By Sammi Schenkel, Staff Reporter.
I had to see this film, and I went into it with an open mind as it was M. Night Shyamalan’s comeback feature. From the trailers, it appeared to be marketed as a “children visit their grandmother who turns out to be crazy” film. Honestly, it wasn’t scary and frankly the grandmother could have been crazier.
The story is told by two different preteen voices, Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and Tyler (Ed Oxenbould). Becca is a budding documentary filmmaker, and her brother assists her. Their mother allows them to go visit their matriarchal relatives who their mother has had a falling out with. This airs with a sign of mystery… something that every cliche horror has.
The duo arrives in Masonville, PA where they quickly become close to their grandparents. Soon, however, it slowly escalates to more and more particular behavior.
Shyamalan’s cinematography was okay; it looked nice and the effects he used to create that suspense were well executed. Unfortunately, the story that he wrote and directed was predictable for any horror fan. Nothing really scared me; I was only thrown off-guard once. I don’t know if it was my previous haunted house experience, but even the little “scares” weren’t used with smart timing and pacing.
The plotline of the story is told in a fun, non-linear fashion, but overall nothing surprised me. As more information was revealed about their mother’s past, the children’s curiosity, and the “weird” things happening, nothing really came together.
“The Visit” could have been more interesting if they went to scarier places, but it is only rated PG-13 so that may have been a strong factor. The film had so many stereotypical horror elements–the children who are vulnerable and innocent, who go to an isolated place and then things turn strange and terribly wrong. Nothing new or original in concept or execution. It all was so blah sometimes it was to the point of hilarity. I felt like I laughed more than gasped, not leaving the theater frightened.