It's hard to think of a Hollywood director with a progressive nosedive in the quality of their films more infamous than M. Night Shyamalan. Once praised early in his career for great work like The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, the rest of his career has been noticeably worse, with mixed bags like Signs and The Village to undeniable flops like The Last Airbender and The Happening. As a result of all this, it was easy for me to quickly dismiss his newest film, The Visit, as another certified dud.
For once, I'm happy I was wrong. The Visit isn't going to take the world by storm, but it is still a well done thriller, with good acting, a good sense of rising tension, and genuinely creepy moments. Regardless of anyone's opinion regarding Shyamalan's spotty track record, this film remains worth a look.
The setup sees a single mother (Kathryn Hahn) sending both her daughter Rebecca (Olivia DeJonge) and son Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) to her parent's quiet hometown for a week, as the kids have never met the grandparents due to mysterious past events causing the mother to become estranged from them. Things initially seem nice with Nana (Deanna Dunagan) and Pop Pop (Peter McRobbie), but their rule of being in bed by 9:30 seems suspicious. When the kids decide to sneak out of their bedroom, they witness some rather disturbing scenes from their grandmother, as well as eventually seeing a nasty side of their grandfather. From there, the two try to figure out the cause of their grandparent's increasingly erratic behavior, and if they're truly safe staying with them.
It's worth mentioning up front that, at its core, The Visit is actually a found footage film in the vein of The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity, as Rebecca is an aspiring filmmaker attempting to shoot a documentary revolving around the visit. Thankfully, it's shot far better than most of its predecessors. Moviegoers won't need to worry about blurry shots or motion sickness this time around. Hopefully other filmmakers who take a stab at this subgenre in the future will learn from this.
Acting is good all around. The two kids don't ever come off as forced or unnatural, outside of some silly recurring gags like Tyler wanting to be a rapper and Rebecca being somewhat pretentious when filming certain scenes. Kudos also to Dunagan and McRobbie for successfully being able to switch between sweet and mild-mannered and disturbingly unhinged within a single scene.
The pacing is generally quite good, with a nice slow buildup of increasingly disturbing acts by the grandparents. The climax includes one of Shyamalan's trademarks, that being a big twist, but it's one that works very well, and doesn't feel like it betrays anything that came before it. I'd argue that it actually enhances the effectiveness of the last act, as the explanation that it provides creates a true sense of danger.
It's worth noting that I heard a lot about the film being just as much a comedy as a thriller going in, but I have to disagree with that. There are definitely some good jokes sprinkled throughout the earlier parts of the film, but by the last act, things are dead serious. Thankfully, it's done in a way that prevents any feeling of mood whiplash, so no portion of the film feels out of place.
The Visit isn't going to sweep any award ceremonies or be lauded by anyone as a classic, but it's a lot of fun, and a return to quality that Shyamalan seemed destined to never achieve. It's certainly possible that his next film will go back to that downward spiral of the past, but hopefully he'll look at what people liked about this and build on those elements in the future. No matter what its director ends up doing next, though, The Visit is a successfully entertaining bit of horror.
Rating: A high 7 out of 10
Originally written September 23, 2015
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