The Visit 2015

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: Alas, it's a dopey, only mildly chilling, uneasy mix of horror and dark comedy, scoring few points in either category. Read more

Wesley Morris, Grantland: It was fun watching this with a gasping and screaming audience. For horror-goers, the comparative competence must hit the spot. But there's nothing new here -- and what I sensed for 94 minutes was compromise. Read more

Sara Stewart, New York Post: Dunagan and McRobbie have a blast in their respective roles, alternating between everyday grandparent oddities and behavior that wouldn't be out of place at the Overlook Hotel. And overall, the young duo makes an affable pair of narrators. Read more

Geoff Berkshire, Variety: Even if there's less chance the audience will burst out in fits of inappropriate chuckles, as was often the case in, say, "The Happening" or "Lady in the Water," Shyamalan still can't quite pull off the delicate tonal balance he's after. Read more

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AV Club: Following a creative low period that found the director trying his hand at effects-driven fantasy and sci-fi, it can't help but come across as a comeback. Read more

Randy Cordova, Arizona Republic: A scary fun-house ride that expertly blends jittery tension and laugh-out-loud humor, it will make you forgive the filmmaker for such major time-wasters as "Lady in the Water," "After Earth" and "The Happening." Read more

Tom Russo, Boston Globe: A relentlessly tense journey into the bizarre, with jolts that linger and some nicely played melancholy. What's more, the movie is often surprisingly, wickedly funny ... Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: [Shyamalan's] manipulation of tone is impressive -- he gets you to laugh at the grandparents' strange behavior, only to shift gears into horror when you least expect it. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: There's undeniable fun in watching a couple of veteran actors get strange with two newcomers. "The Visit" may be worth one. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: The Visit is lightweight and doesn't have the emotional resonance of The Sixth Sense, but it's a welcome return to form for a director who seemed doomed to a future of remembering better days. Read more

Clark Collis, Entertainment Weekly: Suffice to say that the result is an effective scare machine and a semi-return to form for its creator. Read more

Michael Sragow, Los Angeles Times: The honorable tradition of American moviemakers wringing laughs and gasps from bucolic lunatics dates back to "Murder, He Says" (1945). Unfortunately, "The Visit" isn't part of it. Read more

Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News: Frightfully fun, with Shyamalan relentless toying with us and cramming in horror genre references. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Here is a movie in which old people are scary because they're senile and icky and incontinent and do baffling things. And they're, you know, so old and wrinkly. Read more

Richard Brody, New Yorker: For all its intelligence and craft, M. Night Shyamalan's foray into the genre of found-footage horror has the feeling of homework done well. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: While the production values are simple, the script is sneakily complex. Like the best horror merchants, Shyamalan exploits our secret fears - in this case, of old age, ill health and dementia. Read more

Peter Hall, New York Daily News: A messed-up fairy tale that often nails the sweet spot between scaring us and letting us laugh at how scared we are. It's crowd-pleasing horror, the kind that can push moviegoers to the edge of their seats and send them to the water cooler the next day. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: The director M. Night Shyamalan has a fine eye and a nice, natural way with actors, and he has a talent for gently rap-rap-rapping on your nerves. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Isn't the whole handheld "real-video" thing kind of old by now? Isn't the Shyamalanian-twist thing kind of old by now, too? Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Despite a promising premise and effective "Shyamalan twist", this low-budget horror film still underwhelms. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Not in the same league as The Sixth Sense, but Shyamalan ends a long dry spell with The Visit. No spoilers, except to say that cheap thrills can still be a blast. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: It's creepy, sure, but not very enjoyable, basement or no. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: Much like Shyamalan's flawed/interesting films "Signs" and "The Village," the filmmaker promises more than he can deliver. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: By remaining a smartly staged thriller rather than a formula shocker, it does quite well with precisely what it set out to do: play on all our fears like a Steinway grand piano. Read more

Christopher Orr, The Atlantic: It is with some surprise-and perhaps even a hint of disappointment-that I must report that The Visit is merely mediocre and not the breathtaking calamity that we've come to anticipate from its author. Read more

Brad Wheeler, Globe and Mail: I hear Hollywood whispers. I feel something is amiss. I see dead directorial reputations. And I smell a comeback. Read more

Bruce Demara, Toronto Star: M. Night Shyamalan's latest film may well have been his last chance at redemption. Fortunately, he rises to the challenge and makes The Visit good, scary fun. Read more

James Rocchi, TheWrap: Startling but never terrifying, "The Visit" may make a little money, but it does not mark a return to long-lost greatness for Shyamalan. It's more of the same, presented on a smaller, cheaper canvas where you can see every flaw all the more clearly. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: The result is a bizarre, conflicted mess, horrifying when it's trying to be funny, oddly appealing when it turns the screws. Read more

Steve Tilley, Toronto Sun: Fortunately, The Visit has a lot of (intentional!) laughs between the creepy bits and jump scares, and never takes itself too seriously. Read more

Brian Truitt, USA Today: The low-budget thriller deftly mixes horror-movie moments, pure strangeness and comedy like a family-friendly David Lynch effort as it takes audiences on one really oddball trip to grandma's house. Read more

Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice: The best studio horror flick in recent years, combining the but-what's-in-those-shadows? immersion of The Conjuring, James Wan's basement-wandering simulator, with the crack scripting and meta-cinematic surprises of Shyamalan's best early films. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: An unoriginal faux-doc horror picture that actually works like a demonic charm. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: An effective if flawed psychological thriller, a modest campfire story with a solid, genuinely startling twist that is likely to restore the faith of some of [Shyamalan's] critics. Read more