The Visit – genuinely chilling
Paul Peterson | Nov 05, 2015 | Comments 0
Someone once asked Don McLean what his one monster hit American Pie meant to him. He said it meant he didn’t have to work if he didn’t want to. For the record, his follow up single Vincent was a great song as well. However, the point is sometimes your first hit is the biggest.
Enter M Night Shyamalan.
He of the Sixth Sense fame. His first movie fooled everyone if they’re honest and he’s been trying to capture lightning in a bottle every since. It was a great film with a great twist. For those of you who haven’t seen it, the chick is a dude. Oh wait. That was The Crying Game. But I digress.
The Visit is a great little film with one heck of a twist.
Our story so far:
Mom is a nice, mostly single mom with a new dude and two remarkable children. Note to readers. I really like movies where the kids are presented as smart and savvy.
In this case, it’s Becca and Tyler. She’s a 15 year old wannabe film maker and he’s a new teen rapper. They’re quite smart and rather charming.
Their mom has been estranged from her parents but they are talking and want to meet the grandkids.
This has can’t miss written all over it.
Things start off well.
Grandma can cook everything and does. She seems nice. Very loving and doting. She likes to scratch the hallway doors naked after dark but nobody’s perfect.
Grandpa seems nice.
He disappears into the woods and then brings back some nasty diapers and oh ya, has a homicidal rage towards random strangers but hey, how about those cookies?
There are some interesting dynamics going on.
We know early on something’s very wrong here. We just don’t know what. The kids make the movie interesting. The director makes it creepy.
I really enjoyed this film.
It’s well done.
Shyamalan keeps messing with us and it works. I like the respect your elders dynamic. It’s a real consideration.
How long do the kids put up with the weirdness that surrounds these old people? How tolerant are you of their old folk oddities?
As it turns out, about an hour in. Then it all goes for naught.
It’s genuinely chilling.
At one point, there’s a moment where the grandma is explaining how aliens live at the bottom of a pond and… well, the rest is too nuts for even me.
But it’s chilling.
There’s several moments like that.
I liked it.
I never saw the ending coming.
I like when that happens.
It’s not quite The Sixth Sense but it held my attention.
That’s good value in my world. Of course, other opinions are welcome, but wrong. That’s it for this week. The cheque’s in the mail and I’m outta here.
Paul
Filed Under: News from Everywhere Else • Paul Peterson
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