The Visit (2015 American film)

Last updated

The Visit
The Visit (2015 film) poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Written byM. Night Shyamalan
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Maryse Alberti
Edited byLuke Ciarrocchi
Production
companies
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release dates
  • August 30, 2015 (2015-08-30)(Dublin)
  • September 11, 2015 (2015-09-11)(United States)
Running time
94 minutes [1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$5 million [2]
Box office$98.5 million [3]

The Visit is a 2015 American found footage horror film written, co-produced and directed by M. Night Shyamalan and starring Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould, Deanna Dunagan, Peter McRobbie, and Kathryn Hahn. The film centers around two young siblings, teenage girl Becca (DeJonge) and her younger brother Tyler (Oxenbould) who go to stay with their estranged grandparents. During their stay, the siblings notice their grandparents behaving bizarrely and they set out to find the truth behind the strange circumstances at the farmstead.

Contents

The film was released in North America on September 11, 2015, by Universal Pictures. It grossed $98.5 million worldwide against a $5 million production budget and received positive reviews from critics, with many calling it a return-to-form for Shyamalan's career.

Plot

Two siblings from Philadelphia, Becca and Tyler, prepare for a five-day visit with their grandparents while their divorced mother Loretta goes on a cruise with her boyfriend. Loretta reveals that she has not spoken to her parents in 15 years after marrying her high-school teacher, of whom her parents disapproved. Having never met their grandparents, the teens plan to record a documentary film about their visit using a camcorder.

Becca and Tyler meet their grandparents, referred to as "Nana" and "Pop Pop," at a train station. When they arrive at their isolated farmhouse, Becca and Tyler are instructed to never go into the basement because it contains mold, and that bedtime is at 9:30 every evening, after which they should not leave their room. Although at first, the grandparents seem pleasant, their behavior gradually becomes peculiar. The first night, an hour past curfew, Becca ventures downstairs for something to eat and sees Nana projectile vomiting. During the day, Nana chases the teens while they play hide-and-seek. Later, Tyler finds a pile of soiled diapers in the shed. In town, Pop Pop attacks a man he thinks is following them. When challenged, both grandparents are dismissive of each other's behavior. As the erratic behavior intensifies, Becca and Tyler's documentary-style film evolves into one of mystery-solving and evidence collection.

A woman Nana and Pop Pop helped in counseling brings a blueberry cobbler to thank them, but following a confrontation is not seen leaving. Concerned about the series of strange events, Tyler decides to secretly film the living room during the night, but Nana discovers the camera and tries unsuccessfully to break into the children's locked bedroom with a knife.

Upon watching the footage of Nana with the knife, Becca and Tyler video call Loretta and beg her to collect them. They use the laptop camera to show Loretta the odd behavior of her parents, who are outside the house. Upon seeing them, Loretta, distressed, identifies that the couple her children have been staying with are not her parents. Realizing they have been staying with strangers, the teenagers try to escape the house and discover the visitor who went missing hanging from a tree. The "grandparents" find the children and force them to play Yahtzee. Later, Becca sneaks into the basement and finds the decomposed corpses of their real grandparents, along with uniforms from the psychiatric hospital at which they worked, revealing that their "grandparents" are actually escaped patients. Pop Pop grabs Becca and imprisons her in his bedroom with Nana, who tries to attack her in a psychotic fit. He then tortures Tyler by smearing his face with his dirty diaper. Following a struggle, Becca fatally stabs Nana with a glass shard from a broken mirror, then runs to the kitchen and attacks Pop Pop. As Pop Pop gains the upper hand, Tyler knocks him to the floor and kills him by repeatedly bashing his head with the refrigerator door. The teens escape outside, where they are met by their mother and police officers.

In the aftermath, Becca asks Loretta about what happened the day she left home fifteen years earlier. Loretta reflects that she had a major argument with her parents, during which she hit her mother and was then struck by her father. Loretta then left home and ignored their attempts to contact her. Loretta concludes that reconciliation was always possible had she wanted it. She tells Becca not to hold on to anger over her father's abandonment, and Becca decides to include footage of her father in their documentary after earlier saying she would not do so.

Tyler records and does a freestyle rap about him and his sister's misadventure with the fake grandparents in front of Becca, much to her annoyance.

Cast

Production

Development

After The Last Airbender and After Earth failed critically, Shyamalan funded The Visit by borrowing $5 million against his home. [5]

Filming

Filming began on February 19, 2014, under the preliminary title Sundowning. [6] Sundowning is the increased restlessness and confusion of some dementia patients during the afternoon and evening. [7] Shyamalan's Blinding Edge Pictures was the production company, with Shyamalan and Marc Bienstock producing, and Steven Schneider and Ashwin Rajan as executive producers. [8] [9]

Although thousands of American children were auditioned for the film's two lead roles of Becca and Tyler, in what Shyamalan later characterized as a "total fluke", he eventually selected a pair of relatively unknown Australian juvenile actors, Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould, to portray the film's dual Philadelphia-native teenage protagonists. [10] [11]

Every Hollywood studio passed on the rough cut, and Shyamalan feared that he would lose the millions he had invested in the film. [5] Shyamalan admitted that he had trouble keeping the tone for the film consistent during the editing phase, telling Bloody Disgusting that the first cut of the film resembled an art house film more than a horror film. A second cut went in the opposite direction and the film became a comedy. He eventually struck a middle balance and cut the film as a thriller, which, according to him, helped tie the different elements together as they "could stay in service of the movie". [12] After revisions Universal Pictures agreed to distribute the film, and producer Jason Blum and his company Blumhouse Productions were included in the film's opening. [13] [5]

Music

There is no film score for most of the film, as is common for found footage films. Paul Cantelon is credited for "epilogue theme". A few songs are heard during the film.

Release

Universal began The Visit's theatrical wide release in the United States on September 11, 2015. [14] On April 17, 2015, the first official trailer was released to theaters, attached to the film Unfriended , and it was released online later that week. [13] [15] The film premiered in the Republic of Ireland on August 30, 2015, in a special screening that was attended by Shyamalan. [16]

Home media

The Visit was released on Blu-ray and DVD on January 5, 2016. [17]

Reception

Box office

The Visit grossed over $65.2 million in the United States and Canada and over $33.2 million in other territories for a worldwide total of over $98.4 million, against a budget of $5 million. [3] The film grossed $25.4 million in its opening weekend, finishing second at the box office behind The Perfect Guy by just $460,000. [18] Shyamalan kept a list of Hollywood executives who had refused to distribute The Visit, stating in 2018 that most had since lost their jobs. [5]

Critical response

The Visit received generally positive reviews from critics. [19] On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 68%, based on 231 reviews, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The Visit provides horror fans with a satisfying blend of thrills and laughs – and also signals a welcome return-to-form for writer-director M. Night Shyamalan." [20] On Metacritic the film has a score of 55 out of 100 based on 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [21] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale. [22]

Scott Mendelson from Forbes called Shyamalan's film a "deliciously creepy and funny little triumph". He also wrote, "The Visit is the one we've been waiting for, folks. It's good. Oh my word, is it good. But more importantly, it is excellent in that specific way that reminds us why M. Night Shyamalan was once such a marvel. It is richly humanistic, filled with individually sketched characters that often sparkle with wit and surprising decency." [23] In The New York Times , Manohla Dargis described the film as "an amusingly-grim fairy tale". Shyamalan has gone back to basics, "with a stripped-down story and scale, a largely-unknown (excellent) cast and one of those classically-tinged tales of child peril that have reliably spooked audiences for generations". [24] She, along with other critics, [25] [26] saw the film as a modern-day version of the classic fairytale Hansel and Gretel.

In his column for The Observer , Mark Kermode panned the film, saying it may be worse than Lady in the Water . He wrote, "Is it meant to be a horror film? Or a comedy? The publicity calls it 'an original thriller' but it is neither of those things. Only 'endurance test' adequately describes the ill-judged shenanigans that ensue." [27] Mike McCahill gave the film one star (out of five) in his review for The Guardian , and said it was "dull, derivative and flatly unscary." [28]

Accolades

AwardCategorySubjectResult
Fangoria Chainsaw AwardsBest Wide Release Film M. Night Shyamalan Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Deanna Dunagan 3rd place
Fright Meter AwardsWon
Golden Raspberry Award Razzie Redeemer Award M. Night ShyamalanNominated
Golden Schmoes AwardBest Horror Movie of the YearNominated
Online Film & Television Association AwardBest Youth Performance Ed Oxenbould Nominated
Phoenix Film Critics SocietyBest Performance by a YouthNominated
Rondo Hatton Classic HorrorRondo Statuette for Best MovieM. Night ShyamalanNominated
Saturn Awards Best Horror Film Nominated
Best Performance by a Younger Actor Olivia DeJonge Nominated
Young Artist Award Best Leading Young Actress in a Feature Film Nominated

Related Research Articles

<i>The Sixth Sense</i> 1999 film by M. Night Shyamalan

The Sixth Sense is a 1999 American psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It stars Bruce Willis as a child psychologist whose patient claims he can see and talk to the dead.

<i>Unbreakable</i> (film) 2000 film by M. Night Shyamalan

Unbreakable is a 2000 American superhero thriller film written, produced, and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, and starring Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Robin Wright, Spencer Treat Clark, and Charlayne Woodard. It is the first installment in the Unbreakable film series. In Unbreakable, David Dunn (Willis) survives a train crash with no injuries, leading to the realization that he harbors superhuman abilities. As he begins to grapple with this discovery, he comes to the attention of disabled comic book store owner Elijah Price (Jackson), who manipulates David to understand him.

<i>Signs</i> (film) 2002 film by M. Night Shyamalan

Signs is a 2002 American science fiction horror film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan and produced by Shyamalan, Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy and Sam Mercer. The film was produced by Blinding Edge Pictures and The Kennedy/Marshall Company. It was commercially distributed by Touchstone Pictures theatrically, and by Touchstone Home Entertainment in home media format. Its story focuses on a former Episcopal priest named Graham Hess, played by Mel Gibson, who discovers a series of crop circles in his cornfield and that the phenomenon is a result of extraterrestrial life. It also stars Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin and Abigail Breslin. Signs explores the themes of faith, kinship and extraterrestrials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M. Night Shyamalan</span> American filmmaker (born 1970)

Manoj Nelliyattu "M. Night" Shyamalan is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. His films often employ supernatural plots and twist endings. The cumulative gross of his films exceeds $3.3 billion globally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blinding Edge Pictures</span> American thriller film production company

Blinding Edge Pictures is an American film and television production company, founded in 1998 by M. Night Shyamalan. The company is known for producing films, such as the Unbreakable series, Signs, The Village, The Happening, After Earth, The Visit, Old and Knock at the Cabin.

<i>The Happening</i> (2008 film) Film by M. Night Shyamalan

The Happening is a 2008 science fiction thriller film written, directed, and produced by M. Night Shyamalan. It stars Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo, and Betty Buckley and revolves around an inexplicable natural disaster causing mass suicides.

Deanna Dunagan is an American actress. While principally active as a stage actress, she has also worked in television and film. She is best known for her Tony Award-winning portrayal of Violet Weston in Tracy Letts' August: Osage County and for her portrayal of Nana in M. Night Shyamalan's 2015 film The Visit. She has also appeared in the recurring roles of Mother Bernadette on the Fox television series The Exorcist and Mrs. Charles on Chicago Med. She portrayed Dr. Willa Sipe in the 2018 film An Acceptable Loss by writer Joe Chappelle; and starred as Sharon in the 2021 film Stillwater alongside Matt Damon and Abigail Breslin.

<i>Paranormal Activity</i> 2007 film by Oren Peli

Paranormal Activity is a 2007 American supernatural horror film produced, written, directed, photographed and edited by Oren Peli. It centers on a young couple who are haunted by a supernatural presence inside their home. They then set up a camera to document what is haunting them. The film uses found-footage conventions that were mirrored in the later films of the series.

<i>Devil</i> (2010 film) 2010 film by John Erick Dowdle

Devil is a 2010 American supernatural horror film directed by John Erick Dowdle. The screenplay by Brian Nelson was from a story by M. Night Shyamalan. Starring Chris Messina, Logan Marshall-Green, Geoffrey Arend, Bojana Novakovic, Jenny O'Hara, and Bokeem Woodbine, the film revolves around five strangers who become trapped in an elevator. Devil was released on September 17, 2010. Critics praised the film's atmosphere and performances, but criticized the short running-time.

Radio Silence Productions is an American film and television production company, founded in 2011 by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, Justin Martinez and Chad Villella. The group is known for the horror films Ready or Not, Scream and Scream VI, as well as their previous work together as Chad, Matt & Rob.

<i>The Town That Dreaded Sundown</i> (2014 film) 2014 American film

The Town That Dreaded Sundown is a 2014 American slasher film and serves as a metafictional sequel to the 1976 film of the same name. Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon in his feature-length directorial debut, the film was written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and produced by Jason Blum and Ryan Murphy. The film stars Addison Timlin, Travis Tope, Spencer Treat Clark, Veronica Cartwright and Gary Cole and was one of the last films of Ed Lauter and Edward Herrmann before their deaths in October 2013 and December 2014, respectively.

<i>Burying the Ex</i> 2014 film by Joe Dante

Burying the Ex is a 2014 American zombie comedy film directed by Joe Dante and written by Alan Trezza, starring Anton Yelchin, Ashley Greene, Alexandra Daddario and Oliver Cooper. It screened out of competition at the 71st Venice International Film Festival, and was released on June 19, 2015, by Image Entertainment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olivia DeJonge</span> Australian actress (born 1998)

Olivia DeJonge is an Australian actress. On television, she is known for her roles in the ABC1 series Hiding (2015) and the Netflix series The Society (2019), and films include The Visit (2015), Better Watch Out (2016), and Elvis (2022).

<i>Split</i> (2016 American film) Horror thriller film by M. Night Shyamalan

Split is a 2016 American psychological thriller film written, directed and produced by M. Night Shyamalan, and starring James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Betty Buckley. The film follows a man with dissociative identity disorder who kidnaps and imprisons three teenage girls in an isolated underground facility.

<i>Glass</i> (2019 film) 2019 film by M. Night Shyamalan

Glass is a 2019 superhero film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, who also produced with Jason Blum, Marc Bienstock, and Ashwin Rajan. The film is a crossover and sequel to Shyamalan's previous films Unbreakable (2000) and Split (2016) and the third and final installment in the Unbreakable trilogy. Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Spencer Treat Clark, and Charlayne Woodard reprise their Unbreakable roles, while James McAvoy and Anya Taylor-Joy return as their Split characters, with Sarah Paulson, Adam David Thompson, and Luke Kirby joining the cast. The film sees David Dunn / The Overseer as he and Kevin Wendell Crumb / The Horde are captured and placed in a psychiatric facility with Elijah Price / Mr. Glass, where they contemplate the authenticity of their superhuman powers.

<i>Better Watch Out</i> 2016 psychological horror Christmas film

Better Watch Out is a 2016 Christmas psychological horror film directed by Chris Peckover, from a script he co-wrote with Zack Kahn. It stars Olivia DeJonge, Levi Miller and Ed Oxenbould. The film had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest on September 22, 2016, and was released in the United States on October 6, 2017, by Well Go USA and in Australia on November 23, 2017, by Rialto Distribution.

<i>Unbreakable</i> (film series) American superhero thriller and psychological horror film series

The Unbreakable trilogy, also known as the Eastrail 177 Trilogy, is an American superhero thriller and psychological horror film series. The films were written, produced, and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The trilogy consists of Unbreakable (2000), Split (2016), and Glass (2019).

<i>Old</i> (film) 2021 film by M. Night Shyamalan

Old is a 2021 American body horror thriller film written, directed, and produced by M. Night Shyamalan. It is based on the French-language Swiss graphic novel Sandcastle by Pierre Oscar Lévy and Frederik Peeters. The film features an ensemble cast consisting of Gael García Bernal, Vicky Krieps, Rufus Sewell, Alex Wolff, Thomasin McKenzie, Abbey Lee, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Ken Leung, Eliza Scanlen, Aaron Pierre, Embeth Davidtz, and Emun Elliott. The plot follows a group of people who find themselves aging rapidly on a secluded beach.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M. Night Shyamalan filmography</span>

Indian-American filmmaker and actor M. Night Shyamalan began his career in 1992 with the student film Praying with Anger, which he wrote, directed, produced, and starred in. He then wrote the screenplays for the comedy movies Wide Awake and Stuart Little (1999). In 1999, he rose to prominence for writing and directing the supernatural movie The Sixth Sense, for which he received Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. He then wrote, directed, and produced the superhero movie Unbreakable, the first entry in the Eastrail 177 Trilogy followed by Split in 2016 and Glass in 2019.

<i>Knock at the Cabin</i> 2023 film by M. Night Shyamalan

Knock at the Cabin is a 2023 American apocalyptic psychological horror film written, directed and produced by M. Night Shyamalan, who wrote the screenplay from an initial draft by Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman. It is based on the 2018 novel The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul G. Tremblay, the first adaptation of one of his works. The film stars Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Kristen Cui, Abby Quinn, and Rupert Grint. In the film, a family vacationing at a remote cabin is suddenly held hostage by four strangers, who ask something unimaginable.

References

  1. ↑ "The Visit". British Board of Film Classification . Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  2. ↑ "The Visit (2015)". The Numbers . Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
  3. 1 2 "The Visit (2015)". Box Office Mojo . IMDb. Archived from the original on February 11, 2021. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "The Visit also stars Erica Lynne Marszalek, Peter McRobbie, Olivia DeJonge, Deanna Dunagan, Benjamin Kanes, Jon Douglas Rainey, Brian Gildea, Shawn Gonzalez, Richard Barlow, Steve Annan, and Michael Mariano". Bloody Disgusting . Retrieved January 16, 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Hiatt, Brian (December 20, 2018). "The Fall and Rise of M. Night Shyamalan". Rolling Stone.
  6. ↑ Billington, Alex (February 26, 2014). "M. Night Shyamalan is Now Filming Microbudget Horror 'Sundowning'". FirstShowing.net.
  7. ↑ Khachiyants N, Trinkle D, Son SJ, Kim KY (2011). "Sundown syndrome in persons with dementia: an update". Psychiatry Investig. 8 (4): 275–87. doi:10.4306/pi.2011.8.4.275. PMC   3246134 . PMID   22216036.
  8. ↑ Anderton, Ethan (March 24, 2014). "M. Night Shyamalan's Low Budget 'Sundowning' Plot & Cast Revealed". FirstShowing.net.
  9. ↑ Sneider, Jeff (March 21, 2014). "M. Night Shyamalan's 'Sundowning' Stars Kathryn Hahn, Ed Oxenbould (Exclusive)". TheWrap . Retrieved August 29, 2015.
  10. ↑ Sue Yeap (September 24, 2015). "Scary fun at Nana's place". The West Australian. Archived from the original on January 31, 2016. Retrieved January 2, 2016.
  11. ↑ Neala Johnson (September 15, 2015). "How Aussie kids Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould survived the scares of M. Night Shyamalan's The Visit". The News Corp Australia Network. Retrieved January 2, 2016.
  12. ↑ "[Interview] M. Night Shyamalan On 'The Visit,' His First True Horror Film!". Bloody-Disgusting. July 11, 2015. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
  13. 1 2 Michelle McCue (April 18, 2015). "M. Night Shyamalan's THE VISIT Trailer Attached To UNFRIENDED; First Poster In Theaters". We Are Movie Geeks. Retrieved August 29, 2015.
  14. ↑ "M. Night Shyamalan's 'The Visit' Has "Disturbing Thematic Material"". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved January 16, 2014.
  15. ↑ Shyamalan, M. Night [@MNightShyamalan] (April 18, 2015). "It'll be online next week!" (Tweet). Retrieved August 29, 2015– via Twitter.
  16. ↑ "M Night Shyamalan in Dublin for The Visit". RTE. August 30, 2015.
  17. ↑ "The Visit (2015) Release Dates". Movie Insider. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  18. ↑ Busch, Anita. "'The Perfect Guy' Edges Out 'The Visit' To Take No. 1 — B.O. Final". Deadline. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
  19. ↑ "The Perfect Guy' scares off 'The Visit' at Friday's box office". LA Times.com. September 12, 2015. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
  20. ↑ "The Visit (2015)". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved August 9, 2022.
  21. ↑ "The Visit (2015)". Metacritic . Fandom, Inc. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
  22. ↑ "'The Perfect Guy' Scores On Date Night, 'The Visit' Stays Strong – B.O. Friday". deadline.com. September 14, 2015.
  23. ↑ "M. Night Shyamalan's 'The Visit' Is A Glorious Return To Form". Forbes. Retrieved September 18, 2015.
  24. ↑ Dargis, Manohla (September 10, 2015). "Review: 'The Visit' Is 'Hansel and Gretel' With Less Candy and More Camcorders". The New York Times. Retrieved September 18, 2015.
  25. ↑ Murphy, Kathleen (September 10, 2015). "Film Review: The Visit" . Retrieved February 4, 2017.
  26. ↑ O'Malley, Sheila. "The Visit Movie Review & Film Summary (2015) - Roger Ebert" . Retrieved February 4, 2017.
  27. ↑ "Review: 'ill-judged shenanigans from M Night Shyamalan'". The Guardian. September 13, 2015. Retrieved September 13, 2015.
  28. ↑ "Review: 'M Night Shyamalan's found-footage loser'". The Guardian. September 10, 2015. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.