M. Night Shyamalan is notorious for shocking twists, and “The Visit” is no exception. The storyline revolves around two siblings sent to visit their grandparents for the first time at their farm. Sounds innocent enough, right? That’s where Shyamalan’s skills come into play.
With previous works like “The Village” and “Devil,” Shyamalan’s reputation precedes him. Although the creepy content might be similar to other works, the style of “The Visit” is different from his past films.
“The Visit” is categorized as a comedic horror film and utilizes the found footage platform to tell the main story. As a director, this is Shyamalan’s first venture into the sub-genre, but he manages to pull it off well. Unlike Hollywood’s latest found footage productions, his cinematography is just plain beautiful — even with a shaky camera and blurry webcams.
Protagonist Rebecca and her younger brother Tyler decide to film a documentary when they find out that they’re staying with their mom’s parents for a week’s vacation. After a grueling divorce, their mother decided it was finally time to reconcile with her estranged family members, which automatically gives the film a somewhat odd vibe. Contrasted with the randomly placed jokes, this movie is all over the place and extremely entertaining to say the least.
Viewers follow the two kids as they slowly unravel the secrets of their hidden family, and the results are both terrifying and hilarious. More than anything, this film is a huge redemption for M. Night Shyamalan.
He was once regarded as the king of horror, but his recent endeavors have been less than satisfactory. Directing “The Sixth Sense” began his reign, and “The Visit” is finally picking the torch back up.
He has once again accomplished what many other filmmakers so easily fail to do: he has made the viewing experience fun, even with a terrifying plot.