Time: 94 Minutes
Age Rating: M – Violence & offensive language
Cast:
Olivia DeJonge as Becca Jamison
Ed Oxenbould as Tyler Jamison
Deanna Dunagan as Marja Bella Jamison
Peter McRobbie as Frederick Spencer Jamison
Kathryn Hahn as Loretta Jamison
Director: M. Night Shyamalan

After directing two widely panned big budget films in The Last Airbender and After Earth, M. Night Shyamalan decided to go back to his more lower budget roots with The Visit. Some could say that this is where his comeback started, by going back to basics. While I wouldn’t consider it one of his best movies, I do think it is quite good. 

One of the biggest things about found footage movies is that it requires not only justifying the camera usage, but also explaining why the characters keep bothering to record in the face of danger and death. Personally, I think that The Visit pulled it off. The setup is solid and believable, with it coming from one of the protagonists attempting to make a documentary. It has a clever script, sets up things pretty well and is well paced over its runtime. It’s entertaining and has some good humour mixed in, while not negating the horror aspect. It maintains and gradually escalates the feeling of dread, and the mystery is decent and has some good twists. Also like with most other Shyamalan movies, The Visit has a sentimental core to it and is filled with heart, and personally that aspect was well done and added a lot.

The cast is fairly small but each actor does very well in their roles. First of all, you have the two leads in Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould. They are likable, their sibling dynamic is believable, they felt like actual kids, they kept us invested in the story, and both performances are really good. Deanna Dunagan and Peter McRobbie play the grandparents of the main characters and were great, simultaneously funny and scary in their parts. Kathryn Hahn isn’t in the movie much, but is really good in her scenes, especially towards the end of the film. 

M. Night Shyamalan’s directing is really good, he does well at building up tension and the atmosphere over the course of the film. With this being a found footage movie, Shyamalan uses the camera well and knows what to show on screen and what to not show, while also making it believable enough for the film.

The Visit is a solid, entertaining and tense found footage thriller, greatly directed and with good performances. While it has a somewhat mixed reception, I think it is one of M. Night Shyamalan’s more underrated movies.