Review of The Visit (2015) by Sidd_Movie_Buff — 26 Oct 2015

The Visit is written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It stars Ed Oxenbould, Olivia DeJonge, Deanna Dunagan, Peter McRobbie, and Kathryn Hahn.

The Visit revolves around two siblings, Becca(Olivia DeJonge) and Tyler(Ed Oxenbould), on their trip to met their estranged grandparents who they never previously had met. As they reach they are given a rather straight forward rule by their grandmother(Deanna Dungan), Don't stay up later than 9:30. Since the kids do, all hell breaks loose as they view some of the strangest things humans can ever do from their elderly grandparents.

Shyamalan IS a great writer/director. He crafted a highly suspenseful and psychological thriller in the Sixth Sense. A emotional thrill ride for Unbreakable(My favorite of his). And, finally a pitch perfect atmosphere for Signs. This dude knows how to make movies. Though he's had more misses than hits, but he is persistent. I got to say his persistence payed off, big time.

This movie was great! I was entertained the entire time. Shyamalan placed a close to flawless script in motion with taut, suspenseful thrills that grabs hold and never really lets go. That was marketed in the trailer. What wasn't marketed was the sheer hilarity of the script. I had a feeling that this would be a spoof on horror movies and I was right. The black comedy in this movie is untouchable and is thoroughly enthralling. Along with the thrills and comedy comes with a lot of thick emotional heft which was lacking in his past few entries. Finally the script offered realistic dialogue with little to no use of modern day jump scares with a twist so powerful it'll leave you breathless.

On to the performances. The comedy in this movie is entirely credited to Ed Oxenbould. His instant out burst of rap are contagious. Not to mention his grade A sarcasm and charm should definitely land his a Golden Globe nod if not an Oscar. He was Mother Julia Roberts Good. He was the best part of this movie. A close second is Dianna Dungan. She was creepy, menacing, sympathetic and sweet all rolled into one beautiful performance. Although I didn't find documentarian Olivia Dejonge as entertaining as Dungan and Oxenbould, she added a certain depth to the movie as she and Oxenbould get over their personal phobias.

As for negatives I had one minor one that snowballed into a big one. It's the over exaggeration of insanity of the grandparents' part. It was tolerable at first but then became tedious to watch nearing the end as they started to resemble real horror icons. Alas it slayed a close to perfect movie.

The Visit is an extremely enjoyable entry into Shyamalan's filmography that ranks up to Signs and close to The Sixth Sense. I highly recommend a watch if one is looking for a comedy and a thriller but can only buy one ticket. The Visit gets an 8/10 or an A-.