Week 36: The Visit

Writer/Director M.Night Shyamalan

Seen: September 16th 2015

Venue: IMC Galway

Snacks: Minstrels

Mood: Amused

Director M Night Shyamalan has always peaked my interest because I like films with twists. It is well known that one of his trademarks is to throw in a twist but the twists only work for me if I don’t guess the twist half way through and become more interested in my popcorn.

Shyamalan made two great twist films that I really enjoyed, the first being ‘Sixth Sense’ and the second ‘Signs’, he then went on to make a series of frankly pretty awful films like ‘Lady in the Water’ and ‘The happening’ so I was interested to see if ‘The Visit’ would be a return to previous form. Having seen the film I left not really knowing WHAT to think I was entertained (dont get me wrong) but this is a VERY strange film.

A quick run down of the plot is that brother and sister Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) and Becca (Olivia Dejonge) have never met their grandparents before and their mother decides to ship them off to spend a few weeks with them while she goes on holiday. At first everything seems fine with nanna and pop pop but things soon start taking a strange twist involving to name a few adult nappies and Yahtzee!

If you were to watch the trailer for this film you would be lead to believe that this is a horror film but that isn’t the case. This film is also packed with comedy moments that left me laughing out loud. I have to say this element of humour in amongst the jumpy bits makes for an entertaining 90 mins.

In summary then has Shyamalan returned to his previous form? A hard one to answer, this film is very different to his other films.He is definitely poking fun at himself , the horror genre and indeed directing itself. I think his famous ‘twist’ was very obvious but maybe it was meant to be and then it just becomes another way he can make fun of himself.

I laughed, I jumped therefore I recommend :)