The Visit- Movie Review

Rating: B- 

M. Night Shyamalan's new film The Visit hit theaters this weekend. I went into this not knowing what to really expect. Shyamalan hasn't made a good film, in my opinion, since I was five years old. His career has really taken a downward spiral and his films have been consistently bad. Going into The Visit, I expected utter garbage. Yet, I left happily surprised. 

The Visit isn't bad at all. Actually, it's one of the better horror style films of the year. For the first time in a long time, the concept of a found footage type film totally worked. Everything in this film makes sense in terms with its environment. In most found footage/real-time horror films, music is somehow randomly put into the final cut. In The Visit, the only music we hear is when a character is listening to a song. Shyamalan didn't depend on loud booms of sound to scare the audience and that was very appreciated. He didn't treat us like idiots. Although there was a jump scare here and there, this film was naturally creepy. The whole situation just always felt uneasy and the suspense was brilliantly placed. I wouldn't call The Visit scary. Instead, I'd call it unnerving.

I loved the cast in this movie. Besides Kathryn Hahn, the cast was virtually all no-name actors. And they all killed it! Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould were terrific. They weren't typical, campy child actors (see my Sinister 2 review to get what I mean). They brought a lot to the movie. DeJonge delivered a very mature and heartfelt performance. Oxenbould was absolutely hilarious and also brought some emotional aspects as well. They both did terrific. Deanna Dunagan and Peter McRobbie were insanely creepy. I really enjoyed seeing the development of the mystery behind their characters unfold as the movie went on. All in all, the cast was just great.

Now, this wasn't the perfect film. If you relied on trailers, you would've thought The Visit was another campy horror flick. Yet, it really wasn't that. I went in expecting a scary movie, yet I got almost an adventure film instead. Although super creepy at times, The Visit is more a telling of a creepy adventure two children get into when they visit their grandparents for a week. Now, that being said, looking back I certainly enjoyed this film. I just felt it was advertised as something it was not. Also, plot holes did exist. I don't want to spoil anything, but some things just don't make total sense. Another issue I had was with Oxenbould's character. Yes, he was downright hilarious. But I feel the movie relied on him to ease the mood way too much. The tension never really lasted that long because he was constantly making jokes. 

Besides those complaints, go see The Visit this weekend. It's money well spent and you're guaranteeing yourself a fun time. You'll laugh, you'll jump, and you'll also experience a somewhat charming film.