Review of The Visit (2015) by Filmphonic — 20 Sep 2015

The career trajectory of writer/director M. Night Shyamalan has been a major topic of discussion in the years since the promise of ‘The Sixth Sense’ and ‘Unbreakable’ and his novel methods of scaring and mystifying audiences have given way to increasingly disappointing projects. With ‘The Visit’, Shyamalan seeks to regain some glory by going back to the basics of frightening an audience while using popular modern techniques, with very limited success.

It’s disappointing that the temptation of using the inexplicably popular horror style of “found footage” (or pseudo documentary) was too much to resist for someone as creative as Shyamalan, not only is it lazy and unoriginal but justifying it within the narrative by having the young girl making a “documentary” about her grandparents is annoyingly convenient and makes way for a slew of tedious in-jokes and filmmaking references.

This however is nowhere near as annoying at the cringeworthy attempts at comedy and having to watch a 10 year old rapping about his “game” with the ladies, indeed the tone of ‘The Visit’ is more of a mystery than the actual storyline, a weird hybrid attempt at a comedy/horror/thriller/mystery that doesn’t work on almost any level.

Perhaps the most disappointing thing about the film is its distinct lack of tension and jeopardy, despite the use of all too familiar sudden visual and audial jump-scare techniques, ‘The Visit’ just ain’t that scary, and without much mystery or a sense of risk-taking it makes us hark back to the days when Shyamalan overreached, even when it meant mixed results.

The only saving graces for ‘The Visit’ are the two ultra creepy performances by the grandparents, particularly Deanna Dunagan as Nana… and the customary M. Night Shyamalan final twist that changes the perspective of what comes before without quite rescuing it.

The Bottom Line..

Despite some genuinely creepy moments and the customary M. Night Shyamalan final twist, ‘The Visit’ is disappointingly derivative and tedious while never being scary enough, a blow to the resurrection of its once lauded writer/director.