1999 marked the release of two significant movies: “The Blair Witch Project” and “The Sixth Sense”. The success of “The Blair Witch Project” was due in part to having one of the first real viral marketing campaigns and introducing American audiences to a new way to experience horror--the "found footage movie". It was quite brilliant actually. This was the era of handheld cameras. Families were using them to film vacations and reality television like “The Real World” was still relatively new, allowing the handheld camera to create a chilly atmosphere of claustrophobia and the unknown. On the other side was the release of M. Night Shyamalan's “The Sixth Sense”. Shyamalan's, who was 29 at the time, style, refreshing take on ghost stories and one of the most memorable reveals in cinematic history had critics immediately vaunting the young filmmaker as a wunderkind. Some even compared Shyamalan as an heir to Spielberg.
16 years later, the thought of the found footage genre and the name M. Night Shyamalan illicit groans and, oftentimes, even a snicker. The cheap nature of found footage films as well as its established gimmick has created an oversaturation in the market and the novelty is simply wearing off. The same can be said of Shyamalan. Trying to follow up his breakout hit, he began to tread water by trying to recreate the formula of combining drama with mystic horror, often times relying on some kind of twist. The results have been diminishing returns until the point that his name, which was once used as a marketing tool, was mocked. I distinctly remember watching the trailer to “Devil” in the theaters, a movie for which he only wrote the screenplay. When the title card popped up reading, “From the mind of M. Night Shyamalan," there was a connective laugh from the audience.
Courtesy of Blumhouse Productions
It is only fitting that, in a return to form of sorts, Shyamalan’s latest feature, “The Visit” is a found footage film. What works with “The Visit” is the simplicity of it. The film is about two children, Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and Tyler (Ed Oxenbould), visiting their estranged grandparents for the first time. Becca is filming this trip as an aspiring filmmaker (the amount of time mise en scène is said in this film is staggering) and to get some sort of redemption for her mom (Kathryn Hahn) from her parents.
When I say compliment the film's simplicity, I'm referring to what Shyamalan keeping a tidy movie with plain and, well, simple scares and laughs. The tension that he builds teeters between comedy and terror, which is perfect because those two reactions are closely related. This is why, when a person screams out in shock, it's usually followed by a laugh. The grandparents, played by two veteran actors, Deanna Dunagan and Peter McRobbie, are over the top enough to be enjoyable in this type of movie.
What is often forgotten with the Shyamalan hate groups is that he is a good technical filmmaker. Sometimes, it's his storytelling that goes off the rails. In this film, he elevates the found footage with his style. He stays true to the rules the film sets up and never breaks them. That said, nothing prevents you from asking, “Why don’t they just let go of the camera?”
Courtesy of Blumhouse Productions
The Shyamalan comparisons to Spielberg always had to deal with the familial relational aspect placed in an extraordinary situation. The focus on children working through mistakes committed by their parents works really well, as if it is a direct ode to Spielberg's 80's Amblin movies. This is the first time in a Shyamalan films since “The Sixth Sense” that it worked beyond the gimmick of the movie.
That is, until the third act. I’m not sure if it is a crutch for him, but there is twist in this film that ultimately made an audience member cry out, “Are you serious?” This was at a matinee screening on a Friday, which is the usually the most lethargic of movie-going audiences. Whatever had been achieved was completely destroyed by the third act of the film. The film devolved from something that could be potentially interesting about grief, family, and old age into, well, a found footage horror film.
Overall, the lack of budget, movie stars, and scope brought out the best in Shyamalan. “The Visit," while not a good movie, is a step closer to the potential that was seen in 1999. Whatever the case, this is the first time in a long time that I am happily waiting to see what is next for M. Night Shyamalan.
2 ½ Jump Scares out of 5
