce a new generation to his special brand of storytelling.

Split hits theaters on January 20, 2017.