I've always had a soft spot for M. Night Shyamalan, even despite the fact that he has made a total of two truly successful films — "The Sixth Sense" (1999) and "Unbreakable" (2000) — over the course of his over-20-year career. The rest of his work has ranged from mildly disappointing to somewhat enraging — "The Last Airbender," anyone?

The 46-year-old director continues to polish his craft, stating at a talk session in Tokyo recently, "I love what I do." Confident, bright-eyed and exuberant, Shyamalan comes off as a boy who just refuses to give up — especially on himself.

This time, his confidence is justified. "Split" isn't a complete return to form, but it reminded me of what a Shyamalan film used to promise: heart-racing unpredictability and a story that winds into a towering structure of queasy horror. "Split" does suffer from moments of credibility meltdown, most notably in the way the story blithely ignores stuff like GPS systems, surveillance cameras and SNS — all of which would upset the entire premise of the story. Aside from that, Shyalaman is in total control of the material.