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The Visit
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Starring: Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould
These days, the name M Night Shyamalan is enough to scare people away from the cinema, but the once-beloved Sixth Sense director might just be making a turnaround with his latest movie.
The Visit sees two children dropped off at their grandparents’ house for a week-long visit. Although it starts off with hugs and cookies in the kitchen, things soon take a turn for the creepy when we find out that grandma is, well, not all there.
We’ve seen movies that explore arachnophobia, nyctophobia and claustrophobia, but here Shyamalan explores gerontophobia, the fear of old people. And even if, like me, you don’t fear the elderly, you still might fear getting old yourself. The idea that old people are “creepy”, or that you may become creepy yourself, is turned into perfect horror-movie material.
And ageist as it is, The Visit tells us those fears are justified. Not only are old people scary, but they might just be dangerous.
Though the choice to use a found-footage format (probably spurred on by Paranormal Activity producer Jason Blum, who also worked on the movie) is quite dated, The Visit works because it goes back to what Shyamalan does best: tell a good story. He has long been obsessed with storytelling, even making the act of storytelling the premise of the (flopped) Lady in the Water. Here his narrative works well enough to get viewers truly invested in the characters.
The Visit has two excellent young leads – Rebecca (Olivia DeJonge) and Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) – who have enough charm and depth to carry the plot along comfortably.
Since The Sixth Sense’s Haley Joel Osment, Shyamalan seems to be good at finding kids who can act. And then there is the film’s generous use of humour. Though some critics say it sits uncomfortably between comedy and horror, The Visit manages to use light moments to create an effective way of contrasting between the times we’re laughing with Rebecca and Tyler, and the times we’re scared out of our minds for them.
Go see this movie, but remember, you might never look at Nana and Pop Pop in the same way again.
