The Visit (PG-13)

I’ve been a bigger fan of M. Night Shyamalan movies than many others. While most of his follow-ups to the 1999 blockbuster “The Sixth Sense” and its legendary twist ending have failed to meet box office expectations, I thoroughly enjoyed pieces like “Signs” and “The Village.”

Shyamalan comes back in 2015 with “The Visit” – his first movie in a handful of years, and for the first time in his career, ventures into the arena of found footage, telling the story through the lenses of personal camcorders held and operated by the stories 2 young protagonists.

While “The Visit” follows the standard found footage formula of a slow and plodding start and buildup to concluding act, it misses on all fronts of horror, with scenes designed to be scary coming off as boring, silly, or just plain weird.

The opening sequence introduces the viewer to Loretta Jameson (Kathryn Hahn), a cute single mother of two; 15 year old Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and 13 year old Tyler (Ed Oxenbould). Becca is an aspiring filmmaker and is documenting the proceedings. Loretta explains how she left home 15 years ago while pregnant with Becca, having not seen or spoken to her parents since.

The grandparents have recently contacted Loretta in hopes of meeting their grandchildren for the first time, and Becca and Tyler board a train from Philadelphia (Shyamalan’s home town and usual setting location) to acquiesce their wishes.

“The Visit” is told through Becca’s documenting of the trip. As she searches for a greater story of what happened the day her mom left home, odd behavior of her seemingly normal and loving grandparents causes her and Tyler to grow uneasy.

I felt the rapport between Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould was excellent, with the latter offering humor on both intentional and unintentional fronts. The pair come across as a typical set of siblings with great chemistry, and Kathryn Hahn does a capable job as a loving single parent. I loved the setting of the rural but modern farm house amidst a snowy backdrop of grey skies and chilly temps.

I found myself frowning in skepticism at some of the too-convenient tactics used to advance the story. Would a single mother send her two young children to meet complete strangers by themselves? Yes they are the grandparents but she herself hasn’t talked to them in over a decade. And the isolated estate of the grandparents renders cellular technology useless. Really? In 2015? I can go mountain climbing deep in the Adirondacks and still text and access The Facebook.

The movie failed with the grandparents themselves; Nana and Pop Pop – nicknames I find completely unrealistic and obnoxiously annoying. While normal and caring on the surface their strange behavior was poorly acted by Deanna Dunagan and Peter McRobbie, and poorly explained by the crutch of them just “being old.” The pair appears to be in their 60s or early 70s, which by most of today’s standards isn’t an excuse to be a complete lunatic (current presidential candidates aside).

The weird and mysterious things surrounding the old codgers includes an off-limits basement, an ominous shed, and the children being instructed not to leave their bedroom after 9:30. These additions are decent, but ultimately fall flat with poor acting and sloppy writing.

Further tension is added with the found footage angle but there are multiple times when it seems the use of the camcorder is being forced. Other times you find yourself screaming at Becca to drop the camera and run or defend herself like any normal person would do. And the Shyamalan trademark twist ending leaves much to be desires. I found myself coming up with a few possible scenarios and in the end, it seemed more like an episode of CSI than a horror movie.

“The Visit” looked great in the previews, but the movie itself falls far short of expectations. Its back to the drawing board for Mr. Shyamalan.

by – Matt Christopher