Dan Abel’s review published on Letterboxd:
"You have to laugh to keep the deep darkies in a cave."
Loretta, estranged from her parents for fifteen years receives a letter from them asking to meet their grandchildren. Reluctantly she sends them both, fifteen year old Rebecca and thirteen year old Tyler to spend the week as they insist on going and Rebecca aims to make a documentary about it. Upon arrival things seem fine until they begin to notice strange things. Things that cause them to fear for their lives.
I initially saw this film shortly after it first came to streaming services, and though the plot was mostly vague in my head, I remembered there being an awesome twist and generally liking the film overall. Luckily for me, I remember there being a twist but I didn't remember exactly what it was so I got to live it all over again. People love to hate M. Night Shyamalan and to a lesser extent Blumhouse Productions as well but I will not be a party to such tomfoolery.
The Visit is a mixed bag in which the first two acts are the meat and potatoes. A case of the buildup far exceeding the payoff at the end. There are some genuinely creepy moments to be had for me at least because old people doing strange things always work on me. If you've seen The Taking of Deborah Logan you'll know the kind of creepy scenes I mean. The third act isn't as much of a twist as I remembered but it's effective enough I suppose, enough so that the boy and his cringe rapping aren't a deal breaker.
I guess I remembered The Visit in a fonder light than I see it in now. It's certainly not terrible, but it's no gem either. I was excited to re-watch it today but now I can say that I will not be doing that again.
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