When “The Sixth Sense” came out in 1999, director-screenwriter M. Night Shyamalan immediately became the new face of horror. He basked in the glory and rubbed shoulders with the big wigs, after being nominated for two Academy Awards.
Fast forward almost two decades.
Shyamalan has now become a director who has to answer for cinematic debacles like “Lady in the Water” and, dare I say it, “The Last Airbender.” He’s been a young has-been with a tainted reputation — until now.
Written and directed by Shyamalan, “The Visit” isn’t necessarily the redemption song he wanted, but it’s a pretty damn solid return to the genre filled with scares, humor and, surprisingly, raw emotion.
“The Visit” is riddled with cliches and tropes we’re all familiar with. A single mother (Kathryn Hahn) sends her two kids, Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and Tyler (Ed Oxenbould), on a week-long getaway at their grandparents’ house after years of disconnection — she ran away from home 15 years ago.
Nana and Pop Pop’s (Deanna Dunagan and Peter McRobbie respectively) house has a basement that’s off limits, a shed that’s wildly suspicious and poor cell reception — but it somehow has ethernet cables and wifi capable of crystal clear Skype calls.
And, let’s not forget, that “The Visit” is found-footage horror — a subgenre that’s been milked and wrung more than the merchandising for Pixar’s “Frozen.”
“The Visit,” however, takes this format and executes it with swift, sweet justice. Save for a few impressive establishing shots, it looks like the movie was shot by kids. Cinematographer Maryse Alberti intentionally doesn’t shoot with the tracking and handheld prowess of Emmanuel Lubezki, but she doesn’t strap a GoPro to a dog’s tail either.
The format will never be as fresh or original as it was in “The Blair Witch Project” or “Paranormal Activity,” but, in “The Visit,” it’s refreshing to see that Shyamalan’s taken it, and himself, back to square one.
Besides not being terrible, “The Visit” is pleasantly chockfull of surprises. False scares are almost non-existent, the actual scares are teased with the right amount of tension and it really does pack an emotional punch.
And yes, being a M. Night Shyamalan film, there’s a twist, and you barely see it coming. It may not be as hardhitting as “The Sixth Sense,” but it’s, thankfully, not as ridiculous as telling Joaquin Phoenix to, “swing away.”
“The Visit” doesn’t necessarily bring Shyamalan back to his heyday. The writing’s spotty, and while this isn’t entirely his fault, the performances occasionally fall flat. But it does prove that found footage, in the right hands, can still be effective, and stellar directing in “The Sixth Sense” wasn’t dumb luck.
