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#195 - The Visit
M. Night Shyamalan, 2015
A brother and sister travel to the home of the estranged grandparents that they've never met, but they soon start to realise that something isn't right.
Though I've generally been left unimpressed by most (if not all) the Shyamalan films I've seen, I can't muster up any serious hatred for his work and was at least curious about checking out The Visit, which sees him follow up his recent big-budget fiascos with a foray into the found-footage sub-genre of horror. To its credit, it's a film that embraces its most obvious flaws - the young leads may be either pretentious or obnoxious, but at least it feels deliberate enough that it's sort of tolerable (and their not-so-hidden insecurities go a long way towards providing a justification for the found-footage approach). The old leads also feel appropriately uncanny as they mix geriatric geniality with some signs of deeper weirdness that could have been too ridiculous (much like the old lady in The Happening) but actively works with the film's sense of creepy atmosphere. That atmosphere - and the central mystery that it builds around - are certainly elements that work in the film's favour and help to create a certain amount of dread, even if certain developments do not hold up under scrutiny. As such, I'm not sure that The Visit is really able to sufficiently overcome its limitations. It's arguably worth a watch to see Shyamalan try something a little different and it's not exactly ineffective as a horror, but that's about it.
M. Night Shyamalan, 2015
A brother and sister travel to the home of the estranged grandparents that they've never met, but they soon start to realise that something isn't right.
Though I've generally been left unimpressed by most (if not all) the Shyamalan films I've seen, I can't muster up any serious hatred for his work and was at least curious about checking out The Visit, which sees him follow up his recent big-budget fiascos with a foray into the found-footage sub-genre of horror. To its credit, it's a film that embraces its most obvious flaws - the young leads may be either pretentious or obnoxious, but at least it feels deliberate enough that it's sort of tolerable (and their not-so-hidden insecurities go a long way towards providing a justification for the found-footage approach). The old leads also feel appropriately uncanny as they mix geriatric geniality with some signs of deeper weirdness that could have been too ridiculous (much like the old lady in The Happening) but actively works with the film's sense of creepy atmosphere. That atmosphere - and the central mystery that it builds around - are certainly elements that work in the film's favour and help to create a certain amount of dread, even if certain developments do not hold up under scrutiny. As such, I'm not sure that The Visit is really able to sufficiently overcome its limitations. It's arguably worth a watch to see Shyamalan try something a little different and it's not exactly ineffective as a horror, but that's about it.