The Visit - A Movie Review

This is going to be a great week meeting my grandparents for the first time!

Ringing the doorbell in 2015, The Visit is about estranged parents who reach out to their daughter. For the first time, Becca and Tyler are going to meet their grandparents. Keeping a video journal of their trip, they document Nana and Pop Pop’s strange behavior.

The Visit takes horror to a new level. Shot as a found-footage film, every scene is executed effectively to signify the unusual situations. The first time I watched this film, I gasped. It holds a creepy atmosphere throughout the entire movie. The Visit is an uneasy film that makes you think twice about your family members.

Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould were terrific as Becca and Tyler. I enjoyed Oxenbould’s talented rapping. He was very funny. Their reactions to unusual events feel natural. They’re not just kids making a documentary. Due to an important figure who left, we see how it affects them. They are given depth.

Recording every event that unfolds from their week with their grandparents, little do they know how this visit helps them with insecurities. Dejonge and Oxenbould established their sibling relationship thoroughly. Like every sibling, they get on each other’s nerves but they care about each other. Pointing out one another’s flaws, the observations help them in the end.

Get ready for the best unhinged, frightening, and creepy performances by Deanna Dunagan and Peter McRobbie. There is something odd about their behavior. They make several questionable actions. Attacking people, clawing at the wall, or saying out-of-place conversation, Becca and Tyler have no idea of what to make of their grandparents. Are they just old or sundowning?

The best performance of all goes to Deanna Dunagan. She is frightening. Dunagan had a ball in her part. I will always shiver at the line, “Would you mind getting inside the oven to clean it?”

I have always had mixed feelings for Becca and Tyler’s mom (Kathryn Hahn). Her careless behavior raises questions at how great of a mother she is. She doesn’t give them any information about the grandparents and is useless when her children are showing concern.

Throughout the film, it’s revealed why she and her parents stopped talking. One can’t help but side with the parents for her decisions. However, she is given a chance to showcase a heartwarming revelation that she learns. Change is real.

M. Night Shyamalan has developed as a director with each project. I have to admit that I had my doubts about the film. Boy, was I wrong! The Visit succeeds in its originality. Without showing too much, Shyamalan is a master at subtlety. Pay very close attention to everything about the behavior of the grandparents.

With the way the movie was shot, it was edited together to look like a cross between a found-footage documentary and a film. For some shots, the camera sat at a wide-angle as we examine the action unfold.

One issue that is never fully explained is the part of the motivation. Why did certain characters want to be a part of this diabolical plan? Did it have to do with their circumstances? Maybe an explanation isn’t necessary.

No soundtrack accompanies the film. In horror films, music’s job is to prepare audiences. Because there is no soundtrack, audiences have nothing to cue them. We are witnesses to all the disturbing incidents.

You have to watch The Visit. Fair warning that it is uncomfortable at times. The film creeped me out so much that I was digging my nails into the sofa during the suspenseful climax.