The Visit (2015) Reviews

• There's still originality in Hollywood horror movies !!!? I'm scared !

  Alcaminhante2015-10-03

  This was one of the rarest horror movies that managed to keep me totally scared and mostly uncomfortable from start to finish in years and years. I don't get this new trend of hating everything Shiamalan does. This new movie is one of the best horror concepts I've come across in a very long time and uses simplicity to the best effect. I don't get what people these days expect an horror movie to be. If you don't think this a good example of a simple concept that works like a dream...or a nightmare, I don't get what passes for horror in Hollywood no more. The idea for this movie is fantastic, and it's very well executed. I really don't get why people complain that nothing happens in this story. It's that type of simplicity that keeps the scary atmosphere throughout the entire movie. This is not a cgi crap action so called horror thing for teens, this is a classic old school horror, it's filled with a creepy atmosphere and uses perfectly all the ideas for each character to keep the viewer feeling uncomfortable all the time. There's a couple of good scares ,but most of the horror really happens inside our minds. This is the best thing in this movie, it creates such an atmosphere of tension with simple things that when something really dramatic happens on screen we get ten times more startled and there's no need for any cgi on this movie at all to scare teenagers and bore the rest of us to death with the usual clichés. Not on this one. This is clearly an horror movie for adults, its not edited at two hundred frames per second and it has a classic structure that simply is not targeted at young audiences. This is an horror movie for horror fans, it's not a popcorn movie for general audiences so ignore the bad ratings on IMDb, because if you remember the good classic stuff from the 70s like The Omen, The Changeling, or all those movies built on atmosphere instead of action, this movie is for you. Absolutely brilliant. In my view the only thing that does not work is the final sequence after the twist is revealed, simply because the movie stops being a a story that creeps us out and becomes the usual fight for your life action bit we've seen hundreds of times. But until that happens this story is scary. Not because of what it shows but because of what keeps making us expect it's going to happen next. Shyamalan is really back and this screenplay is the best thing he's ever written since the sixth sense and unbreakable. Also the casting is simply perfect with brilliant performances from everyone. True horror is back folks. Ignore the bad hype from the multiplex popcorn crowd. This is a real gem that deserves to be among the very best horror titles of recent years and it will creep you out if you like your suspense atmospheric.

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• Flawed but entertaining

  jennifer6262016-01-23

  Shyamalan has suffered like few other directors as a result of his later films not measuring up to the exacting standards set by The Sixth Sense and Signs. Part of this is self-inflicted, because he has refused to veer from the"M. Night Shyamalan" formula: modern fairy tale crafted to take an unexpected turn approximately two-thirds into the fun. When the twist fails to impress or the fairy tale is dull, the movie disappoints audiences on on two levels. Not only is the movie judged mediocre, but it is criticized for failing to deliver on the promise made by Shyamalan's earlier efforts. The fairy tale and twist delivered by The Visit do not disappoint. Hansel and Gretel effectively employ today's media and technology for narration and exposition, leading the viewer down an increasingly foreboding path. The fear and anxiety caused by Nana and Pop-Pop's odd behavior appeal to our politically incorrect subconscious: we shy away and are even repulsed by displays of dementia and senility, no matter how clinically explicable we understand those displays to be. I was pleasantly surprised that the predicted twist was not predictable, and I felt a sincere surge of a-ha! at its revelation. The Visit falls short with respect to the traditional elements of film-making. The children, particularly the brother, are portrayed as cloying, non-credible 1980s sitcom characters with cheesy lines. Attempts at humor come off like a toast at a Dirty Dancing era summer camp in the Catskills. The siblings show no sign of being actual teenagers from the 21st century until approximately 45 minutes into the film, when they interview each other for their "documentary" and reveal certain vulnerabilities. The forced nature of this scene serves to highlight the otherwise inauthentic personalities assigned to them by the director and script. The mother's character is painted with the same superficial gloss, a problem magnified by her limited time on screen. These weaknesses prevented me from empathizing with the family members and reminded me throughout that I was indeed watching a movie. Perhaps Shyamalan was so focused on invoking his brand upon The Visit that he was distracted from maintaining its essential quality. Like many other viewers, I still look forward to the film where he regains that balance.

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• Wait am I in the Right Theater?

  homdeb10582015-09-17

  The thing I found out (to my dismay) that I did not know before going to the theater was that a lot of this movie was shot in the long over-used and abused "home movie/shaky cam" format. If I had come in the theater in the middle of the movie, I might have assumed I had accidentally wandered into the 7th, or whatever, sequel to Paranormal Activity. And to add insult to injury M Night is about 8 years late to the party for that trick. Or was it suppose to be some type of irony or mocking of the standard horror movie fare? Perhaps this once creative director has finally succumbed to audience expectations --if all you want is cookie cutter, unimaginative, thematically barren, shaky cam, scary movies then here you go...... Another let down for me was that in his earlier movies there were always a number of positive sub-themes running through the movies that I found as interesting, if not more so, than the obvious scary movie theme. I failed to find any such redeeming parallel plot lines in The Visit. Again maybe he is just simplifying his movies to match his audience's wishes. On the upside, I did find this movie to be something of an improvement over his most recent efforts. There were a few good chuckles. There were a couple of OK jump scenes. There was some tension here and there, but overall still a disappoint for me. Of course, I eventually liked The Village and Signs a lot better after I had watched them several times on DVD. Maybe there is a jewel in the rough hiding here, just waiting to be found. Rating a 5.5 of 10 on first impression though.

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• Better than it had any right to be!

  saarvardi2015-09-07

  Even though I've been severely burned by M. Night Shyamalan's commercial misfires (or rather miscarriages) like Lady in the Lake (ugh!), Airbender (what the hell was he thinking?) and After Earth, I decided to give him one more shot in the shape of The Visit. What worked in his favor was his superb work on the small screen in the form of the 2015 mini-series Wayward Pines - which made me believe that deep down inside Shyamlan's heart still resides a true artist, and not some lazy hack who tackles big-budget flops just to get paychecks from the studio. His recent talk in interviews about gaining back artistic control of his products was another positive step in Shyamalan's long path to cinematic forgiveness. And so I entered The Visit, a somewhat short and intimate tale of two precocious teenagers, a brother (13) and sister (15), who travel cross country to meet and spend a week with their estranged grandparents, whom they have not seen or met since birth due to a big family feud their divorced mother (Kathryn Hahn, the most recognizable face in the cast) refuses to talk about. The sister, Becca (the promising Olivia DeJonge) also happens to be an aspiring filmmaker, out to make a documentary about the big reconciliation, which ever so conveniently sets the movie up in the popular found footage sub-horror genre - but also opens a wide crack for endless jokes and self-aware nods towards the unsuspecting audience. Anyway, as you could probably tell by the previews, something isn't quite right with Poppa and Nanna, and even though at first they seem like reasonably nice elder folks, their strict rules (do not get out of the room after 21:30, do not go down to the basement) and strange manners (you'll see what I'm talking about) soon enough make it clear to both Becca and Tyler (the smaller brother portrayed by the superb Ed Oxenbould, who at 14 shows endless promise) that they better get the hell out of there - as fast as they could. Besides the trademark Shyamalan twist, which actually works here and seems reasonable in hindsight (unlike, say, The Village), the extremely self-aware script and the very natural and authentic brother-sister relationship between both co-leads, lends further credence to Shyamlan's pet project. You can see that he cared for the characters, and you can also easily remember that this is a director who made a reputation for himself because he managed to facilitate such an emotional and iconic performance out of then-11-year-old Haley Joel Osment, so obviously he's good with kids. I don't know if young Ed Oxenbould is the next Osment, but he sure does deliver the goods through and through - and gives one of the best children/teen performances I've watched in a while.

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• M. Night is Back, Baby!

  moviewizguy2015-09-02

  It's hard to talk about any M. Night films these days without discussing his career trajectory, how he started off incredibly strong with a triple knockout of The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs, only to have his potential squandered, or at least questioned, with films like The Happening, The Last Airbender, and After Earth. As a fan of Shyamalan myself, even I had to admit that he may have lost his luster. With that being said, I'm overjoyed and elated to say that The Visit is Shyamalan's best film since The Village over 10 years ago (my personal favorite). And it's not so bad it's good. The Visit is a legitimately good film, with great performances, terrific setups and even better payoffs, and an overall simple but satisfying story, which is all Shyamalan needs right now. It's difficult to say much about the story without revealing too much, because The Visit is essentially the type of film where it's better the less you know going in. It's not to say the film is filled with plot twists left and right, but how cleverly it subverts expectations, especially based on the film's misleading marketing campaign. Let this be known: The Visit is a horror AND comedy. It's downright hilarious (intentionally so) during a majority of the film but also equally scary and creepy, which is what M. Night is known for. I was laughing hysterically and screaming, sometimes at the same time! The success of the film is how effectively it jumps in between the two genres and frequently on the dime. The third act showcases this in the best possible way and in full Shyamalan fashion. Though there are plenty of laughs and screams to be had, The Visit is also filled with surprising moments of drama. There are, at the very least, three genuinely beautiful scenes. One of those involves a zoom in of a certain character, and it's utterly heartbreaking. Credit must be given to Shyamalan who manages to get great performances from his actors, a welcome change after the stilted and wooden performances in his last few films. Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould play the leads, and they're completely likable in their roles. Oxenbould, in particular, steals every scene he's in, providing many of the film's biggest laughs. Seriously, the jokes in here are funnier than most comedies released these days. Deanna Dunagan and Peter McRobbie are also rightfully creepy as the kids' offbeat grandparents. Last but not least, Kathryn Hahn leaves a great impression, despite the limited screen time she has. She's truly wonderful here. Overall, The Visit is ridiculously entertaining and a total crowd pleaser. It's the film we were all hoping for Shyamalan to make to get him out of the slump. No, it's not as great as his first four films, but it's a step towards the right direction. Recently, it's been revealed that he'll reunite with producer Jason Blum and Joaquin Phoenix for a new project. If it's another low budget feature like The Visit, which it most likely will be, we might be witnessing an era of Shyamalascance. After all, going back to basics is his greatest asset right now. Who says horror/comedy can't work? UPDATE: The film is even better the second time around, and I noticed a lot of details I missed during the first viewing. There's even clever meta humor sprinkled throughout that might not be apparent at first. Additionally, I'd like to put a spotlight on Deanna Dunagan, who I didn't give enough credit to beforehand. She was fantastic. How great and fulfilling it is for an actress her age to have a role that is complicated and complex as is the character of Nana, to be sweet and motherly in one scene only to switch (convincingly) to creepy and insane the next. In one especially dramatic scene, you will even ache for her. Only if you stop to think will you notice the many layers Dunagan has to play with, and for that reason, she should be praised.

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