Review of The Visit (2015) by Bradysmith — 08 Jan 2016

The visit is far from great, but decency has been even further from M. Night Shyamalan for years. Here he's found decency but it takes a while to get going. The acting, dialogue, and overall plot are better than anything he's done since The Village, but the kids got on my nerves for a fair amount of time and a more standard filming technique would have worked better in this situation than the mocumentary approach which was used.

Also, a lot of the scenes intended to be scary were just stupid. But there is a fair amount of actual self depreciating jokes here, the climax of the film is truly unsettling, and I honestly did not see the twist coming.

There are definitely things to dislike here, but there is also a fair amount to like, which is a huge step back in the right direction for the once revered Shyamalan. It's not on the same level as The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, or even the Village, but he's definitely gone up from his last few movies, and I hope he keeps going that way.