We were shaken, moved, and surprised by the twists and turns in M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense, Signs, and The Village. But now after several sci-fi action flicks, he has turned to the popular horror & comedy genre. Teenage Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and her younger brother Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) are sent on a visit where they find themselves in great danger.
Their mother (Kathryn Hahn) had a falling out with her parents 15 years ago but has refused to reveal what happened to cause this rift. Now their grandparents – Nana (Deanna Dunagan) and Pop Pop (Peter McRobbie) want to get to know Becca and Tyler so they invite them to their home in rural Pennsylvania. Things go well at first as the boy amuses them with his original rap songs (irritatingly banal) and his sister begins her documentary film (boring) about this family reunion.
But soon things turn weird and scary with Nana's nighttime excursions during which she runs screaming through the house, Pop Pop's attack of a stranger on the street, and warnings about not going into the basement or staying up past 9:30 pm.
It's been 15 years since the release of The Sixth Sense and with The Visit, writer and director M. Night Shamalan has reached the low point in his career. The big surprise doesn't add up to much of anything. This kids-in-jeopardy tale seems to have no other point than to ridicule elders with comic slurs on their bodies, forgetfulness, eccentricities, malevolence, and mental defects.