Before going into detail on director M. Night Shyamalan’s newest film “The Visit,” some context is necessary — Shyamalan’s films have been on the decline from his first hit “The Sixth Sense.” That film introduced a foreboding atmosphere and a jaw-dropping plot twist that enraptured audiences. Then came “Unbreakable,” also with a twist and generally well-received by critics and viewers alike. Then he made “Signs,” where the alien invaders are allergic to water and Mel Gibson angrily eats mashed potatoes while his children cry at the dinner table. And they just got worse and worse with each successive entry. Shyamalan went from filmmaking prodigy, with American Express commercials focusing on his imagination, to box-office poison, trying to distance himself as much as possible from the Will and Jaden Smith bomb “After Earth” a couple years ago.
With that in mind, my expectations for his found footage movie on scary old people chasing children around with handheld cameras were low. But to my surprise, “The Visit” shattered expectations on multiple levels and reminded me of how much fun a movie can be.
The film centers on two siblings: Becca, a pompous teenage aspiring filmmaker played by Olivia Dejonge, and Tyler, a goofy internet-obsessed preteen who raps on Youtube under the name “T-Diamond Styles,” played by Ed Oxenbould. The two want to give their divorced mother time to herself since their father left them and the kids decide to stay at their grandparents’ house for the week while the mother goes on a cruise. The mother also ran away from home when she was 19 and Becca hopes that, by creating a film about the visit, she can help reunite her mother with her grandparents. But weird things start happening when night falls, and all is not what it seems at grandmother’s house.
The gimmick of found footage has been done to death since movies like “The Blair Witch Project” and “Cloverfield” popularized the cost-effective method of filming. Recent films cheat the system by adding in outside noises that aren’t possible in the world of the film. They also just do the found footage style to save money even if it would make more sense to film it traditionally. Fortunately, given the premise of “The Visit,” the method makes perfect sense and it doesn’t break the illusion with eerie music or nonsensical jump scares. The only issue I had with the found footage element was that we, the audience, are watching Becca’s film, which means she put it all together and edited it. There is no way the creepy grandparents killed her if the film exists, so the tension of the scarier scenes deflated a little after thinking it over.
Despite what the commercials want you to think, “The Visit” is significantly more funny than it is scary. Oxenbould’s raps had me laughing out loud and a surprising amount of the grandparents’ behavior is played for dark humor rather than pure terror. The grandma will creepily run through the room with her hands behind her, with the moonlight only illuminating her in brief glimpses, only to have it turned into a joke the next scene by Tyler imitating her goofy pose. The mother, played by Kathryn Hahn, who is better known for comedic roles, nailed the ‘mom’ type of humor that is simultaneously eye-rolling for her kids as it is hilarious for the audience. The only truly scary parts came in the end, when everything goes to hell and the kids are running through the house for their lives. But even then, it’s PG-13, so it never got too gory or violent.
Amazingly, in addition to the genuinely funny parts, a serious underlying story on divorce and self-worth began to tug at my cold, cynical heart. This drama gives the audience reason to root for the characters getting out alive, which felt cathartic given that so many other horror movies are populated with vapid teenagers waiting to get their heads chopped off by an axe-wielding murderer.
The drama can be attributed to the impressive and layered performances of Dejonge and Oxenbould. The two feel like real siblings, who joke around but also care deep down, even if they would never tell each other. The grandparents, played by Deanna Dunagan and Peter McRobbie, also had wonderful performances, acting sickly sweet but creepy as hell as their story unravels.
Finally, it wouldn’t be a Shyamalan film without a twist ending. Without spoiling anything, the twist in “The Visit” left me literally on the edge of my seat till the credits rolled, and it is almost worth the price of admission just to experience it.
Shyamalan stated that he used the money he earned from “After Earth” to produce this movie in an attempt to regain artistic control. Given the raw entertainment value of “The Visit,” I think he regained control, and I hope more films of this creativity are in the near future from him.
_MOVE gives “The Visit” four out of five stars._
