M. Night Shyamalan’s comeback film does not disappoint

Story by Adam Winn, Staff writer

As time continues to get closer and closer to Halloween, moviegoers will notice that, as with most previous years, that a majority of the films released are horror or thriller based in order to put the audience in the mood for the spooky holiday season.

However, audience members who are looking for a movie that contains a little bit of every genre, including horror and comedy, and is legitimately good, look no further because “The Visit” contains all that and more.

The film is about a single mom who allows her two teenage children to go spend the week with their grandparents whom she hasn’t personally had any contact with since before the children were born.

Soon after their arrival, the children begin to notice weird and suspicious behavior from their grandparents, and the more time they spend at their grandparents’ house, the more they begin to realize that things may be gravely wrong with the strange elderly couple.

This movie follows in the same direction that the director M. Night Shyamalan’s other popular movies, such as “Signs” and “The Village,” do and contains a huge twist that most audience members won’t see coming.

Even when thinking that you’ve got everything figured out, the film throws a curveball of a twist at the viewer.

Even though this film is shot using the excessively-used technique where one of the characters appears to be holding the camera, comparable to movies like “The Blair Witch Project” and “Paranormal Activity,” the director does a surprisingly great job filming the movie this way.

The movie generally has a great balance between humor and suspense. The audience will, most likely, spend just as much time being scared as they will be laughing at some of the silly jokes throughout the course of the movie.

For instance, one of the scenes involves the teenagers finding an entrance to underneath the house and begin to play hide and seek.

After playing for a little bit, they discover that they are not alone, and the grandmother begins to chase them like a dog and tries to scare them from out underneath the house.

The film is almost fully comprised of an unrecognizable cast. It was difficult to place names or other movies that the cast members had previously been in.

The one exception was for the actress who played the mom, Kathryn Hahn, of “Step Brothers,” who typically plays more comedic roles.

A minor shortcoming is sometimes the acting falls a little flat and feels a slight bit unbelievable, especially when it comes from the actors and actresses that are playing the teenagers in this movie. 

There were times when the young actor, who plays the brother in this movie, seems to not show much emotion and looks like he’s trying too hard to remember his lines.

With that said, the acting done by the actors who play the grandparents in this film is pretty well done and they consistently give off a creepy vibe, reminding the viewer that there is something very wrong.

This film currently has a seven out of 10 star rating on the IMDB website, which shows the potential audience that other critics had a positive viewing experience when watching the movie.

As mentioned before, for most movie admirers who enjoy the opportunity of being frightened, but also like a film that they can laugh at and can walk away not taking the overall plot of the film super seriously, this is a great film to invest time into and it’s a near guarantee that the audience members will enjoy it.