BY EMERSON LAYNE

The Visit is a 2015 found footage horror movie directed by M. Night Shyamalan, who is best known for his movies Signs, The Sixth Sense, and Knock at the Cabin to name a few. The film’s budget was $5 million and it astonishingly grossed $98 million at the box office worldwide. Due to The Visit’s astounding success, it’s in the top 10 of M. Night Shyamalan’s movies in terms of success at the box office. Critics reviews of the movie were largely mixed, some finding the movie unsettling while others found it predictable due to Shyamalan’s known formula of movies. 

The movie follows two siblings, Becca and Tyler, as they visit their grandparents to rekindle their familial connection. Becca is an aspiring documentarian, filming the sibling’s entire vacation, while Tyler is an novice rapper, providing freestyle raps throughout the film. Shortly after settling in their grandparents’, Nana and Pop Pop’s, home, the siblings notice bizarre behavior from them. Nana runs around at night like a wild animal and is almost as equally disturbing during the day while Pop Pop is paranoid of everyone around him and believes that a white furry creature is waiting for him in a nearby field. Becca and Tyler realize the truth of who their grandparents are and who they aren’t, fighting to the death to make it out alive. 

The aspect of being a found footage movie gives a great emotional closeness between the viewer with Becca and Tyler. The viewer sees in-the-moment scenes that highlight the aspects of the character’s personalities. Spurring off from when Becca and Tyler’s father left them, we get to see the outcomes of it, through Tyler’s germophobia and paralyzing moments of fear and Becca’s inability to look at herself. Inadvertently, the trauma they experience during the time of the movie resolves their past trauma. Near the end of the film, Tyler and Becca face off with Pop Pop and Nana to escape the house. Becca gets locked in one of the bedrooms with Nana inside, during one of Nana’s sundowning episodes. Nana attacks Becca slamming her face and camera in a mirror and tussles with Becca under the sheets of the bed. Becca in an act to defend herself, kills Nana with a broken piece of glass that fell off the broken mirror, symbolizing Becca’s turning point by looking at herself, although forcefully, in a mirror. Downstairs, Pop Pop mocks Tyler for his germaphobia and paralyzing fear by smearing one of Pop Pop’s own diapers in Tyler’s face. When Becca comes downstairs to protect Tyler, Pop Pop attacks Becca, breaking Tyler out of his paralysis. Tyler kills Pop Pop by slamming a refrigerator door repeatedly in on Pop Pop’s head, screaming about someone not running during a football match, referring to one of Tyler’s paralysis moments during a football game, symbolizing Tyler’s growth of not letting fear control his life, especially when someone he loves is in danger. 

The overall message of the movie is the reconnection of family and the overcoming of past trauma. Near the end of the film, Becca and Tyler’s mom explains what happened that caused her and their grandparents to disconnect with each other. Their mom explains that she wanted to get into a relationship with Becca and Tyler’s father, but her parents told her not to, saying that he would leave her, causing her to walk out and never speak to them again. Their mom wanted to talk with her parents again, but was afraid of what they would say, especially after Becca and Tyler’s father left them. Becca and Tyler were also somewhat estranged during the beginning of the film, reminiscing about times they were together and detest who each other became after their father left them. But by the end of the movie, Becca and Tyler came together to overcome Nana and Pop Pop and unintentionally their past trauma, by sticking together and fighting for each other. 

A notable found footage horror movie and a decent film in M. Night Shaymalan’s lineup. 

Rating: 7.5/10