Entertainment

Shyamalan's The Visit quickly outstays its welcome

Initially, the children are charmed by the old-fashioned ways of the grandparents
Initially, the children are charmed by the old-fashioned ways of the grandparents Initially, the children are charmed by the old-fashioned ways of the grandparents

THE phenomenal success of The Sixth Sense, the third feature of Indian-born film-maker M Night Shyamalan, was a blessing and a curse. Subsequent forays into the weird and wonderful have fallen short, with the exception of the unfairly maligned mystery, Unbreakable.

In The Visit, the writer-director embraces the current fad of found footage thrillers to recount an awkward reunion through the lens of a teenage girl, who is making a documentary about her dysfunctional family.

This flimsy conceit allows Shyamalan to alternate between static wide shots and juddering handheld footage, as characters flee for their lives with cameras supposedly in their sweaty palms.

Rebecca (Olivia DeJonge) and her scaredy-cat younger brother Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) prepare to spend a week in the country with the grandparents they have never met.

This estrangement stems from an unspoken incident that their single mother (Kathryn Hahn) refuses to discuss on camera.

"I did something that I choose not to tell you," she explains nervously.

While the mother spends quality time with her new boyfriend Miguel (Jorge Cordova), the children travel by train to meet their Nana (Deanna Dunagan) and Pop-Pop (Peter McRobbie).

Initially, the children are charmed by the old-fashioned ways of the grandparents, who volunteer at a local hospital and allow Rebecca and Tyler the run of the homestead, except for one area which is out of bounds.

"There's mould in the basement. We don't want you to get sick," casually explains Pop-Pop.

The old folks retire to bed and the children are asked to remain in their room. Late one night, Rebecca and Tyler hear strange sounds and they venture into the darkness to investigate...

The Visit is devoid of jump-out-of-your-skin scares. Creeping tension is restricted to one scene in the kitchen that teasingly suggests Shyamalan is remaking a Brothers Grimm fairytale.

In the midst of the escalating madness, the teenage protagonist and her younger brother always manage to capture pivotal conversations and detail, which strains credibility.

Stylistic suspensions of disbelief would be tolerable if Shyamalan's script wasn't pocked with gaping plot holes and preposterous lapses in logic.

In particular, he asks us to accept that one character would be negligent and fail to share a basic yet essential piece of information, in order to engineer the film's ridiculous final act.

There is no big twist here like The Sixth Sense, just a big shameless cheat that we spot straight away.

THE VISIT (15, 94 mins) Thriller. Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould, Deanna Dunagan, Peter McRobbie, Kathryn Hahn, Jorge Cordova. Director: M Night Shyamalan

TWO STARS