#m night

This. Film. Was. Bad. With most other films I’d be willing to say that you are entitled to your own opinion, but I can legitimately not see why an audience would enjoy this as a serious horror. M. Night should go into straight up parodies because his recent scripts would land much better when we’re allowed to laugh and not feel like we’re kicking a man’s dreams in the tenderloins.

Firstly, we’re talking a Blumhouse production, so it’s already a mixed bag. Although this studio has given us some absolute gems like Get Out or even Happy Death Day, it doesn’t deserve a free pass for Truth or Dare, and this mockery of the found footage genre. So let’s discuss why exactly The Visit 2015 is pretty overrated.

1) Acting and Scripting. I have to talk about this first because I feel it’s the most broken aspect of this film. The performances are not up to par. I didn’t feel as if anyone cast truly fit their role, and I’ll say that’s the issue rather than the actors just being bad actors. However, I want to make it clear, for the most part I’d say with an amount of confidence these less than captivating performances are due to the script being trashy.

- Becca: The dialogue DeJonge is given just feels pretentious, and if this elaborated code of speech isn’t something you would use in real life regularly, it’s incredibly hard to make sound natural. DeJonge does well at attempting to make Becca this ambitious and mature girl, but I can tell this form of speech doesn’t fit naturally with her.

- Tyler: I respect this kid for powering through the cringe inducing dialogue he was given for about 90% of this film. I can see M. Night was going for that typical wannabe-edgy-hip-and-cool-preteen type of boy, but when the dialogue isn’t funny, the character lacks substance, or even a potential to relate. We’re not even going to talk about the rapping scenes.

2) Cheap “Scares”. The film isn’t scary, like at all. The only time you’re moved to emotional response is when there’s a sudden loud sound or weird animal growl after so many minutes of near silence in a dark house. It’s my pet peeve about horror films and thrillers because almost every film does it nowadays and it’s such a lazy way to create tension or climax that tension.

Also, why the hell does the grandmother just randomly let out these OBVIOUSLY TAKEN STRAIGHT FROM SOUND-CLOUD DOG NOISES?? Like she runs through shot or jumps into frame and they’ve edited in these really stupid sound effects even a TODDLER would think are too much.

3) Plot.

- A mother sent her children on a long distance trip to stay with people she never speaks to and that they themselves have never met.

- The grandparent’s act in ways that aren’t ‘strange’, they’re borderline psychotic at numerous stages and they choose to ignore it because.....screen-time quota?

- THE POLICE ARE ON THEIR WAY AND THESE PEOPLE ARE DANGEROUS BUT I’M GOING TO GO INTO THIS DARK BASEMENT WHERE THERE’S PROBABLY A DARK SECRET AND MAKE A LOAD OF NOISE

4) Found Footage. This is absolutely my biggest issue with this film. It shouldn’t have been found footage. Even a blend of documentary footage from Becca and regular movie camerawork would have been better for this film. The cameras they’re using are also way too high quality considering one of them is supposed to have come from a damaged goods bin. Also, there’s minimal effort to make it look as though the kids are actually filming with these cameras. Holding your arm up to the frame, does not make it look like you are holding the camera. Have you seen a movie camera? They weigh more than these children.

Film Review | The Last Airbender (2010)

So here’s the deal: this movie is not the hot garbage we’ve been made to believe. Sure, the performances are wooden and the script that made the final cut is condescending and schlocky - but there are some good pieces hidden in here. The score and production design are excellent, this was an animated-to-live-action adaptation ahead of its time.

M. Night flubbed this one by letting producers take control, that’s the big issue. The casting is white-washy and that’s the twist of the knife. It’s clear that everyone involved just messed up a few things and that snowballed into the emotional bore-fest that this film turned out to be. At best, it’ll get you (and me!) to go and finally watch the animated series if you haven’t yet.

90 of 365.