2015 has been a stale year for good horror. Sinister 2, The Women In Black 2, Poltergeist Remake and Unfriended all missed the mark with critics and audiences (notice how 3/4 are either a sequel or a remake). Unfriended offered the most out of the batch, with higher critical praise and an original concept, at least it has that. A few weeks ago, The Visit opened in theaters worldwide, and I recently had the chance to view it over the weekend. I came into the movie with poor expectations, since it was doing so-so with critics and audiences, and the film’s director, M. Night Shyamalan has had a rough couple of films recently. Also, the premise was a bit wonky, seriously, these kids are put in life-threatening circumstances by visiting their grandparents…seriously! Despite those noticeable buffers, I was still pumped to see the movie, hoping for a good horror movie to pass the time. After I sat 2 hours in a movie theater full of whimp audience members (you know the people around you are annoying when you start getting scared of them screaming vs. the actual movie) I walked out impressed.

Now, before I begin, you need to know the rest of this review features spoilers. If you don’t mind them, keep reading.

The Visit, written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan (Sixth Sense, Signs) is a surprisingly satisfying movie. The movie follows two kids, Rebecca, an aspiring filmmaker and Tyler, a kid who wishes he could rap. They have recently been invited to visit their grandparents for the first time in their lives since their mother has parent problems. Once they arrive, a week of horror begins and what you thought couldn’t possibly be scary starts to jump at you.

First point, The Visit is found-footage, but it’s not your average FF movie. Rebecca wants to make a short documentary on her visit, and so the cameras are set-up in a way that reflects what they should actually be viewing. I believe the cinematography in this film hits all the right notes and is by far superior to recent FF movies such as The Gallows and Unfriended.

The film’s atmosphere was one of it’s great strengths. Since this movie is told in a documentary-style, music and sound is limited to what would actually happen in real life. For those who loved James Newton Howard’s score on Signs and Unbreakable, don’t start detesting the film, because, without music, the movie was 10x more realistic.

Now, the cast’s acting was exceptional, especially the grandmother (Deanna Dunagan). All actors/actresses fit in with the movie, and never had a sour spot in their performances.

That brings me to The Visit’s characters. My one pet-peeve of the horror genre is that they never develop a strong protagonist, and I fully believe without a 3-dimensional character, a movie falls apart. The Visit proved exceptionally well at this point, as both the kids were well-developed, or at least enough so that you cared what happened to them. I loved how their mother, played by Kathryn Hahn, was the opposite of the cliched mother in movies.

Breaking away from Cliches was also one of The Visit’s strengths. The found-footage, jump scares and plot pitfalls were all either drastically changed or absent in the movie. Even the grandparents used cliches to intensify their horror, since when does your grandmother crawl on the walls?

And by far the greatest thing about The Visit was its twist. Yes, this is an M. Night Shyamalan film, so yes, there was a twist. Unlike his recent films, though, this one was perfectly executed and extremely effective. I won’t spoil such a great twist, but it really does shift the entire movie drastically, so much so I’d compare the twist to The Sixth Sense, which is notorious for its final twist.

So enough with the positives, what were the flaws? First off, I do believe that some elements of the movie weren’t needed. This includes Tyler’s rapping, the grandpa’s period dilemma (although the third act utilized that well) and the overuse of shaky-cam. That kinda sums up all the flaws, though, sorry to bum you out, I know you really came here just to hear me rant about why this movie is bad (but it really isn’t).

I highly recommend you check this movie out in theaters. My final score for The Visit is a solid 81/100. If you love strange horror movies and have been waiting for M. Night to make a comeback, go ahead and catch a showing, because it’s worth it.

Thanks for reading, Joel Freecheck.