The Visit (2015)

"Would you mind getting inside the oven to clean it?"

After what seems like an endless stream of questionable movies, M. Night Shyamalan returns with a found footage movie? With child actors? 

Now that's one brave dude. 

After being sent to meet their grandparents for the first time, Becca and Tyler soon discover that there's something very wrong with the seemingly normal couple. 

Found footage horror movies have had a dip in popularity recently and it was understandable why after the bombardment we have received in the past few years. Now, out of the blue, M. Night Shyamalan makes one to try and reinvigorate his career by going back to his horror-esque roots. 

'The Visit' is a really strange film and I'm still not quite sure if I actually liked it or not...

Normally where a lot of found footage horror films fall down is in their reasoning for being a found footage film. If a found footage film isn't believable then it all comes crashing down pretty early on, you need a good reason for why you are filming everything otherwise it seems forced. 'The Visit' actually had a decent reason for being a found footage film and that is that the young girl in the film is an aspiring filmmaker. She wants to make a documentary about their visit to meet their grandparents in an attempt to reconcile what happened between them and her mother, who have been estranged for years. With this in mind, the first act of this movie turned out to be quite interesting. 

'The Visit' creates some really good tension and puts you in an uneasy mood as soon as the kids arrive at their grandparents home. You become as unsettled as the kids as they gradually realise that something isn't quite right. They try and justify the strange goings on as merely "old people being old people" but, as things escalate, they are forced to deal with the ever growing danger they are in. 

The kids are likeable and you can get on board with their sibling relationship. They feel very natural on camera and have a bit of charisma which is generally unusual in horror films, especially with kids. Ed Oxenbould as Tyler is good comedy relief, which you do need a bit of in a horror but this lead to a lot of tonal conflicts within the film. Is it horror? Is it comedy? It is a bit confusing at times but, as far as his performance goes, he does well and has a lot of natural likability. Olivia DeJonge as Becca gives a very mature performance for her age and you can really relate to her character, she's likeable and has some difficult emotional scenes to pull off but she manages it. They have a good bit of chemistry with the grandparents, who also give pretty good performances. Nana, played by Deanna Dunagan, had the hardest job of all as the "creepy old lady" but pulls it off relatively well. She has some great moments that will make you very uncomfortable while managing to reign in the pantomime villain aspect that could be seen in character.

Unfortunately for all the great scenes of tension that are in the film, they are unbalanced by an uncomfortable humour that seems out of place. As the film goes on I couldn't quite work out whether I was meant to be scared or laughing, which is a bad place to be when you're dealing with horror unless it's deliberate, which I don't think it was in 'The Visit'.

This is my main problem with the film, it had so much potential to be more but falls ever so short of the mark. The glimmers of real horror are great and catch you on the back foot as they come out of nowhere and really creep you out. Despite having a few jump scares, it doesn't rely on them. It creates some uncomfortable scenarios for the kids and uses some creepy imagery to make us scared the old fashioned way. However it falls into farce towards the end, despite having a few nice plot twists, and becomes a bit ridiculous. The ending feels a bit predictable and there could have been so much more to it but instead they opt for the easier way out. 

The plot is extremely fragile. If you pull at one little detail then things start to unravel as the gaping plot holes get bigger and bigger. You just have to suspend belief and take it for what it is, dig deeper and it is sketchy at best. It relies on a lot of convenient events to happen for this scenario to play out the way it does.

Overall, 'The Visit' has a lot going for it but a lot wrong with it as well. There will definitely be a few scenes that'll get under your skin and there will be a few scenes that will have you somewhat confused... If they had stuck with the darker tones that they had going for a lot of the film then the comedy would have been a nice bit of relief after the scarier moments. Instead, these comedy moments almost interrupt the scarier scenes in the movie and take us out of the movie. Comedy ruining the horror is a strange thing to have go wrong in a horror film.

If you think that old people are creepy then this film probably won't help you get over that...

Old people are pretty creepy. Especially when they tell you to get into an oven.