Back in 2002, Newsweek Magazine declared M. Night Shyamalan to be the next Steven Spielberg. The director had "The Sixth Sense" (1999) and "Unbreakable" (2000) under his belt and had just released "Signs" (2002), all of which still make up the best work in his filmography.
However, being in the present allows for a hearty chuckle at such a statement, given the fact that Shyamalan has done nothing but produce absolute garbage for the last decade. His most recent crimes include "The Last Airbender" (2010) and "After Earth" (2013), two films that would have immediately ended any other director's career. But somehow Shyamalan managed to stay in the business, utilizing what must be some sort of unholy endurance that rendered him invincible to the soul- crushing failures of his past, and so I found myself with a ticket for "The Visit", a found-footage horror flick that I was sure would make my stomach churn.
But, against all odds and possible predictions, my stomach went unharmed. In fact, I actually had a pretty good time. "The Visit" proved to be the best film from Shyamalan in years as it put the director's creativity in a position to be appreciated.
The film follows Becca (played by Olivia DeJonge) and Tyler (played by Ed Oxenbould), two siblings whose mother (played by Kathryn Hahn) has had a decade- long feud with her parents. The two children decide to visit their grandparents, whom they have never met, to catch up on the lost years and try to get to the bottom of the feud. But after spending a night in the house, Becca and Tyler realize that all is not well with their grandparents and that they might be in deeper than they had anticipated.
The first thing that "The Visit" does right is that it doesn't abuse the power of the found-footage medium. Some films, like the entire "Paranormal Activity" franchise, come up with any excuse they can to get a video camera into their protagonist's hands just for the sake of a few jump scares. "The Visit" takes a more intelligent approach.
Becca, an aspiring filmmaker, decides to make a documentary out of their visit in order to achieve some sort of closure for their mother. She films the daily lives of Nana (played by Deanna Dunagan) and Pop Pop (played by Peter McRobbie) and interviews the both of them on multiple occasions. So instead of just throwing ten cameras all over the interior of some suburban home, the film provides some intrinsic motivation for Becca and Tyler to constantly walk around with cameras.
This allows for another of the film's strengths to come through: its humor. Before seeing the film, the only laughter I could have predicted would be that stemming from the egregious lack of quality that coincides with nearly all of Shyamalan's films, but to my delight, "The Visit" was actually just hilarious.
The dynamic between Becca and Tyler is like that of many siblings, full of constant banter and bickering. Becca regularly spouts film jargon that Tyler promptly mocks, and Tyler has a knack for freestyle rap that Becca doesn't always appreciate. This chemistry between brother and sister helped lighten the mood of the whole film, a necessity considering the ridiculousness of the plot. Because the film didn't take itself incredibly seriously, I was able to relax and enjoy the nuances of Shyamalan's work.
But that's not to say that "The Visit" isn't frightening, because it is. Nana and Pop Pop come off as senile at first, but the playful forgetfulness that comes with age soon reveals itself to be something much darker. The first night in the house finds Becca going to the kitchen for a late night snack, but before she can get down the stairs, she's interrupted by the sight of her grandmother projectile vomiting onto the floor as she mindlessly wanders the house.
As you can imagine, the grandparents' bizarre behavior only escalates from there, and is the real reason "The Visit" remains interesting throughout its entirety. It combines the awkward obliviousness of senility with certain demonic implications that equates to some really well executed scenes. However, in the end, those demonic implications prove to be the film's biggest weakness.
As the story progresses, certain conversations and events begin to build an impression of what might be behind Nana and Pop Pop's peculiar behavior, bringing classics like "The Exorcist" (1973) to mind. However, the film never delivers on that front. It never fully explores what was behind the grandparent's madness, which is a shame because the most enjoyable part of the film is the anticipation of the great evil that is surely orchestrating it all.
That being said, "The Visit" is surely not Shyamalan's definitive return to quality filmmaking, but it is a good horror movie and is well above the standard he's set for himself over the last decade. Either "The Visit" is a fluke or Shyamalan's on the rise again. Only time will tell.
However, being in the present allows for a hearty chuckle at such a statement, given the fact that Shyamalan has done nothing but produce absolute garbage for the last decade. His most recent crimes include "The Last Airbender" (2010) and "After Earth" (2013), two films that would have immediately ended any other director's career. But somehow Shyamalan managed to stay in the business, utilizing what must be some sort of unholy endurance that rendered him invincible to the soul- crushing failures of his past, and so I found myself with a ticket for "The Visit", a found-footage horror flick that I was sure would make my stomach churn.
But, against all odds and possible predictions, my stomach went unharmed. In fact, I actually had a pretty good time. "The Visit" proved to be the best film from Shyamalan in years as it put the director's creativity in a position to be appreciated.
The film follows Becca (played by Olivia DeJonge) and Tyler (played by Ed Oxenbould), two siblings whose mother (played by Kathryn Hahn) has had a decade- long feud with her parents. The two children decide to visit their grandparents, whom they have never met, to catch up on the lost years and try to get to the bottom of the feud. But after spending a night in the house, Becca and Tyler realize that all is not well with their grandparents and that they might be in deeper than they had anticipated.
The first thing that "The Visit" does right is that it doesn't abuse the power of the found-footage medium. Some films, like the entire "Paranormal Activity" franchise, come up with any excuse they can to get a video camera into their protagonist's hands just for the sake of a few jump scares. "The Visit" takes a more intelligent approach.
Becca, an aspiring filmmaker, decides to make a documentary out of their visit in order to achieve some sort of closure for their mother. She films the daily lives of Nana (played by Deanna Dunagan) and Pop Pop (played by Peter McRobbie) and interviews the both of them on multiple occasions. So instead of just throwing ten cameras all over the interior of some suburban home, the film provides some intrinsic motivation for Becca and Tyler to constantly walk around with cameras.
This allows for another of the film's strengths to come through: its humor. Before seeing the film, the only laughter I could have predicted would be that stemming from the egregious lack of quality that coincides with nearly all of Shyamalan's films, but to my delight, "The Visit" was actually just hilarious.
The dynamic between Becca and Tyler is like that of many siblings, full of constant banter and bickering. Becca regularly spouts film jargon that Tyler promptly mocks, and Tyler has a knack for freestyle rap that Becca doesn't always appreciate. This chemistry between brother and sister helped lighten the mood of the whole film, a necessity considering the ridiculousness of the plot. Because the film didn't take itself incredibly seriously, I was able to relax and enjoy the nuances of Shyamalan's work.
But that's not to say that "The Visit" isn't frightening, because it is. Nana and Pop Pop come off as senile at first, but the playful forgetfulness that comes with age soon reveals itself to be something much darker. The first night in the house finds Becca going to the kitchen for a late night snack, but before she can get down the stairs, she's interrupted by the sight of her grandmother projectile vomiting onto the floor as she mindlessly wanders the house.
As you can imagine, the grandparents' bizarre behavior only escalates from there, and is the real reason "The Visit" remains interesting throughout its entirety. It combines the awkward obliviousness of senility with certain demonic implications that equates to some really well executed scenes. However, in the end, those demonic implications prove to be the film's biggest weakness.
As the story progresses, certain conversations and events begin to build an impression of what might be behind Nana and Pop Pop's peculiar behavior, bringing classics like "The Exorcist" (1973) to mind. However, the film never delivers on that front. It never fully explores what was behind the grandparent's madness, which is a shame because the most enjoyable part of the film is the anticipation of the great evil that is surely orchestrating it all.
That being said, "The Visit" is surely not Shyamalan's definitive return to quality filmmaking, but it is a good horror movie and is well above the standard he's set for himself over the last decade. Either "The Visit" is a fluke or Shyamalan's on the rise again. Only time will tell.