Movie Review: The Visit
M. Night Shyamalan is responsible for some true modern masterpieces, including After Earth, The Happening, Lady in the Water, the Village, and the list goes on. Okay, in all seriousness he has made one decent movie (The Sixth Sense) and has been riding that success for close to two decades. So I was a bit surprised, to say the least, when I actually enjoyed this movie. It’s far from perfect, but doesn’t really hold up when you start thinking about it later, but in the moment it was entertaining, which is more than I can say for most of his films.
Shyamalan is famous for his classic ‘twists’, and The Visit is no exception. This time it isn’t so much of a twist as an unexpected answer to all the questions surrounding the story’s strange, shady characters. It worked for me and I didn’t see it coming (but had I been trying to figure it out I probably would have). The movie centers around two children who are going to spend a week with their grandparents for the first time. They’ve never met or even seen a photo as their mother has been estranged from them for the kids entire lives and doesn’t want anything to do with them. When the kids arrive something seems off with the grandparents almost immediately. But as time passes things only get stranger.
What makes the film work so well is the likability of the two children, Becca and Tyler. Also their performances help glue the plot together as you might find yourself wondering why they don’t just run off. They are funny and as an audience member you don’t want to see them harmed. The grandparents are also perfectly creepy for this type of film.
I was not expecting to like this movie, but I did.
Grade: B