M. Night Shyamalan. If you're reading this review then chances are
you're a serious film goer familiar with his work, and probably have an opinion
about him one way or another. There's no middle ground with him, basically; you
either recognize his early auteur-driven work as evidence of his talent, or
consider the slog of blockbuster flops and barely-competent thrillers proof
he's really a hack. For whatever reason, Shyamalan's failures have become an
indelible part of how he's perceived, in a way most other directors don't have
to contend with. And perhaps that is why there has been so much attention on The Visit, a found footage
horror that has received generally good early buzz. Is it the film to finally
quiet his critics?
The Visit is, easily, Shyamalan's best film in years, showing the
tense, gut-wrenching emotional twists and technical skill that made his early
stuff so special. That he's managed to tap into that in a genre that has
encouraged laziness in filmmakers only makes the accomplishment more
impressive. Let's not go too far overboard, though; some of Shyamalan's
annoying habits are still in play, but this is a genuinely scary film that uses
some ingenious framing and bursts of humor to keep the audience on the edge of
their seats. 
The story is simple, and works best when
kept on a narrow focus. Teen siblings Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and Tyler (Ed
Oxenbould, last seen in that 'Alexander' movie with the overlong title)
are off to spend a week with the grandparents they've never met. Their mother
(Kathryn Hahn) ran away from home at a young age after a spat with her parents,
so this is an early act of reconciliation, in a way. It also gives her a chance
to go away on a beach cruise with a boyfriend suspiciously kept in the background.
In any other film we'd be eyeing him as the potential source of any future
shenanigans, but the weirdness actually takes place on Nana (Deanna Dunagan)
and Pop-Pop's (Peter McRobbie) isolated Pennsylvania farm. 
Shyamalan, always a terrific writer and
director of kid actors, quickly gives us reason to be invested in Becca and
Tyler's well-being. The two couldn't be more different; she's an over-serious
aspiring filmmaker with hopes of documenting the experience; he's a
rambunctious wannabe rapper with a foul mouth (but a clever way to conceal it).
Most of all they really want to make this work in hopes of helping their mom
get beyond her troubled past. Everything seems great at first, like Norman
Rockwell levels of all-American perfection. Nana's always baking; Pop-Pop is a
sturdy, powerful man who chops wood...what could go wrong? 
Well, everything. It isn't long before
strange things start happening. There's something rotten going on in Pop-Pop's
shed; and Nana starts going a little nuts after 9:30pm. Soon it doesn't matter
what time of the day it is. A game of hide-and-seek goes incredibly wrong, and
strangers on the street might want to watch out for Pop-Pop when he gets
agitated. Shyamalan teases a number of possible culprits, from the supernatural
to the more mundane, but ultimately this is a film that touches on a couple of
issues familiar in his work. One is the eventual betrayal of our bodies,
especially as we grow older. The other is the value of a real, open connection
between parents and their children. Shyamalan goes a little overboard in
conveying these points, just as he goes way overboard with some of Tyler's
humor (especially during the nauseating end credits), but at least this feels
like a film he genuinely believes in, which is why he shelled out $5M of his
own cash to make it. It's not a hack work-for-hire job like After Earth or an oversized blockbuster adaptation
like The Last Airbender.
He's having fun, and The
Visit is the kind of exciting
horror experience crowds will eat up, just like one of Nana's cookies.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
