The Visit
2 Waffles!

Why does such a bad movie have to have such an awesome ending?

Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould star as Becca and Tyler – two teenagers off to meet their grandparents for the first time ever. Mom (Kathryn Hahn) had a dramatic, mysterious falling out with them years ago, but she welcomes the opportunity for the kids to head out to rural Pennsylvania, while she takes a cruise with her new man.

Becca wants to make a documentary about the entire experience, and reveal the secret to Mom’s huge rift with her parents, but she and Tyler start to become more and more worried about Pop Pop (Peter McRobbie) and Nana’s (Deanna Dunagan) increasingly strange and dangerous behavior.

Are Becca and Tyler safe on this remote farm, in the middle of nowhere, with no cell phone service?

Writer/director M. Night Shyamalan tries to return to his roots to deliver an ominous, creepy film with a shocking ending, but the ending was the only amazing part.

Shyamalan writes The Visit as if he had one truly awesome idea and has to invent ways to waste time until we get to it. This leaves the audience with a movie that isn’t eerie enough and doesn’t escalate enough. The situation should become more dangerous by the moment, and Shyamalan only achieves that goal in scatter shot fashion.

The cast does their best to increase tension in The Visit, and Dunagan deserves all the credit for being oddball and kooky enough to be equally frightening and outrageous. However, sharp eyed moviegoers might be distracted by Shyamalan’s attempts to incorporate images similar to successful found footage films like The Blair Witch Project or Paranormal Activity. He will call it an homage. We might call it being a copy cat.

If you think it through, you will see the clues he drops throughout the film, and you might see the obvious lapses in logic. Yet, nothing can make me forgive Shyamalan for attempting to graft on some deeper theme and lesson about facing your fears to free your soul. Who cares?!?!?!

The Visit is rated PG-13 for disturbing thematic material including terror, violence and some nudity, and for brief language.