The new horror movie Split directed by M. Night Shyamalan is set to release on Jan. 22 and is one of the most anticipated horror movies of this season. While this movie is likely to be one of the top-grossing in the box office in January, it is also likely to also be one of the most controversial. This movie reaffirms the stigma that people have against certain mental illnesses such as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)  and brings the wrong light upon the subject of these illness by centering it around a horror film.

This movie features a man named Kevin with DID who has 24 different identities, and the 24th is shown to be scary, almost monster-like, as illustrated on the cover. While most movies are overdramatized, this one overdoes it. People who have DID don’t have this many different identities and aren’t violent enough to kidnap young girls. Those with DID usually are more likely to be victims of crimes and are more likely to hurt themselves rather than someone else. The topic of DID also isn’t covered much in public, so by showing an example of it being so violent, this becomes the prototype for thinking about the disorder.

One of the things people credit the movie with is that it addresses the topic of the disorder. While it is bringing it into light, it doesn’t cover it appropriately. A mental disorder should not be the central idea of a horror movie. This only shows that movie directors are becoming so uncreative that they are finding anything to create a villain out of, no matter how insensitive. Even if this movie isn’t what it shows that it is in the trailers, it still has shown the stigma of DID. Mental disorders do need to be talked about more in public, but through actual stories of people, not overdramatized movies.