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Another horror dud from Shyamalan
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A FAMILY get-together starts out strange and quickly enters nightmare territory in “The Visit,” a horror-thriller that turns soiled adult diapers into a motif.
Told from a camera-equipped kids’-eye-view, M. Night Shyamalan’s latest is well cast and strong on setting. But the dull thudding that resounds isn’t part of its effective aural design; it’s the ungainly landing of nearly every shock and joke.
Notwithstanding the evidence of Shyamalan’s features since the pitch-perfect “Sixth Sense,” hope endures among fans that lightning will strike twice. That anticipation will drive theatrical business for the feature, as will the lure of sheer horror fun, at least until word-of-mouth stems the box-office tide.
Early in the film, there’s a wonderful moment when a mom’s exuberant clowning shifts to tears. Played by the terrific Kathryn Hahn, she’s a divorced woman seeing her kids off at the train station. From that point on, the energy, warmth and nuance of her performance is reduced to intermittent Skype sessions — a crucial element to the story, but nonetheless a letdown for the viewer.
To give Mom time alone with her boyfriend, teenage Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and tween Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) have volunteered for a weeklong stay at their grandparents’ farm.
The camera-wielding siblings, budding auteur Becca in particular, sense an opportunity to make a documentary that uncovers the generational rift between their grandparents and their mother.
Cinematographer Maryse Alberti captures the sense of a nonstop work in progress, seen through the lenses of the kids’ video cameras and laptop, with reality-style interviews and off-center framing. Shyamalan uses the various devices to tiring effect, and without conjuring the requisite deep chills.
The rural winter backdrop works as a fitting contrast to Mom’s Skype dispatches from her sunny cruise-ship vacation. Within what’s essentially a single setting, Shyamalan and Alberti keep things visually diverse but cohesive, while Naaman Marshall’s clean farmhouse interiors avoid the common trap of over-design.
In one of the few gags that connects in this missed opportunity of a film, Tyler utters the names of female singers rather than cursing when he’s upset or disappointed. To borrow that conceit, a fair response to “The Visit” might be “Cher, Rihanna, Madonna.”
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