Skunkyrate
Gripping story with well-crafted characters
SpunkySelfTwitter
It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.
Dirtylogy
It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.
ivegonemod
I thought this movie was trash. I'm being generous with two stars. I don't like horror films at all, so I was at least glad that this wasn't a horror movie in any way imaginable.The grandparents were the best part of the movie because the kids were awful. The brother was particularly annoying with all his "rapping". There was one line from the sister that had me side-eyeing the screenwriter. She referred to her brother as ethnically confused. Hmmm, why is he ethnically confused, because he raps and wears urban-style clothing or what have you? What is he confused about? It sounded like a way to imply that he thinks he's black. Rapping and wearing certain clothes or low pants doesn't make a person black. I found the whole thing insulting.The end of the movie was a joke but I wasn't laughing.
Michael Ledo
Young wanna-be rapper Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) and his sister Becca (Olivia DeJonge) go visit their grandparents in remote "no bars" Masonville, Pa. There was an incident where their mom (Kathryn Hahn) left home. We don't know what it was, this is mystery number 1. Pop Pop (Peter McRobbie) and Nana (Deanna Dunagan) are happy to see their grandchildren. The kids film everything, this is another hand held feature. The kids are given two rules: Do not go into the basement...mold. Mystery 2. And don't come out of your room after 9:30, short lived mystery 3.The grandparents seem nice and normal at times and at other times they have to deal with various old age diseases which makes their behavior seem odd, but the excuse is, they are just old.The ending was a herky jerky camera which gave us a long view of Olivia DeJonge's sweater, but even a perv like me wished they just had a better angle on the events. Tyler decides to use female singers in lieu of curse words as we hear him say "Katy Perry" et al. at odd times. This made the film slightly humorous, something it needed. The action typical builds as things get weirder as mysteries are solved.Guide: 2 F-bombs. No sex. Rear nudity (Deanna Dunagan)
Nigel P
Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) are brother and sister. Whilst Becca is putting together a film which fuels 'The Visit' (found footage style), Tyler raps. If you can get through these little bursts of 'talent' (each rap ends with '...ho') without punching yourself repeatedly then you may well find these two quite appealing. They spout dialogue beyond their years perhaps, but they exhibit little of the brattishness you may expect with two juvenile leads.The two siblings are visiting their grandparents (Deanna Dunagan) and (Peter McRobbie) and observe them displaying bizarre and disturbing behaviour. Occasionally, this seems to be educating us that 'old people are gross' and reinforcing stereotypes that once you're over 60, you're senile and incontinent. But luckily, most of their behaviour is clearly portrayed as abnormal in an effective 'horror-film' kind of way.There is, however, no real progression here. The grandparents behave oddly and the kids are scared. Then the grandparents behave normally and the kids come round to them. This repeats itself throughout, but because matters don't go any further than that, the audience are continually placed back on square one.Being an M. Night Shyamalan film, there is a twist. SPOILER - their grandparents are not their grandparents. They're escaped lunatics. That's right. We are supposed to believe neither Becca nor Tyler have never been shown a photograph of the two relatives they are to spend a week with.The idea of a progressively unstable elderly couple seen through the eyes of young children could have been terrifying. But, apart from a couple of stomach-churning moments, it doesn't quite make it. And why does it take the police so long to arrive?By the time the end credits roll, another of Tyler's raps - he's dressed in baseball cap and gold chain, of course - 99% of an empathy you may have had for the character has well and truly disappeared.
Floated2
The Visit was another highly anticipated film from winning director M. Night Shyamalan. Over the course of his career, it has been well noted that his overall films have been criticized and not has great as his earlier films. The Visit is a more unknown and low budget found footage film and it is decent, although predictable. The film is quite short in running time which is enough for this time of genre. We understand and know there will be a twist in the end, and twist did elevate the film somewhat but could also have been done in a better and more revealing manner. The lead grandchildren were quite annoying but in today's age, this is how some kids act so the criticize from them is warranted. Once the film is seen there isn't much for a rewatch, as the Visit does offer some scares towards the end but overall could have been better.
