The Visit

Starring: Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould, Deanna Dunagan, Peter McRobbie, Kathryn Hahn
Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Horror, Thriller
2015

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Two siblings visit their grandparents for the first time and become increasingly frightened by their strange behavior.

Review:

Tim: While I've been as disappointed as anyone in M. Night Shyamalan in recent years, I had hopes that this film would change my mind about him. I'd heard generally good things about it, and while it wasn't met with as much publicity and fanfare as his earlier career work, it might have represented a return to form. I suppose this could be called a step in the right direction, but I didn't like The Visit as much as I'd hoped. It is a decent film, but not much more than that.

I suppose I like the basic premise of the film. Most people have warm thoughts when they think about their grandparents. It's a great twist to take something good and make it frightening and dangerous. It kind of reminded me of what Alfred Hitchcock did with The Birds, although that movie is significantly better than this one. It was a noble endeavor, though.

I will say that Shyamalan does create a fairly creepy film. While too many sequences become a bit over-the-top, there are some genuinely creepy, unsettling moments in the film. The bizarre hide-and-seek game under the house is a great example of something innocent that took on this unexpected malevolence and creepiness. The revelation in the shed and the nighttime wanderings all gave this film some uncomfortable, creepy atmosphere. I can't claim that this movie was especially scary. There's not many frights or true scares, it's a horror film more of the unsettling variety. That's not good or bad, just a characteristic of the film.

The cast was decent. It felt like the child actors were trying a bit too hard. I never believed them as these characters. They were missing a bit of the authentic nature that was needed. They felt like actors trying really hard to portray these kids. You have to admire their enthusiasm, but I didn't love either of their performances. They certainly weren't a major detriment, but for as much fun as they were to watch, it also hurt the realism of the movie. The grandparents were good, they were sufficiently creepy. I liked seeing Kathryn Hahn- it helped having at least one recognizable face in the cast.

I didn't love the "found footage" aspect of the film. I suppose it kind of made sense in the context of the film, but there were moments where it just completely failed. Real people in these situations would never film everything. They would be focused on staying alive or dealing with the insanity in front of them, not pointing a camera at what was happening. If they tried to film truly frightening things, the quality of the film would be crap and the action wouldn't be captured as well as it was here. It's a major limitation of this kind of film, and like many, many others, this one suffers from it.

It wouldn't be a true Shyamalan film without at least some twist. The twist here is pretty obvious (I saw it coming far in advance and I rarely do that). It didn't seem like Shyamalan's heart was truly in it- he was labeled as the "twist" guy after The Sixth Sense, so this felt like less of an attempt to live up to that and more of just a natural part of the film. I didn't get too worked up about it, I just kind of shrugged as I figured that was where it was going.

The Visit is a decent movie, I want to be clear about that. Shyamalan has certainly made worse movies (The Happening and The Last Airbender for example). But, this isn't a return to form for the director. It's yet another decent but somewhat disappointing film. He may spend the rest of his career churning out these okay films and you can certainly make a life of that. However, this film is a far cry from the incredible movies of his early career. At least for once I don't leave a film of his with anger or intense frustration. I suppose that's a small step in the right direction.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend:
The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs