Emily Testa, Contributing Writer
The Visit is a pleasant surprise, and a suspenseful, laughter-filled ride. M. Night Shyamalan, director of the acclaimed blockbusters, Signs and The Sixth Sense, has brought his one-of-a-kind brand of filmmaking to this thriller. Unique is one word I can definitely use to describe this movie.
I’ll be honest, most of the scary movies that are put out nowadays are very, very bad. They set out to provide cheap suspense and shocks, but are often greatly lacking in acting and plot. It is very hard to make a scary movie good, however people still go see them and enjoy the thrill. Before I had actually seen the movie myself, I was convinced from the commercials, and by word of mouth, that it would be the same as the rest. My friends and I were hyped to see it, but not because we thought it’d be a good movie; we were excited to laugh at it.
This is why it was such a shock when we went into the theater and experienced what I found to be an enjoyable movie. If you’re picky with your movies, The Visit could be a little boring for you. If you’re a big fan of bad horror movies, you might be a little disappointed at how much you actually appreciate different elements of this film. It will definitely make you laugh, but this scary movie does it intentionally. You won’t come back from this movie praising the character development or how well thought out the plot points were. This movie is quirky all the way through but progresses slowly.
You are brought on a journey with a brother and sister who decide to make their own documentary after their mother has sent them to visit their grandparents, who they have never met. When they get there, the children are in for much more than they had anticipated. From the beginning of The Visit, the grandmother seems awfully strange and even frightening at times. They start to actually fear her and ask questions, though the grandfather assures them that she is merely “not there.” Over time, the grandmother seems to become less eccentric and more menacing. This leads into the movie’s scarier moments, including when she tricks one of the children into climbing into an oven. What really makes The Visit great is the ending, and whether you claim to have seen it coming or not, it’s a shocker.
My recommendation is: if you aren’t too much of a film snob, go see it. It probably won’t be your favorite movie or even your favorite scary movie, but it’s still enjoyable to watch.
Leave a Reply