The low-budget found-footage creepyflick is being hailed as his best since at least The Village. The tl;dr: starts great, becomes a bit contrived, ends preachy.
"A modest undertaking and one with its share of flaws. But it’s not the breathtaking calamity that we’ve come to anticipate from its author," writes Christopher Orr, for The Atlantic.
"Finally, a Shyamalan production that felt fun again, that made me jump out of my seat with surprise instead of shrink into it with boredom," writes Wired's Jordan Crucciola. "I honestly think it’s the best time I’ve ever had at one of your movies."
Stephen Witty says he's "come to his senses"
He made a good movie again. "The Visit" is a deceptively simple story about two adolescents meeting their grandparents for the first time. Mom's a little worried about sending the kids off alone – she's been estranged from her parents since she left home – but she thinks the teens will enjoy it. And they do, for a while.
"…he skillfully taps the kinds of primitive fears that fuel scary campfire stories and horror flicks," writes Manohla Dargis, for the New York Times. "After straining at originality for too long, he has gone back to basics in “The Visit,” 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.
