If the reaction of last night’s (more crowded than expected) audience is any
indication, The Visit is going to be a big success.
Could this be the long-
hoped-for resurrection of M. Night Shyamalan? Quite possibly.
Like most horror movies, good or bad, the
premise is ridiculous, of course. How many mothers would actually send their
kids to visit “Nana & Pop-pop” for a week, after not speaking to them for twenty years,
while heading to booze-cruise with a new boyfriend? Really?
But this mother does, and her kids
happen to be first-rate child actors who know what they’re doing in front of a camera and, it seems, behind, as they record their grandparents’ bizarre behavior in an attempt to get help.
M. Night has provided a lot of fun, scary images, replete with
Nana scurrying around like a rabid dog while naked. Or Nana walking around in
the middle of the night projectile-vomiting all over the living room. Or
Pop-pop sneaking off to his secret shed of Depends.
I’m not kidding; as scary
movies go, this one’s pretty mint.
The brutality is skillfully benign,
and it clicks along like a Swiss clock that’s pretty to look at, too. The only poor performance is delivered by Nana’s wig, albeit this is a common criticism of mine.
The kids (Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould) really are sensational and a testament to this director’s ability to cast children–Sixth Sense, anyone?
And yes, it’s got one of the famous Shyamalan “twists” towards the end. Don’t think about it too hard though, just enjoy
this Hitchcock-light theme park ride.
And speaking of theme parks, this is one of the rare
instances where you can take your kid to a scary movie and not worry about
damaging them for life.
Unless their grandparents are already creepy, of
course.
(Loudinni specializes in reviews to be read in under a minute without too many spoilers.)
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