The Visit
After the huge success of “The Sixth Sense”, M. Night Shyamalan has not had many other cinematic victories. However, with the release of his latest film, “The Visit”, M. Night shows that he’s back! This low-budget horror movie is also surprisingly and incredibly funny, leading the viewer to jump out of their seats and laugh in the same moment.
Single mother, played by the talented Kathryn Hahn, left home 15 years ago with an older man whom her parents disapproved of, leaving her estranged from them all these years. 5 years ago, the same man abandoned Hahn and their two children, 15 year old Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and her younger brother Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) for another woman. With some help from the internet, her parents have tracked her down and would like to get to know their grandchildren. Becca and Tyler set off on a week long trip to a remote Pennsylvania farm to meet their Nana (Deanna Dunagan) and Pop Pop (Peter McRobbie) for the first time, while giving their mother some “adult time” with her new boyfriend on a cruise.
Tyler and Becca are greeted by their Nana and PopPop with welcome signs and warm hugs. They are storybook grandparents with PopPop cutting logs while Nana wears her apron and bakes cookies all day. The village takes the approach of a found-footage film, as Becca, who is an aspiring film maker, decides to make a documentary about their visit and capture all of the details of her mother’s childhood home. Instructing her “hip hop” loving brother, Tyler (he dubs himself “T Diamond Stylus) on how to operate a second camera to help with her film. Tyler, and his rapping self, provide lots of comedy and laughs!
We soon realize that although these grandparents look perfect, something strange is going on. Despite being told to stay in their rooms after 9:30pm, Becca heads downstairs for some of Nana’s yummy cookies only to find Nana running through the house projectile vomiting everywhere, and it only gets weirder from there. Nana also roams the house nude and scratches the walls, while PopPop fills a woodshed with soiled adult diapers and repeatedly dresses in a tuxedo while saying he needs to “catch the train for a costume party”. The grandparents try to dismiss the beyond odd behavior due to “being old”.
Seeing as this is an M. Night Shyamalan film, you know a twist is coming, however when the truth is revealed, it truly is shocking and nothing I expected. “The Visit” is filled with tons of cheap thrills and lots of humor, which was also not expected. Overall, very entertaining and I’d see it again. 7/10 stars.
