The Visit movie review - Aussieboyreviews

IS THE VISIT MORE PREDICTABLE OVER SCARY FOR A STRANGE-VISIT MOVIE?

M. Night Shyamalan directs, writes and produces this average-looking found-footage thriller with successful scares. The Visit may not be immediately appealing, but it’s entertaining, mildly humorous and sometimes strangely scary.

Storyline

During a weeklong visit with their grandparents who they have not met before, siblings Becca and Tyler become increasingly scared by the disturbing and unusual behaviours of their grandparents.

Movie Images

Movie details

Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Cast: Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould, Deanna Dunagan, Peter McRobbie, Kathryn Hahn
Writer: M. Night Shyamalan
Release Date (Australia): 24 September 2015
Runtime: 94 minutes/1h 34m
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Language: English

CONTENT GUIDE (warning: May contain spoilers)

Themes (M)

The film includes horror themes, murder and sense of threat.

Violence (M)

Violent content includes a woman being implicitly stabbed, accompanied by blood detail, and a man’s head being implicitly slammed between a doorway.

Coarse Language (M)

The film contains one use of “f**k” and occasional uses of the words “s**t”, “bitch” and “ass”

Nudity (PG)

A nude elderly woman is briefly viewed from behind.

Sex (G)

There are very mild references to sex within the lyrics of songs.

mpaa rating

PG-13 (for disturbing thematic material including terror, violence and some nudity, and for brief language)

Aussie boy's thoughts

Horror fans can thank M. Night Shyamalan for a found-footage thriller with an excellent story set-up and twists/scares that actually work. His strange people-themed horror story is a good pick to watch in darkness and silence, and it’s not another slothful horror movie that relies on blood and gore for scares.

The amount of main cast members for the film is pretty small and they do an only-good (not award-worthy) job in their roles, either as uneasy kids, strange grandparents or a happy-to-suddenly-concerned parent throughout this story in which two siblings decide to document their visit to their grandparents. There are definitely scenes that give you vibes of other found-footage horror movies such as The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity, including the nighttime-recorded sequences and scenes in which the two main characters are confused and scared by the disturbing behaviours of their grandparents.

Since it’s a found-footage movie, the use of soundtrack is very infrequent and alike how it works for The Blair Witch Project, the lack of music in the background can really add to the intensity and nausea of a scary scene. But Shyamalan’s frightening ideas in this movie are brilliant and effective otherwise. The only real problem with this movie is how it’s definitely not going to appeal to everyone and there’s still a lot of unanswered questions by the end.

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