Review of The Visit (2015) by Jason S — 06 May 2017

You can forgive Shyamalan for jumping on the bandwagon a little too late with the found-footage approach; it's the only thing about The Visit that certainly feels hokey long after that well has dried up. He gets away with it because the simplicity of his set up allows him to gain maximum mileage out of the premise he lays out; everyone thinks their grandparents are creepy.

The Visit is nothing short of revelatory for a director whose recent film credits has pretty much been a string of box-office flops and critical maulings. It's a shame that stigma will see many skip The Visit, but it's an extremely strong entry from the often talented yet much-maligned director. His plot stacks up an interesting combination of uneasy laughs at seemingly innocuous situations, mixed with truly unnerving scenarios still seem innocent enough - until they truly are not!

The result is top shelf stuff from a director who isn't short of a good idea, but can't always execute it. Shyamalan cleverly destabilises his own chestnuts to the films benefit, making The Visit definitely worth seeing if you are a fan of his less challenging films.