Review by Bob Ignizio
For his latest film THE
VISIT, writer/director M. Night Shyamalan has made a horror comedy. On
purpose, this time, as opposed to the accidental hilarity of his 2008 killer
pollen flick THE HAPPENING. And
indeed, there were shrieks and laughter aplenty at the advance screening of the
film I attended, although the humor sometimes felt awkward and uncomfortable,
and the whole film felt a little.. off.. The closest thing I can compare it to
is Neil Labute’s infamous remake of THE
WICKER MAN.
THE VISIT is a
found footage/mockumentary style horror film ala THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, et al. What we see is through the video
camera lens of 15 year old Becca (Olivia De Jonge) who, along with her 13 year
old brother Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) has been sent off on a weeklong visit with
their mother’s estranged parents while mom (Kathryn Hahn) goes on a cruise with
her boyfriend. Mom won’t say what exactly happened on the day she left home at
the age of 19, but Becca is determined to find out in the course of making a
documentary on this chapter of her family’s history.
When the kids first meet their grandparents in the daylight,
they seem like genial enough old folks. It’s when the sun goes down and the
kids go to bed that strange things start to happen. Are the old folks
possessed? Just sick and/or maybe a little senile? Or is there some other dark
secret they’re hiding? Shyamalan’s trademark twist this time around is a
familiar one for any fan of seventies drive-in horror movies, but if I were to
get specific and name names I’d pretty much give it away. Suffice it to say
that a basement figures into the plot, and the kids are advised not to look in
it.
Considering the way some films push the limits of PG-13, it
feels a bit too strong a rating for THE
VISIT, a film that seems aimed primarily at a pre-teen audience. There are
only a few fleeting, non-gory glimpses of murder victims, and profanity has
been replaced with the names of female pop singers (it’s weird, but is
explained as a conscious choice by Tyler). I wouldn’t take my 4 year old to see
this movie, but I’d say most kids 8 and up looking for a fun scare would be
fine, and who better to laugh at jokes about dirty adult diapers?
Most of us have at least a subconscious fear of growing old,
and kids can sometimes feel uneasy around their elders, viewing them as some
kind of “other”. For the most part Shyamalan plays on those fears well here. In
doing so, however, he portrays the geriatric menaces in his film in an
exaggerated, monstrous way that I’m sure some viewers will find tasteless and
offensive, so consider yourself forewarned.
As much as parts of the film work, it has such an odd,
off-kilter feeling to it that it’s hard to pin down and assess on a qualitative
level. To his credit, Shyamalan really seems to go for the gusto here, making
no attempt to smooth out his odd vision into something more traditional. That
said, there are still more than a few times when I wasn’t sure if I was
supposed to be laughing or not. I think
the end result is still kind of bad, but it’s a heartfelt and entertaining bad
that hits about as much as it misses. And for better or worse, it’s such a
singular film experience it’s almost certain to stay lodged in the old memory
bank, at least until I become senile myself. 2 ½ out of 4 stars.
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