Review by Bob Ignizio
For his latest film THE
VISIT, writer/director M. Night Shyamalan has made a horror comedy. On
purpose, this time, as opposed to the accidental hilarity of his 2008 killer
pollen flick THE HAPPENING. And
indeed, there were shrieks and laughter aplenty at the advance screening of the
film I attended, although the humor sometimes felt awkward and uncomfortable,
and the whole film felt a little.. off.. The closest thing I can compare it to
is Neil Labute’s infamous remake of THE
WICKER MAN.
THE VISIT is a
found footage/mockumentary style horror film ala THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, et al. What we see is through the video
camera lens of 15 year old Becca (Olivia De Jonge) who, along with her 13 year
old brother Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) has been sent off on a weeklong visit with
their mother’s estranged parents while mom (Kathryn Hahn) goes on a cruise with
her boyfriend. Mom won’t say what exactly happened on the day she left home at
the age of 19, but Becca is determined to find out in the course of making a
documentary on this chapter of her family’s history.
