The Visit

The Visit was released on September 11th of 2015 which was directed, produced and written by M. Night Shyamalan. It's known as a comedy horror and follows the plot device of found footage perspectives.

Plot

With a strained relationship, Paula — mother of Rebecca and Tyler — has never allowed her children to see their grandparents. Running from a past love affair and currently working out the kinks in her new found relationship, Paula is bombarded by pleads from her kids who strive to stay with their grandparents for a week. Overcome with work and in desperate need of a vacation, Paula agrees to this and through indirect contact with her parents, arranges a meet. Rebecca, being the oldest, constantly asks her mother for details as to why she's been so isolated from her parents. Paula continuously shoots her down and refuses to answer these questions, therefore, Rebecca and Tyler are sent to their grandparents without any insight on why the family is broken up.

John and Dorris — Paula's parents — agree to meet the kids at the train station. Upon getting to their grandparents large estate, Rebecca and Tyler are given a set of instructions. They are to never go into the basement due to growing mold and their bedtime is at 9:30PM.

Rebecca and Tyler are completely baffled by their bedtime hour and refuse to do so. Rather, their curiosity drives them to easing around the house after hours and finding things straying out of the ordinary. For one, Dorris seems to be exhibiting abnormal behavior that is not only scary but threatening to the children. And John — who refuses to answer Rebecca and Tyler's many questions in the morning — has something much more sinister up his sleeve.

Overall

I only went to watch The Visit because a close friend of mine recommended it. While watching every trailer that came out, I thought for sure this would be a total let down. A lot of people I feel have the wrong vibe when coming to terms with the promotion of horrors before they hit the big screens and misrepresentation or not enough thrilling aspects can be a total turn off. To say the least, The Visit is definitely a movie you'd like to watch with close friends during Halloween at home.

I'm not a total fan of M. Night Shyamalan mainly because his so-called "hit" movies aren't anything special. Also having lost out on thousands of fans because of his Avatar: The Last Airbender take really ruined my overall thought of him as a producer, director or screenwriter. But I also admit that his take on horror movies in general are up and down roller coasters in itself.

The makeup of The Visit was odd. I didn't know it was a comedy horror and the combination in itself is a huge let down. I had to constantly remind myself that this was from the perspective of two kids that were coming to visit their grandparents. But being a more serious watcher of horror movies topped with thriller (or action), The Visit only seemed to gain a higher score in my eyes because of the eccentric plot twist. While overused, I think it made total sense in this case. I also think having these children characters come out on top after being faced with something so heinous and life-altering that the "happy ending" aspect was actually more appreciated.

I will say the only creepy part of The Visit would have to be Dorris. As an older woman who was pretty smiley and happy during the day only to turn into some whacked out psychopath that's unable to be controlled at night had me piping up with interest. It's rare for me to feel goosebumps trail up my spine even when I watch these things on the big screen, but I will give immense props to the actress who managed to make me cringe from time to time.

The Visit isn't anything special in the eyes of full-blown horror fans, but it's an enjoyable watch for those that are interested. Maybe it'll surprise you as it did me.