Movie Review: The Visit

Don't look now, but longtime Hollywood punchline M. Night Shyamalan just made a legitimately respectable film. After nearly a decade and a half of putting out nothing but uninspired and often unintentionally hilarious horror and fantasy garbage, the notorious director has rediscovered his identity as an artist with the low-budget horror/thriller The Visit.

While The Visit ultimately works, its not without its rough patches. The film's simple premise centering around two teenagers (Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould, who frequently tow the line between competent and obnoxious) making a documentary about meeting their estranged grandparents (Peter McRobbie and DeAnna Dunnagan) for the first time and becoming more and more disturbed by their unusual behavior as the visit progress is set up within the first 15 minutes. After that setup, the film feels like its going nowhere for nearly an hour. Shyamalan gives the audience a string of scenes with the grandparents acting insane and the kids becoming gradually more concerned about their safety without really advancing the narrative. Shymalan tries to offset this slow, suspense-free buildup with a healthy dose of dark comedy and family melodrama, but fails miserable as the gags aren't very funny and the attempts genuine human drama are insanely corny and forced. 

Ironically, it's the trademark Shyamalan twist that savages the film from the depths of mediocrity. Prior to the brilliantly-executed twist in the last 20 minutes, the film is seemingly a bunch of inconsequential scenes with no real narrative focus. Then all of a sudden, the twist hits and Shymalan's entire vision comes into focus. The twist gives the final act of the film some real intensity and reminds audiences of how gifted and clever of a filmmaker Shyamalan can be when he's on his game. While The Visit is far from perfect and comes nowehre touching the quality of Shymalan's seminal work The Sixth Sense, it's nice to see some signs of life from the once-promising director after watching him tread water for so long.
3/5 Stars