night shyamalan the visit

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Critics Consensus

The Visit provides horror fans with a satisfying blend of thrills and laughs -- and also signals a welcome return to form for writer-director M. Night Shyamalan. Read critic reviews

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The visit videos, the visit photos.

Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and younger brother Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) say goodbye to their mother as they board a train and head deep into Pennsylvania farm country to meet their maternal grandparents for the first time. Welcomed by Nana (Deanna Dunagan) and Pop Pop (Peter McRobbie), all seems well until the siblings start to notice increasingly strange behavior from the seemingly charming couple. Once the children discover a shocking secret, they begin to wonder if they'll ever make it home.

Rating: PG-13 (Some Nudity|Brief Language|Terror|Thematic Material|Violence)

Genre: Mystery & thriller, Horror

Original Language: English

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Producer: M. Night Shyamalan , Jason Blum , Marc Bienstock

Writer: M. Night Shyamalan

Release Date (Theaters): Sep 11, 2015 wide

Release Date (Streaming): May 17, 2016

Box Office (Gross USA): $65.1M

Runtime: 1h 34m

Distributor: Universal Pictures

Production Co: Blinding Edge Pictures, Blumhouse

Sound Mix: Dolby Digital

Cast & Crew

Olivia DeJonge

Ed Oxenbould

Deanna Dunagan

Peter McRobbie

Kathryn Hahn

Celia Keenan-Bolger

Samuel Stricklen

Patch Darragh

Jorge Cordova

Steve Annan

Man on the Street

Benjamin Kanes

Ocean James

Young Becca

Seamus Moroney

Young Tyler

M. Night Shyamalan

Screenwriter

Marc Bienstock

Steven Schneider

Executive Producer

Ashwin Rajan

Maryse Alberti

Cinematographer

Luke Franco Ciarrocchi

Film Editing

Naaman Marshall

Production Design

Scott G. Anderson

Art Director

Christine Wick

Set Decoration

Amy Westcott

Costume Design

Douglas Aibel

News & Interviews for The Visit

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Critic Reviews for The Visit

Audience reviews for the visit.

Super creepy. Nice twist at the end.

A disturbing and creepy premise. It'll keep you watching until the very end!

The Visit was a not Shyamalan's greatest work but it worked in its low budget way. The acting was horrendous and the plot was predictable, though the camerawork was at least steady to not make it so shaky.

Risible "return to form" (it's not), featuring two INCREDIBLY irritating performances/characters at the centre. The found footage/documentary style grates and is noticeable only for its complete lack of style, the attempts at comedy are woeful and there is no suspense or shocks. The "twist", supposedly hiding in plain sight, is exactly what one supposes it might be from the first 10 minutes.

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M. Night Shyamalan had his heyday almost 20 years ago. He leapt out of the gate with such confidence he became a champion instantly. And then...something went awry. He became embarrassingly self-serious, his films drowning in pretension and strained allegories. His famous twists felt like a director attempting to re-create the triumph of " The Sixth Sense ," where the twist of the film was so successfully withheld from audiences that people went back to see the film again and again. But now, here comes " The Visit ," a film so purely entertaining that you almost forget how scary it is. With all its terror, "The Visit" is an extremely funny film.

There are too many horror cliches to even list ("gotcha" scares, dark basements, frightened children, mysterious sounds at night, no cellphone reception), but the main cliche is that it is a "found footage" film, a style already wrung dry. But Shyamalan injects adrenaline into it, as well as a frank admission that, yes, it is a cliche, and yes, it is absurd that one would keep filming in moments of such terror, but he uses the main strength of found footage: we are trapped by the perspective of the person holding the camera. Withhold visual information, lull the audience into safety, then turn the camera, and OH MY GOD WHAT IS THAT?

"The Visit" starts quietly, with Mom ( Kathryn Hahn ) talking to the camera about running away from home when she was 19: her parents disapproved of her boyfriend. She had two kids with this man who recently left them all for someone new. Mom has a brave demeanor, and funny, too, referring to her kids as "brats" but with mama-bear affection. Her parents cut ties with her, but now they have reached out from their snowy isolated farm and want to know their grandchildren. Mom packs the two kids off on a train for a visit.

Shyamalan breaks up the found footage with still shots of snowy ranks of trees, blazing sunsets, sunrise falling on a stack of logs. There are gigantic blood-red chapter markers: "TUESDAY MORNING", etc. These choices launch us into the overblown operatic horror style while commenting on it at the same time. It ratchets up the dread.

Becca ( Olivia DeJonge ) and Tyler ( Ed Oxenbould ) want to make a film about their mother's lost childhood home, a place they know well from all of her stories. Becca has done her homework about film-making, and instructs her younger brother about "frames" and "mise-en-scène." Tyler, an appealing gregarious kid, keeps stealing the camera to film the inside of his mouth and his improvised raps. Becca sternly reminds him to focus.

The kids are happy to meet their grandparents. They are worried about the effect their grandparents' rejection had on their mother (similar to Cole's worry about his mother's unfinished business with her own parent in "The Sixth Sense"). Becca uses a fairy-tale word to explain what she wants their film to do — it will be an "elixir" to bring home to Mom.

Nana ( Deanna Dunagan ), at first glance, is a Grandma out of a storybook, with a grey bun, an apron, and muffins coming out of the oven every hour. Pop Pop ( Peter McRobbie ) is a taciturn farmer who reminds the kids constantly that he and Nana are "old."

But almost immediately, things get crazy. What is Pop Pop doing out in the barn all the time? Why does Nana ask Becca to clean the oven, insisting that she crawl all the way in ? What are those weird sounds at night from outside their bedroom door? They have a couple of Skype calls with Mom, and she reassures them their grandparents are "weird" but they're also old, and old people are sometimes cranky, sometimes paranoid.

As the weirdness intensifies, Becca and Tyler's film evolves from an origin-story documentary to a mystery-solving investigation. They sneak the camera into the barn, underneath the house, they place it on a cabinet in the living room overnight, hoping to get a glimpse of what happens downstairs after they go to bed. What they see is more than they (and we) bargained for.

Dunagan and McRobbie play their roles with a melodramatic relish, entering into the fairy-tale world of the film. And the kids are great, funny and distinct. Tyler informs his sister that he wants to stop swearing so much, and instead will say the names of female pop singers. The joke is one that never gets old. He falls, and screams, "Sarah McLachlan!" When terrified, he whispers to himself, " Katy Perry ... " Tyler, filming his sister, asks her why she never looks in the mirror. "Your sweater is on backwards." As he grills her, he zooms in on her, keeping her face off-center, blurry grey-trunked trees filling most of the screen. The blur is the mystery around them. Cinematographer Maryse Alberti creates the illusion that the film is being made by kids, but also avoids the nauseating hand-held stuff that dogs the found-footage style.

When the twist comes, and you knew it was coming because Shyamalan is the director, it legitimately shocks. Maybe not as much as "The Sixth Sense" twist, but it is damn close. (The audience I saw it with gasped and some people screamed in terror.) There are references to " Halloween ", "Psycho" (Nana in a rocking chair seen from behind), and, of course, " Paranormal Activity "; the kids have seen a lot of movies, understand the tropes and try to recreate them themselves.

"The Visit" represents Shyamalan cutting loose, lightening up, reveling in the improvisational behavior of the kids, their jokes, their bickering, their closeness. Horror is very close to comedy. Screams of terror often dissolve into hysterical laughter, and he uses that emotional dovetail, its tension and catharsis, in almost every scene. The film is ridiculous on so many levels, the story playing out like the most monstrous version of Hansel & Gretel imaginable, and in that context, "ridiculous" is the highest possible praise.

Sheila O'Malley

Sheila O'Malley received a BFA in Theatre from the University of Rhode Island and a Master's in Acting from the Actors Studio MFA Program. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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The Visit (2015)

Rated PG-13 disturbing thematic material including terror, violence and some nudity, and for brief language

Kathryn Hahn as Mother

Ed Oxenbould as Tyler Jamison

Benjamin Kanes as Dad

Peter McRobbie as Pop-Pop

Olivia DeJonge as Rebecca Jamison

Deanna Dunagan as Nana

M. Night Shyamalan

Cinematography

Maryse Alberti
Luke Franco Ciarrocch

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The Ending Of The Visit Explained

The Visit M. Night Shyamalan Olivia DeJonge Deanna Dunagan

Contains spoilers for The Visit

M. Night Shyamalan is notorious for using dramatic twists towards the endings of his films, some of which are pulled off perfectly and add an extra layer of depth to a sprawling story (hello, Split ). Some of the director's other offerings simply keep the audience on their toes rather than having any extra subtext or hidden meaning. Shyamalan's 2015 found-footage horror-comedy The Visit , which he wrote and directed, definitely fits in the latter category, aiming for style over substance.

The Visit follows 15-year-old Becca Jamison (Olivia DeJonge) and her 13-year-old brother Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) when they spend the week with their mother's estranged parents, who live in another town. Loretta (played by WandaVision 's Kathryn Hahn ) never explained to her children why she separated herself away from her parents, but clearly hopes the weekend could help bring the family back together.

Although The Visit occasionally toys with themes of abandonment and fear of the unknown, it wasn't particularly well-received by critics on its initial release, as many struggled with its bizarre comedic tone in the found-footage style. So, after Tyler and his camera record a number of disturbing occurrences like Nana (Deanna Dunagan) projectile-vomiting in the middle of the night and discovering "Pop Pop"'s (Peter McRobbie) mountain of used diapers, it soon becomes clear that something isn't right with the grandparents.

Here's the ending of The Visit explained.

The Visit's twist plays on expectations

Because Shyamalan sets up the idea of the separation between Loretta and her parents very early on — and doesn't show their faces before Becca and Tyler meet them — the film automatically creates a false sense of security. Even more so since the found-footage style restricts the use of typical exposition methods like flashbacks or other scenes which would indicate that Nana and Pop Pop aren't who they say they are. Audiences have no reason to expect that they're actually two escapees from a local psychiatric facility.

The pieces all come together once Becca discovers her real grandparents' corpses in the basement, along with some uniforms from the psychiatric hospital. It confirms "Nana" and "Pop-Pop" escaped from the institution and murdered the Jamisons because they were a similar age, making it easy to hide their whereabouts from the authorities. And they would've gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those meddling kids.)

However, after a video call from Loretta reveals that the pair aren't her parents, the children are forced to keep up appearances — but the unhinged duo start to taunt the siblings. Tyler in particular is forced to face his fear of germs as "Pop Pop" wipes dirty diapers in his face. The germophobia is something Shyamalan threads through Tyler's character throughout The Visit, and the encounter with "Pop Pop" is a basic attempt of showing he's gone through some kind of trial-by-fire to get over his fears.

But the Jamison kids don't take things lying down: They fight back in vicious fashion — a subversion of yet another expectation that young teens might would wait for adults or law enforcement officers to arrive before doing away with their tormentors.

Its real message is about reconciliation

By the time Becca stabs "Nana" to death and Tyler has repeatedly slammed "Pop-Pop"'s head with the refrigerator door, their mother and the police do arrive to pick up the pieces. In a last-ditch attempt at adding an emotional undertone, Shyamalan reveals Loretta left home after a huge argument with her parents. She hit her mother, and her father hit her in return. But Loretta explains that reconciliation was always on the table if she had stopped being so stubborn and just reached out. One could take a domino-effect perspective and even say that Loretta's stubbornness about not reconnecting and her sustained distance from her parents put them in exactly the vulnerable position they needed to be for "Nana" and "Pop-Pop" to murder them.

Loretta's confession actually mirrors something "Pop-Pop" told Tyler (before his run-in with the refrigerator door): that he and "Nana" wanted to spend one week as a normal family before dying. They should've thought about that before murdering a pair of innocent grandparents, but here we are.

So, is The Visit trying to say that if we don't keep our families together, they'll be replaced by imposters and terrify our children? Well, probably not. The Visit tries to deliver a message about breaking away from old habits, working through your fears, and stop being so stubborn over arguments that don't have any consequences in the long-run. Whether it actually sticks the landing on all of those points is still up for debate.

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Entertainment
Movie Review

The Visit review: the most shocking M. Night Shyamalan twist is a good movie

By Bryan Bishop
on September 10, 2015 10:18 am

A decade ago it was impossible to discuss supernatural thrillers without invoking the name of M. Night Shyamalan. After exploding into the popular consciousness with The Sixth Sense , the writer-director staked his claim with carefully crafted follow-ups like Signs and Unbreakable , eventually leading Newsweek to dub him “The Next Spielberg.” But Shyamalan faltered soon thereafter, and by the time his sci-fi adaptation After Earth rolled around two years ago, his name was practically being hidden in studio marketing materials .

With irrelevancy lurking in the shadows, like one of his fictional boogeymen, the director needed to save his career. So Shyamalan switched things up — trying his hand at television with the quirky Wayward Pines , and leaving Hollywood behind altogether for his new movie The Visit . As the filmmaker told us in July , The Visit was a completely self-funded affair, with Shyamalan putting up the money so he could make a smaller film in relative secrecy without the interference of studios or outside influences. The result is the best snapshot we have of Shyamalan the filmmaker as he stands today.

Judging from the bonkers mix of horror and comedy that is The Visit , he may have gone totally insane — and that’s a wonderful thing.

The movie follows 15-year-old Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and her younger brother Tyler (a hilarious Ed Oxenbould). Their mother, played by Kathryn Hahn, is still suffering in the wake of her recent divorce, and to give everyone some space, the kids go off for a week to visit their grandparents for the very first time. Nana and Pop Pop (Deanna Dunagan and Peter McRobbie) are warm, if not a bit quirky, at first, but as the visit stretches on, it becomes clear that something is very, very wrong.

Yes, The Visit is a found footage movie, and it’s the first clue that this is a break from the Shyamalan we’ve seen before. As a director, he built his career on meticulously crafted shots and camera moves that carried an almost mathematical precision, but that’s all thrown out the window here. Becca is an aspiring filmmaker, intent on documenting the visit for her mom, and as she enlists Tyler to help, the film takes on a chaotic visual energy that adds a layer of unease when contrasted with Shyamalan’s methodical pace. Where it differs from the Paranormal Activities of the world is that it’s actually beautiful at times; very often Shyamalan simply can’t help but find a gorgeous way to light a scene or evoke a mood, and it keeps the film fresh where the sub-genre has otherwise been pummeled into the ground and left for dead.

But visual technique is only worth so much, and what makes The Visit tick is the two young lead actors, who after a bumpy start settle into their self-conscious, found footage groove. DeJonge is grounded and believable as the older sister, her character endlessly precious and pretentious about her own filmmaking in what feels like Shyamalan having a laugh at himself for once. Oxenbould’s Tyler, on the other end, is the film’s comedic engine; a junior high suburbanite with hip-hop aspirations (he calls himself "T-Diamond Stylus") that deploys a comical adolescent bravado to cover up struggles with his parents’ separation.

Laughs and scares stack in a Jenga of oddball entertainment

That’s the other big surprise here: The Visit is actually funny , and not in a passing joke kind of way. It’s wild and outrageous, stacking laughs and scares atop one another in a giant Jenga of oddball entertainment. Contrasted with the overthought restraint of Shyamalan’s earlier work, The Visit is the Wild West; the kind of movie that uses a character’s unnerving penchant for skulking around nude as both a running joke and surprise scare, and that takes another’s obsessive tendencies and pays them off with a scatalogical gag that had me laughing and cringing in equal measure. It doesn’t always work — the mix is so bizarre that some jokes simply fail to land — but there’s a giddy energy that courses through the movie from beginning to end.

More than anything else, it feels like Shyamalan Unleashed, operating without the weight of expectations for the first time in years. The filmmaker had actually focused on smaller, character-driven films before The Sixth Sense changed his career trajectory, but ever since that early success, his movies seemed to chase the same formula, twist endings and all. The Visit doesn’t seem concerned with living up to those expectations — there’s no mistaking this for a Spielbergian tale — and it’s a fresher story for it.

If The Visit was some midnight movie festival discovery, we’d be talking about its odd weirdness and the potential of its creator; we’d ask if they could take the promise of this small, indie film and transition into the land of big-scale studio movies. Oddly enough, it’s the same question that should be asked of Shyamalan now. But for the moment, he appears to be keeping things small. His next film is set to be another collaboration with Jason Blum, the low-budget horror producer behind Insidious and the Paranormal Activity films, and while people will certainly have higher expectations his next time out, I hope we see more of this weirder, care-free Shyamalan. He may not be making The Sixth Sense anymore, sure, but for the first time in a very long time, he’s making movies that are actually fun .

The Visit opens Friday, September 11th.

Verge Video: The Verge's interview with M. Night Shyamalan

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Film Review: ‘The Visit’

M. Night Shyamalan returns to thriller filmmaking in the style of low-budget impresario Jason Blum with mixed results.

By Geoff Berkshire

Geoff Berkshire

Associate Editor, Features

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After delivering back-to-back creative and commercial duds in the sci-fi action genre, M. Night Shyamalan retreats to familiar thriller territory with “ The Visit .” As far as happy homecomings go, it beats the one awaiting his characters, though not by much. The story of two teens spending a week with the creepy grandparents they’ve never met unfolds in a mockumentary style that’s new for the filmmaker and old hat for horror auds. Heavier on comic relief (most of it intentional) than genuine scares, this low-budget oddity could score decent opening weekend B.O. and ultimately find a cult following thanks to its freakier twists and turns, but hardly represents a return to form for its one-time Oscar-nominated auteur.

In a way, it’s a relief to see Shyamalan set aside the studio-system excesses of “The Last Airbender” and “After Earth” and get down and dirty with a found-footage-style indie crafted in the spirit of producer Jason Blum’s single location chillers. (Blum actually joined the project after filming wrapped, but it subscribes to his patented “Paranormal Activity” playbook to a T.) Except that the frustrating result winds up on the less haunting end of Shyamalan’s filmography, far south of “The Sixth Sense,” “Signs” and “The Village,” and not even as unsettling as the most effective moments in the hokey “The Happening.”

That’s not to say “The Visit” is necessarily worse than some of those efforts, just a different kind of animal. The simplicity of the premise initially works in the pic’s favor as 15-year-old aspiring documentarian Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and her 13-year-old aspiring-rap-star sibling Tyler (Ed Oxenbould of “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”) say goodbye to their hard-working single mom (Kathryn Hahn, better than the fleeting role deserves), who ships off on a weeklong cruise with her latest boyfriend. The kids travel by train to rural Pennsylvania to meet Nana (Deanna Dunagan) and Pop Pop (Peter McRobbie), the purportedly kindly parents Mom left behind when she took off with her high-school English teacher and caused a permanent rift in the family.

Popular on Variety

Becca plans to turn the whole experience into an Oscar-caliber documentary (proving she sets her sights higher than Shyamalan these days) and also an opportunity to exorcise the personal demons both she and Tyler carry around in the wake of their parents’ separation. Unfortunately for the kids, their grandparents appear to be possessed by demons of another kind — although it takes an awfully long time for them to grow legitimately concerned about Nana’s nasty habit of roaming the house at night, vomiting on the floor and scratching at the walls in the nude, and Pop Pop’s almost-as-bizarre behavior, including stuffing a woodshed full of soiled adult diapers, attacking a stranger on the street and regularly dressing in formal wear for a “costume party” that never materializes.

Ominous warnings to not go into the basement (because of “mold,” you see) and stay in their room after 9:30 (Nana’s “bedtime”) fly right over the heads of our otherwise pop-culture-savvy protagonists. Becca even stubbornly refuses to use her omnipresent camera for nighttime reconnaissance, citing concerns over exploitation and “cinematic standards” — one of the lamest excuses yet to justify dumb decisions in a horror narrative — until the weeklong stay is almost up.

Shyamalan has long been criticized for serving up borderline (or downright) silly premises with a straight face and overtly pretentious atmosphere, but he basically abandons that approach here in favor of a looser, more playful dynamic between his fresh-faced leads. At the same time, there’s a surreal campiness to the grandparents’ seemingly inexplicable behavior, fully embraced by Tony winner Dunagan and Scottish character actor McRobbie, that encourages laughter between ho-hum jump scares. Their antics only reach full-blown menacing in the perverse-by-PG-13-standards third act. (The obligatory reveal of what’s really going on works OK, as long as you don’t question it any more than anyone onscreen ever does.)

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. Once events ultimately do turn violent — and Nana does more than just scamper around the floor or pop up directly in front of the camera — the setpieces are never as scary or suspenseful as they should be. Even worse are the film’s attempts at character-driven drama, including a couple of awkward soul-baring monologues from the otherwise poised young stars, and a ludicrous epilogue that presumes auds will have somehow formed an emotional bond with characters who actually remain skin-deep throughout. One longs to see what a nervier filmmaker could have done with the concept (and a R rating).

The technical package is deliberately less slick than the Shyamalan norm, although scripting Becca as a budding filmmaker interested in mise en scene provides d.p. Maryse Alberti (whose numerous doc credits include multiple Alex Gibney features) an excuse to capture images with a bit more craft than the average found footage thriller. Shyamalan purposefully decided to forego an original score, but the soundtrack is rarely silent between the chattering of the children, a selection of source music and the eerie sound editing that emphasizes every creaking door and loud crash substituting for well-earned frights.

Reviewed at Arclight Cinemas, Hollywood, Sept. 8, 2015. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 94 MIN.

Production: A Universal release of a Blinding Edge Pictures and Blumhouse production. Produced by Jason Blum, Marc Bienstock, M. Night Shyamalan. Executive producers, Steven Schneider, Ashwin Rajan.
Crew: Directed, written by M. Night Shyamalan. Camera (color, HD), Maryse Alberti; editor, Luke Ciarrocchi; music supervisor, Susan Jacobs; production designer, Naaman Marshall; art director, Scott Anderson; set decorator, Christine Wick; costume designer, Amy Westcott; sound (Dolby Digital), David J. Schwartz; supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer, Skip Lievsay; visual effects supervisor, Ruben Rodas; visual effects, Dive VFX; stunt coordinator, Manny Siverio; casting, Douglas Aibel.
With: Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould, Deanna Dunagan, Peter McRobbie, Kathryn Hahn, Celia Keenan-Bolger.

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With ‘The Visit,’ M. Night Shyamalan Returns to His Filmmaking Roots

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By Brooks Barnes

Aug. 18, 2015

LOS ANGELES — “I don’t know, bro. I was screwed up in the head.”

M. Night Shyamalan, ruminating last month about career choices gone wrong, spoke those words and then burst into a giddy giggle. Just kidding! But the tenderness in his eyes betrayed him: There was some truth in that tease.

In contrast to his first four studio movies, which were all substantial hits, starting with “The Sixth Sense” in 1999, Mr. Shyamalan’s last four films have been a series of misfires. “Lady in the Water,” “The Happening,” “The Last Airbender” and “ After Earth ” severely tarnished his reputation among moviegoers. The guy who brought us those clunkers — and, yes, we know, “The Sixth Sense” — wants us to buy tickets again?

But here comes a hairpin twist nobody anticipated: Mr. Shyamalan, 45, seemingly humbled and more mature, took a hard look at his professional life, made a course correction, and the result, a quirky comedic thriller called “ The Visit ,” may well deliver a surprise cinematic comeback, or at least the start of one.

After getting beaten bloody two years ago for “After Earth,” a father-and-son outer-space adventure starring a real-life father and son, Will Smith and Jaden Smith, Mr. Shyamalan detoured into television. He was part of the team behind “Wayward Pines,” a limited Fox mystery series that captivated viewers (if not all critics) this summer with its eccentricity. A second season is in the works.

“Because there are fewer resources in television, I learned how much fat I had on me, how many puffed-up bad habits,” Mr. Shyamalan said. “There was this great feeling of slowly shedding the fat.” (Donald De Line, a “Wayward Pines” executive producer, said Mr. Shyamalan was “positive, high-energy and collaborative” and “not remotely” imperious, as some studio executives maintain.)

On the filmmaking front, Mr. Shyamalan made another sharp turn, veering away from lumbering studio projects like “Airbender” and “After Earth” — movies that, unlike his earlier hits (“Signs,” “The Village,” “Unbreakable”), were not based on his own stories. “The Visit,” which he wrote, produced and directed, will arrive in theaters on Sept. 11. Mr. Shyamalan also spent roughly $5 million of his own money to make it.

“That may have been really stupid,” he said during an interview at the Hotel Bel-Air here, between sips of white wine and bites of tuna tartare. “But it heightened the risk. There was only one way out of this one. I had to make a great movie. It just had to work.”

Featuring one of Mr. Shyamalan’s signature surprise endings, “The Visit” is about two teenagers visiting their oddly behaving grandparents; Nana, played by Deanna Dunagan, scratches the walls at night, and Pop-Pop (Peter McRobbie) has a weird secret in the shed, among other places. The film has been an unexpected hit with audiences in sneak-peek screenings.

“I admit that I was skeptical going in,” said Alexa Hernandez, who saw “The Visit” in July as an attendee at Comic-Con International in San Diego. “But it was one of the best horror movies I’ve ever seen. And it was funny.” After an advance screening of “The Visit” last month, William Bibbiani, a critic at CraveOnline, wrote on Twitter, “M. Night Shyamalan’s best film in a very, very, VERY long time.”

As Mr. Shyamalan has learned the hard way, being an auteur director — projecting what is going on inside your head, cultural currents and ticket sales be darned — is perhaps Hollywood’s trickiest path. It can be done, but it usually leads to fallow periods at the box office. Woody Allen may be the best example. He does what he does, notably working outside the studio system, and the audience can like it or not.

Sitting cross-legged on a patio bench at the hotel, Mr. Shyamalan spoke bluntly about becoming a bit too trapped in his own head. He insisted that he had learned from his mistakes, drawing a comparison to David McCullough’s new biography on the Wright Brothers, which he just happened (ahem) to be carrying with him.

“The hundred failures that existed for them weren’t failures,” he said. “They would crash, and they would say: ‘That was great. I know what went wrong.’ ”

Mr. Shyamalan did not disavow any of his previous films. He said one of his favorites remains “Lady in the Water,” a money loser from 2006, the making of which was infamously chronicled in the book “The Man Who Heard Voices,” by Michael Bamberger. But Mr. Shyamalan conceded that his focus on the audience had taken a back seat to executing a vision.

“I didn’t realize that the sweet spot had shifted,” he said. “Once upon a time, David Fincher and Christopher Nolan were way over to one side, barely hanging on the table. They were just too somber and dark. And now they are dead center. Meanwhile, I was busy being sentimental. ‘Airbender’ was based on a children’s show and rated PG. ‘Lady in the Water’ started as a bedtime story I told my daughters.”

He continued: “For me, ‘E. T.’ was always the holy grail. I was 13 when I saw that movie and was weeping in the theater. There were other 13-year-old boys weeping in the theater. Do you know any 13-year-old boys that would do that today? The era that I grew up in was a warm, sentimental time. That audience doesn’t exist anymore. My daughter is going to go straight from Pixar to Seth Rogen.”

“The Visit” was acquired for release via Universal Pictures by Jason Blum , who has delivered the “Paranormal Activity,” “Purge,” “Insidious” and “Sinister” horror franchises over the past decade. “Night, who I chased for years and years, had the courage to take a break from the Hollywood system,” Mr. Blum said. “That is exactly the type of director we want to bet on.”

Like some of Mr. Shyamalan’s earlier movies, “The Visit” is an intimate family drama tucked inside a horror picture. It uses the well-worn shooting technique (albeit new to him) known as found footage; one of the characters, in this case a teenage girl, catches the action on a camcorder.

Mr. Shyamalan’s script tries to keep the audience guessing in more ways than one. “It wasn’t just about the twist,” he said. “In the moments of dark comedy, I wanted people to be thinking: ‘Am I supposed to be laughing or appalled? I can’t really tell. But I like it.’ ” (Watch for the bizarre scene with a dirty Depend diaper.)

By the end of “The Visit,” the teenage girl — she’s an aspiring filmmaker, explaining her constant recording — has changed from auteur to something a lot more relaxed, perhaps reflecting Mr. Shyamalan’s own recent shift.

“At first, she is striving so hard to make something of art and beauty,” he said, “and finally she says: ‘You know what? Let’s just have some fun.’ ”

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M. Night Shyamalan’s Eerie Found Footage Horror Movie Deserves Another Look

The 2015 film is currently scaring viewers on Max.

The Big Picture

M. Night Shyamalan's The Visit turns the found footage genre on its head, creating a lean and scary film that subverts expectations.
The film's scares come from simplicity and a focus on character, rather than relying on jump scares and gore.
The grounded mood and naturalistic moments in The Visit make it a more organic and substantive horror film, with believable performances and refined camerawork.

Writer-director M. Night Shyamalan 's most recent thriller, last year's Knock at the Cabin , has prompted claims of the renowned-then-maligned filmmaker's return to form. However, in actuality, Cabin is a continuation of form, a comeback as slow-burn as his mysteries and rooted in one of Shyamalan's lesser-known works, The Visit . Despite The Visit's concept (an amateur filmmaker documents a week-long stay with her grandparents), Shyamalan refuses to classify his eleventh feature film with the "found footage" label. "I make the big distinction between documentaries and found footage," he told Digital Spy in 2015 . "Documentary has cinematic intent, beauty, art, aesthetics. Found footage is really haphazard and there's no cinematic intent behind it, it's just capturing something. However, whether Shyamalan likes it or not, his detachment from the style is precisely why The Visit is one of the era's more successful found footage offerings. He turned the genre on its head, shook its contents around, then dissected the remains to suit his needs. As The Visit is currently one of Max's most-watched movies , it's time we dissect what makes Shyamalan's (sorry, but there is no other way to describe it) found footage horror film so effective.

Two siblings become increasingly frightened by their grandparents' disturbing behavior while visiting them on vacation.

M. Night Shyamalan Understands Why Found Footage Is So Scary in 'The Visit'

Most of The Blair Witch Project (the first film to popularise found footage movies) and Paranormal Activity 's (the movie that launched the current-day found footage craze) approximately one billion knock-offs were forgettable because they failed to understand either film's central appeal. The terror of found footage doesn't stem from lazy jump scares and wild gore, but from simplicity; from crafting a mood from the ground up and stretching the resulting tension to the absolute snapping point. Those factors are Shyamalan's stylistic calling card. And for all of his impressive ideas, the director's at his best narratively when he lasers in on individual characters with pinpoint efficiency: a young boy reckoning with death ( The Sixth Sense ), a confused adult discovering his purpose ( Unbreakable ), a young love story ( The Village ) , a family's fragile faith during the end of the world ( Signs and Knock at the Cabin ). These emotional journeys are universal and recognizable, and Shyamalan's depictions of them are achingly empathetic. He flourishes within a restricted worldview where the mystical elements contribute to the universe without distracting from its humanist themes.

The Visit , likewise, is a lean, mean film devoid of extraneous noise. Becca ( Olivia DeJonge ) and Tyler ( Ed Oxenbould ), two young teenagers, spend a week with the estranged grandparents ( Deanna Dunagan and Peter McRobbie ) they've never met. Becca wants to become a filmmaker, so she documents their stay with Nana and Pop-Pop. As the week progresses, Nana and Pop-Pop act oddly from time to time, but they explain away every incident as a symptom of their failing mental and physical health -- until the only explanation left, the only true one, is unthinkably horrifying.

'The Visit' Keeps the Scares Simple, Which Makes it More Frightening

Although the film qualifies as Shyamalan's first explicit attempt at horror ( something the writer-director credits to how tricky it was to find the film's tone in the editing room ), his signature twist is small and appropriately self-contained. The threat emerges not from supernatural forces but from the safest of familial areas. Yes, some elderly individuals can seem eccentric at times, but those actions stem from mental health conditions that are, by and large, innocuous and harmless. Society associates grandparents with the concept of comfort, softness, and love; upending this normally unquestioned safety is frightening on a profound level. And few characters are more helpless than children, especially when they're separated from loving parents. Becca and Tyler are intelligent and talented, but there's no amount of emotional maturity in the world that can prepare a sheltered, innocent child to defend themselves against danger. Watching this nightmare scenario unfold is equally terrifying for parents and children of any age.

Clint Eastwood & Paul Newman Turned Down Starring in This M. Night Shyamalan Film

Unlike horror films where the characters are stock vehicles who exist just to endure awful things, The Visit thrives in naturalistic moments. Family phrases that have a history behind them, Tyler unpacking his suitcase, Becca scoring the bigger guest bed through rock-paper-scissors, and Tyler's propensity for replacing curse words with the names of female pop singers. Despite a stripped-down plot, The Visit feels more organic and substantive than its fellow contemporaries. Casting lesser-known actors in the main roles helps this layer of believability, especially given Shyamalan's knack for eliciting sophisticated performances from child actors. The director's past collaborators included the biggest stars of his day, but from a 2023 perspective, Kathryn Hahn as Loretta, the children's mother, is the only recognizable performer (unless you loved Father Lantom in Netflix's Daredevil series).

The Kids in 'The Visit' Act Like Real Kids

Another testament to The Visit 's grounded mood is Becca's interest in film. In terms of representation, it's lovely to see a teenage girl passionately explaining mise-en-scene, but her commitment to the art form explains why the camerawork is so refined. Cinematographer Maryse Alberti (behind the camera on such prestigious films as The Wrestler and Creed ) makes fine use of canted angles to suggest cramped spaces and isn't afraid to frame a shot awkwardly when the situation calls for it. And for a change of pace, Alberti cleverly replicates the classic shot-reverse-shot technique without compromising the found footage format by having Becca use her secondary camera to film herself simultaneously alongside her subject. There are even "behind the scenes" moments normally cut from professional documentaries, such as Becca telling Tyler to act naturally or calming her mother's on-camera nerves. The aspiring director wants to represent the truth of their stay, the beautiful and the ugly, as well as give Loretta some closure.

And the excuses for why characters investigate a creepy noise or leave their cameras running? Well, they're kids. Shyamalan has taken the time to establish them as such, and children psych themselves up, dare one another, and forget to turn the camera off. A regular plot hole ("just leave the house!") isn't one, because teenagers will still stick their fingers in a wall socket.

The Horror World Needs More Found Footage from Shyamalan

With all of this subversion said, Shyamalan knows a classic scare when he sees one. Long takes escalate tension, especially ones cloaked in heavy shadows with limited lighting and lacking any musical score. Odd sounds do the same, especially when diegetic music unexpectedly shatters the normalcy of a house at midnight. And sometimes, the scariest sight is best left unseen. The mental imagery that audiences can concoct is far scarier than any CGI creature invented by Hollywood. Shyamalan may find found footage contentious, but his experienced hand applies its best elements to maximum effect in The Visit. All artists know that stepping outside of one's comfort zone sometimes produces the best work; accordingly, "M. Night Shyamalan + found footage" is a host of untapped potential.

The Visit is available to stream on Max in the U.S.

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M. Night Shyamalan's The Visit Ending, Explained

M. Night Shyamalan's horror movies often include a fun twist, and his 2016 release The Visit has a compelling ending with one of the coolest reveals.

M. Night Shyamalan's twist endings are the hallmark of his career, and his 2015 movie The Visit has one of the most exciting ones. Olivia DeJonge, beloved for playing Ashley in the twisted Christmas horror film Better Watch Out, stars as Becca, a teenage girl who stays with her grandparents alongside her brother Tyler (Ed Oxenbould). What should be a fun and peaceful family vacation becomes a perplexing and mysterious nightmare and the teenagers must scramble to discover the dark and haunting truth.

The M. Night Shyamalan horror movie has an exciting ending that shifts the audience's perception of the story, proving once again that the filmmaker is great at providing surprising moments that no one sees coming. The final scenes of The Visit make this one of the most unnerving horror movies of the 2010s.

RELATED: Signs: Joaquin Phoenix’s Character is a Perfect Metaphor for M. Night Shyamalan's Filmmaking

What Happens At The End Of The Visit, And What Is The Twist Ending?

Becca falls into the final girl horror movie trope when she makes an important discovery that is key to the ending of The Visit . When she discovers the dead bodies of her and Ed's grandparents, she also sees uniforms from the hospital where they were employed. This helps her see that "Nana" and "Pop Pop" were patients who ran away, killed their grandparents, and pretended to be them. This is a huge plot twist that was hard to see coming.

The satisfying horror movie ending has the siblings fighting back, but the final scenes are tense and scary, and their survival never feels like a guarantee. Pop Pop locks Becca in her room and hurts Tyler, but Tyler kills Pop Pop and Becca kills Nana. The teenagers are able to get away and talk to the police about what just happened.

The Visit ending works on two levels: a fast-paced, thrilling example of a good horror movie plot twist and also an emotional story about family bonds and problems. Becca and her mom Loretta (Kathryn Hayn) have a tough conversation about how Loretta never talked to her parents after a fight 15 years prior. Loretta wants Becca to stop feeling anger about her own dad's decision to leave the family behind, and the two characters share a sweet moment that helps Becca move forward.

This adds an extra layer to the movie and makes Becca a more fully formed character. It also makes both Becca and Ed feel real since they may be dealing with this out-of-this-world situation, but they are also regular teenagers who feel the pain of a parent who doesn't show them the love that they deserve. While Shyamalan's movie Old is a bad adaptation , The Visit shares that sometimes, it can be difficult to get along with family and it can be tough to move on from past hurts. The movie may have a fun and flashy twist, but it has some deep moments as well that can't be ignored.

How Does This Twist Compare To Others In M. Night Shyamalan Horror Movies?

The Visit ending has one of the best and most unpredictable horror movie plot twists , which makes sense given M. Night Shyamalan's reputation for having shocking moments in most of his films. When comparing the reveal of the identity of "Nana" and "Pop Pop," it's fun to think about the other big reveals in the filmmaker's career. Of course, the standard will always be the twist in the important horror movie The Sixth Sense when it turns out that Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is actually dead and that's one reason for his sweet bond with Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment).

The twist at the end of The Visit might not be quite as stunning as the one in The Sixth Sense , which will always be one of the best horror movie plot twists as it creates such a compelling atmosphere of shock and awe.

However, The Visit still has a fresh and different ending and the final scenes prove the strong character development of the movie. At first, Pop Pop and Nana seem perfectly normal and innocent, and no one would think that grandparents would be evil. And even when Becca and Ed start noticing weird things, it's hard to think that these characters might not be who they are claiming to be. That would mean that they are truly evil and diabolical, and they seem so naive.

The Visit twist ending also works because it's so creepy. Like Pearl (Mia Goth) and Howard (Stephen Ure) in X and Pearl , the patients lying about their identities are definitely unsettling. The movies make sure that the characters are odd and mysterious, but they never seem like they could be killers until audiences finally see them causing havoc.

NEXT: 5 Nonsensical Plot Twists In Horror Movies

Screen Rant

The grandparents in the visit explained: breaking down the twist's clues & reveal.

M. Night Shyamalan's The Visit has a big twist and shocking reveal about the grandparents, and there were many clues to this throughout the movie.

Spoilers for M. Night Shyamalans' The Visit.

Loretta's strained relationship with her parents and lack of photos and communication were clues to The Visit's twist.
Becca and Tyler had never met their grandparents before and didn't know what they looked like.
The grandparents had strange rules, and Nana's odd behavior during hide-and-seek hinted at their true intentions.

M. Night Shyamalan’s The Visit has every element that makes a Shyamalan horror movie, including a plot twist that was hinted at throughout the whole movie. After rising to fame in 1999 with The Sixth Sense , M. Night Shyamalan has continued to make movies, mostly horror ones that often include a twist and shocking reveal. Although these elements led to predictable and disappointing reveals and movies, there are others with interesting twists that added to the tension of the story, as was the case of the 2015 found footage horror movie The Visit .

The Visit follows siblings Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and Tyler (Ed Oxenbould), who live with their divorced mother, Loretta (Kathryn Hahn). Loretta hasn’t talked to or seen her parents in 15 years, but when they get into contact with her, Becca and Tyler convince her to let them visit them for a week. As they have never met their grandparents, Becca decides to make a documentary film of the experience. Once with their grandparents at their isolated farmhouse, it all seems normal at first but gets gradually stranger and more disturbing, leading to a shocking reveal: the “grandparents” aren't the real ones, and they killed Loretta’s parents to pose as them .

M. Night Shyamalan's Films Ranked From Absolute Worst To Best (Including Old)

Loretta had no relationship with her parents in the visit, loretta didn’t even take her children to the farm..

The first big red flag in The Visit that pointed at this not being a typical trip to the grandparents’ house was Loretta’s relationship with them. At the beginning of The Visit , Loretta explained that she left her parents’ home after falling in love with Becca and Tyler’s father, whom her parents never approved of. Loretta didn’t share more details at first, but at the end of The Visit , it’s revealed that she had a major argument with her parents in which she hit her mother and her father struck her, and after that, she ignored all their attempts to contact her.

Loretta’s resentment and anger went as far as not showing her children photos of her parents , nor did she make the effort to accompany her children to her parents’ house – after all, it was their first time going there and meeting their grandparents. Loretta’s estranged relationship is one of the biggest and earliest clues to The Visit ’s big twist.

Becca & Tyler Had Never Seen Their Grandparents Before

Becca & tyler had no idea what their grandparents looked like..

Not making them part of her and her children’s lives, and not having any photos of them, made it so Becca and Tyler had no idea of what they actually looked like.

Loretta’s difficult relationship with her parents led to her not talking about them, not making them part of her and her children’s lives, and not having any photos of them, so Becca and Tyler had no idea of what they looked like. This certainly made it easier for the fake grandparents to lure Becca and Tyler in , but it was yet another hint at this not being a normal trip to visit the grandparents.

The Kids Weren’t Allowed To Leave Their Room After 9:30 pm.

The grandparents had a couple of rules that had to be followed..

The first rule was because the “grandparents” were hiding the bodies of the real ones in the basement.

Once at the farm, it seemed like a quiet and calm place and the grandparents seemed pleasant, but they had a couple of rules that Becca and Tyler had to follow. The first one was that they weren’t allowed to go into the basement because it had mold, and the second one was that bedtime was at 9:30 every day, and they weren’t allowed to leave their room after that. The first rule was because the “grandparents” were hiding the bodies of the real ones in the basement, but the second one was more complicated.

Nana acted erratically at night , projectile vomiting, running around the house, crawling like an animal, and ripping the walls while naked, among other disturbing things. Leaving their room after 9:30 pm would have not only endangered Becca and Tyler, but it would have also revealed there was something wrong with the grandparents.

Nana’s Odd Behaviour During Hide-and-Seek

One of the visit’s biggest scarejumps..

With not much to do at the farm, Becca and Tyler decided to play hide and seek under the house, but to their surprise, Nana was also there. Nana chased Tyler and Becca, crawling like an animal , and when they all got out, she acted as if nothing had happened and went back inside the house. That same behavior was repeated later on in the movie, further disturbing Becca and Tyler.

Pop Pop Attacked An Unknown Man On The Street

Pop pop believed he was being followed..

Another red flag in Pop Pop’s behavior (after the reveal of the shed with piles of soiled diapers) was when he and Nana took Becca and Tyler to see the school Loretta attended when she was younger. There, Pop Pop saw a man on the other side of the street and, believing he had been following them for a while, attacked him. It wasn’t until Becca stopped him that Pop Pop realized he didn’t know the man, and though this was brushed off by Becca and Loretta as “old people” behavior, Tyler knew something wasn’t right.

Nana “Accidentally” Covered Becca’s Laptop Camera With Dough

Nana temporarily left becca & tyler without their webcam..

Becca and Tyler kept in touch with Loretta through video calls every day while Loretta was on a cruise with her new boyfriend. One day, Nana apologized to Becca for ruining her laptop as she spilled dough on it and tried to clean it but couldn’t get rid of the dough on the camera. Loretta wasn’t able to see her kids because of this , but it was soon clear Nana did it on purpose so Loretta couldn’t see them and thus tell the kids they weren’t the real grandparents.

Dr. Sam’s Visit To Check On The Grandparents

Dr. sam’s visit was a big clue to what happened to the grandparents..

Had the grandparents been home when Dr. Sam arrived, The Visit would have ended earlier.

During their time at the farm, only two people came to visit. The first one was Dr. Sam, who worked at the same hospital where Becca and Tyler’s grandparents volunteered. The grandparents weren’t around when Dr. Sam arrived, but he told Becca and Tyler that he wanted to check on them as they hadn’t gone to work in a couple of days. Had the grandparents been home when Dr. Sam arrived, The Visit would have ended earlier.

Nana Asked Becca To Clean The Oven

Nana had other intentions..

In one of the most suspenseful and strangest moments in The Visit , Nana suddenly asked Becca to help her clean the back of the oven. Becca did so to help her, but Nana insisted that she reach the far back of it, thus getting in completely. Although Nana didn’t do anything to Becca the first time, the second time she asked her for help she closed the oven to clean the outside and then opened it again, letting Becca out.

This moment is reminiscent of the tale of Hansel & Gretel and how the witch tried to trick Gretel into getting inside the oven.

Stacey’s Visit & Confrontation

Stacey realized these weren’t the real grandparents..

The second visit was from a woman named Stacey, whom Becca and Tyler’s real grandparents had helped in counseling at the hospital. As the grandparents weren’t home when she arrived, she returned later and came face to face with the fake grandparents. Stacey tried to get them to leave with her to take them back to the hospital, but they ended up killing her and hanging her body from a tree. Stacey realized these weren’t Becca and Tyler’s real grandparents , but the siblings didn’t understand her reaction.

Why Nana & Pop Pop Killed The Real Grandparents

Becca & tyler never got to meet their real grandparents..

Nana was revealed to have committed murder in the past, and they were both jealous of the real grandparents’ happiness and the visit of their grandkids.

During Becca and Tyler’s final night at the farm, the truth was unveiled: Nana and Pop Pop were patients at the mental hospital where Becca and Tyler’s grandparents volunteered, and the real ones were murdered by them and their bodies kept in the basement. Nana was revealed to have committed murder in the past, and they were both jealous of the real grandparents’ happiness and the visit of their grandkids , so they killed them and took their place.

Clues like Loretta having no photos of her parents and the kids never having met them were necessary to keep the big reveal of The Visit a secret, while others like Dr. Sam and Stacey’s visit added to the horrors that were about to be unleashed at the farm.

From director M. Night Shyamalan, The Visit follows two siblings who are sent to stay with their estranged grandparents while their mother is out of town on vacation. Realizing that all isn't what it seems during their stay, the siblings set out to find out what is really going on at their grandparents' home. Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould star as Becca and Tyler, with Deanna Dunagan, Peter McRobbie, and Kathryn Hahn making up the rest of the main cast.

The Visit: Where Was M. Night Shyamalan’s Horror Movie Shot?

Helmed by director M. Night Shyamalan, ‘The Visit’ is a thrilling found-footage film that follows siblings Becca and Tyler as they visit their grandparents, and notice their increasingly disturbing behavior. After arriving at their grandparents’ quaint countryside home, Becca and Tyler are delighted to be able to spend time with them after so long. A day of delightful catching up later, Pop Pop puts the two to sleep and strongly suggests that they not leave their room after nine-thirty. Later that night the children hear loud bangs and scratchings. Soon the elders’ strange behaviour leaks over to the daytime, making the siblings concerned for their safety, but failing to convince their mother to pick them up.

The 2015 film’s tension builds steadily as the siblings uncover dark family secrets and struggle to survive in a house filled with eerie mysteries . ‘The Visit’ delivers a compelling blend of psychological horror and thrilling situations, using its simple backdrop and premise to create terrifying circumstances. The chilling story is contrasted heavily by its seemingly mundane backdrop, which is later revealed to hide disturbing realities within its layers. Thus the atmospheric tension built throughout the tale may spark curiosity in some regarding its real-world filming sites.

The Visit Filming Locations

‘The Visit’ was filmed mainly in Philadelphia, Chester Springs, and Royersford, Pennsylvania, with a few scenes shot in Miami, Florida. Principal photography began on February 19, 2014, under the tentative title, ‘Sundowning,’ and was wrapped up in about a month by March 21 of the same year. In an interview , writer-director Shyamalan marveled at finding the ideal actors to bring his story to life, saying, “This might be my perfect constellation of actors, it’s as if these people were the people that I wrote.” Let’s examine the sites seen throughout the film and their real-life counterparts.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Situated along the banks of the Delaware River, the city of Philadelphia has a brief appearance in ‘The Visit,’ primarily at the beginning and end of the film. When the siblings are dropped off at the train station by their mother, the site is actually the 30th Street Station at 3001 Market Street. Officially known as William H. Gray III 30th Street Station, the prominent intermodal transit station is defined by its grand classical entrance held up with Roman pillars.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ed Oxenbould (@edoxenbould)

Chester Springs, Pennsylvania

Filming for the grandparents’ house and its exterior scenes was carried out on 3049 Merlin Road, in the unincorporated community of Chester Springs in Chester County. The community lies west of Philadelphia, and its serene snow-covered landscape can be spotted early in ‘The Visit’ as the siblings travel to their grandparents’ house.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Visit (@thevisitmovie)

Royersford, Pennsylvania

Nestled along the Schuylkill River, the borough of Royersford stood in for much of the town seen in the film as the characters left the house. Shooting for these scenes was done on 330 Main Street, its small-town charm imbuing the narrative with a pleasant departure from the claustrophobic situations at the elders’ house. Further filming was done on location at 705 Washington Street, which is a quintessential suburban neighborhood.

#Royersford Ambulance crew with @MNightShyamalan . #Sundowning pic.twitter.com/SXR9zKWr9X — Matt Stehman 🇺🇸🇺🇦🌻 (@MattStehman) February 20, 2014

When the grandfather takes the siblings out to a school, shooting for the sequence was done at the 5/6 Grade Center on 833 South Lewis Road. After their visit, whilst returning, they begin to play a game of pointing out at buildings and guessing their stories. The children point to a large, red-bricked complex lined with white windows. The grandfather ominously reveals the structure to be the Maple Shade Psychiatric Hospital, where he had supposedly volunteered at an earlier point in time. The structure is actually the Royersford Spring Company on 98 Main Street which manufactures automotive parts and springs.

Miami, Florida

For a couple of scenes on a cruise ship, the film crew ventured onboard the Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas for a few days in Miami. The city’s bustling seaport, PortMiami, stands as the Cruise Capital of the World, welcoming millions of passengers annually to embark on voyages to exotic destinations. The cruise ship, Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas, was used as a set for ‘The Visit.’ A casting call for extras announced the need for upscale cruise wear and skills related to activities carried out on the ship, such as wakeboarding and rock wall climbing.

Adam Goldstein tours the set of @MNightShyamalan 's new film shooting scenes onboard Allure of the Seas. pic.twitter.com/WzCG5RtzCp — Royal Caribbean Public Relations (@RoyalCaribPR) April 7, 2014

Read More: Is The Visit Based on a True Story?

The Visit (2015)

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The Visit streaming: where to watch online?

Currently you are able to watch "The Visit" streaming on Max, Max Amazon Channel, Cinemax Amazon Channel, Cinemax Apple TV Channel. It is also possible to buy "The Visit" on AMC on Demand, Apple TV, Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Vudu, Microsoft Store as download or rent it on Amazon Video, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Vudu, Microsoft Store, Spectrum On Demand online.

Where does The Visit rank today? The JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts are calculated by user activity within the last 24 hours. This includes clicking on a streaming offer, adding a title to a watchlist, and marking a title as 'seen'. This includes data from ~1.3 million movie & TV show fans per day.

Streaming charts last updated: 9:20:13 PM, 04/12/2024

The Visit is 2766 on the JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts today. The movie has moved up the charts by 816 places since yesterday. In the United States, it is currently more popular than The Big Chill but less popular than Dating Amber.

A brother and sister are sent to their grandparents' remote Pennsylvania farm for a week, where they discover that the elderly couple is involved in something deeply disturbing.

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Streaming Charts The JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts are calculated by user activity within the last 24 hours. This includes clicking on a streaming offer, adding a title to a watchlist, and marking a title as 'seen'. This includes data from ~1.3 million movie & TV show fans per day.

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Master of the plot twist: Every M. Night Shyamalan movie, ranked

Filmmaker frequently uses faith, violence, family and ghosts as themes.

Haley Joel Osment, left, and Bruce Willis in “The Sixth Sense.” (Hulton Archive)

PHILADELPHIA — For Philadelphians, perhaps there is no director more divisive than M. Night Shyamalan, the horror filmmaker who grew up in Wynnewood and lives in Willistown Township. Some of us love him (“The Sixth Sense” ranked third on our Best Philly Movies list) but others haven’t forgiven him for white-washing “The Last Airbender.” But regardless of how Philly feels about Shyamalan, it’s clear that he loves the city and this region, since the majority of his work was filmed and set here.

Whether you’re a die-hard fan or a frustrated hater, Shyamalan is arguably the most famous Philly filmmaker. Incorporating feedback from The Inquirer staffers, we took a look back through his career to revisit the twist endings, jump scares, big reveals, and even bigger disappointments over the last couple decades. (Spoilers ahead!)

15. ‘After Earth’ (2013)

Humanity no longer calls Earth home in this universe, but Jaden Smith calls Will Smith dad in an uneven accent. The father is a fearless fighter in a literal sense because he can hide from the space monsters that hunt humans by smelling their fear-omones; the son is a cadet trying to prove himself. When they crash land on the now-contaminated Earth, dad breaks his legs and son has to traverse many miles to the tail of the ship, which holds their distress beacon. For its big budget and slick wrapping, this perilous journey is a forgettable, cliché snooze. It felt easier to root for the kid to fail than actually care about whether he’d overcome his fears and make pop proud. (Predictably, he does.)

14. ‘Praying with Anger’ (1992)

Shyamalan’s debut, a low-budget semi-autobiographical film that he self-financed while a student at NYU, would probably be at No. 15, but a young debutante filmmaker deserves our grace. An Americanized Indian kid studies abroad in India and works through culture shock, anger management and grief over his father’s death. Foreshadowing a career of acting in his own movies, the director stars in this slow-moving, almost anthropological exploration of cultural differences geared toward white, mainstream audiences in the U.S. The film’s sepia world is rife with stereotypes and reductive observations: “Indians are the most passionate people. When they’re praying, they’re devout. When they’re angry, they’re furious.” Still, some cleverness sprouts as he lays the foundations for signature motifs in his subsequent work — faith, violence, family and ghosts.

13. ‘Lady in the Water’ (2006)

It’s not meant to be a comedy, but the film sure feels like a parody: Nymphs called Narfs need to reconnect with humans, but they’re chased by Scrunts, scary green wolf-like creatures, even though the fantasy law enforcement body the Tartutic should stop them. Bryce Dallas Howard plays Story, a once-in-a-generation Madam Narf, who has to be seen by some man before she can be free; a process that somehow also involves an eagle. Shyamalan plays a writer, the chosen man, because he’s penning a book that will influence a future president, but also get him killed for his political beliefs. Paul Giamatti carries the film (impressive given the sprawling, goofy script) as the stuttering superintendent trying to solve the puzzle. He’s the only reason the film is not dead last.

12. ‘The Last Airbender’ (2010)

Understandably called Shyamalan’s worst by some Inquirer staff, his widely panned live-action adaptation of the beloved cartoon “Avatar: The Last Airbender” departs from the rich original in ways that make little sense, and even the elaborate sets and fight scenes can’t salvage the botched storytelling and paltry acting. The baffling choice to cast white actors in the main roles for Aang (the East Asian monk who controls all four elements) and his pals Sokka and Katara (based on indigenous Arctic communities like the Inuit) while South Asian actors played the villainous Fire Nation left fans yearning for better representation. The show’s inherent playfulness was stripped for dull seriousness with little depth despite themes — like children’s trauma, fear and grief — that the director has expertly handled before. (Netflix’s recently released live-action series notably differs.)

11. ‘Wide Awake’ (1998)

Between his student film “Praying with Anger” and his blockbuster “The Sixth Sense,” Shyamalan wrote and directed a kooky family comedy. It’s a heartwarming look at a Catholic schoolkid’s quest to find God after his dear grandpa dies. Rosie O’Donnell plays a Phillies-obsessed nun at Waldron Mercy Academy, Shyamalan’s old school where he partially filmed, who tries to help Joshua (Joseph Cross) as he tries various methods to ask God if grandpa’s alright. There are sweet moments and plenty of laughs until Josh’s resolve shakes. The final reveal is touching, if a bit saccharine: God was there all along, and Josh gets the reassurance he needed.

10. ‘Glass’ (2019)

The last installment of Shyamalan’s cerebral superhero trilogy — following “Unbreakable” (2000) and “Split” (2016) — “Glass” falls flat. There was so much potential in finally uniting the mastermind Mr. Glass (Samuel L. Jackson), the hero David Dunn (Bruce Willis) and the evil Horde (James McAvoy playing 24 different personalities) after a 19-year buildup, but the plot gets unwieldy. All three are captured by a doctor (Sarah Paulson) who calls them delusional. When they escape from the institution — a transformed Allentown State Hospital — the promised-to-be-epic showdown between good and bad doesn’t even leave the parking lot. The strongman drowns in a puddle, the genius shatters for the last time, and the villain is shot as his victim (Anya Taylor-Joy) comforts him in a warped, Stockholm syndrome relationship.

9. ‘The Visit’ (2015)

Old people are scary. That’s the basic premise for this horror flick set in Philly suburbs, where a single mom (Kathryn Hahn) sends her kids to stay with her estranged parents, to whom she hasn’t spoken in decades. Pop Pop (Peter McRobbie) and Nana (Deanna Dunagan)’s creepy antics seem harmless, but soon devolve into unhinged, occasionally naked outbursts. Still processing trauma from their parents’ split, the terrified siblings (Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould) capture all the weirdness on camera. Everything becomes clear when Hahn delivers the scariest line as calmly as she can: “Those are not your grandparents.” It’s chilling, tense and disturbing — but don’t worry, the kids get out of there alive.

8. ‘The Happening’ (2008)

Hundreds of people suddenly begin killing themselves in Rittenhouse Square Park one sunny day. Mass suicides are reported throughout the Northeast in what’s considered a biological terrorist attack, leading a high school science teacher Elliot (Mark Wahlberg), his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel), best friend Julian (John Leguizamo) and his daughter (Ashlyn Sanchez) to escape the city on Amtrak. But the train crew loses contact with everyone. They split up and try to find somewhere safe but by the time the couple gives up hope and is ready to die together — the little girl’s future be damned — the air is no longer toxic. Months later, Alma is pregnant because nothing says I survived a near-apocalypse like fixing your marriage with a baby.

7. ‘Knock at the Cabin’ (2023)

Shyamalan’s latest psychological thriller, based on a Paul Tremblay novel, is a slow burn that questions our sense of reality. Four armed strangers break into a cabin rental in rural Pennsylvania where two dads (Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge) are vacationing with their adopted daughter Wen (Kristen Cui). The family faces an unbelievable dilemma: save humanity by sacrificing one of the three, or watch the world end, supposedly. Touching performances from a solid cast make it work, though the emotional ending falls into the bury your gays trope.

6. ‘Split’ (2016)

“We look at people who have been shattered and different as less than. What if they’re more than us?” posits a therapist who studies dissociative identity disorder. Her patient is Philadelphia Zoo employee Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy) and his various identities, like the 9-year-old Hedwig and flamboyant fashion designer Barry. McAvoy’s compelling, precise transformations align with that theory, especially when the Horde, a rogue group, takes charge of Kevin and abducts three teens (including a then-unknown Taylor-Joy) who will be sacrificed to a still-unseen new identity, the superhuman Beast. It’s thrilling to watch McAvoy pivot at any given moment — and even more exciting when a final scene connects the story to the “Unbreakable” universe.

5. ‘Old’ (2021)

Families at a wellness resort enjoy a private beach, but tranquility becomes terror when they begin rapidly aging. Some parts veer into absurdity, but Shyamalan’s camera provides stomach-churning tension as the most vulnerable — two 6-year-olds and a tween — experience sudden puberty and even an ill-fated pregnancy. (Notably, no one talks about periods, although by movie math they’d be experiencing 24 every hour.) The body count rises until there’s just two siblings left, and they miraculously escape, discover the twist and expose the villains. It’s a return to Shyamalan form with a smart reveal that doubles as a social critique.

4. ‘The Village’ (2004)

In a remote, bucolic valley lies a village thriving in isolation. Gripped by fear of the scary beasts in the surrounding woods, they never leave their borders. Things go awry when youths provoke them and enter the forbidden woods. Amid the chaos, Ivy (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Lucius (Joaquin Phoenix) fall in love, and the latter asks the elders permission to visit “the towns” to retrieve advanced medicines. Once Noah (Adrien Brody), an unpredictable man with a developmental disability, learns of their coupling, he stabs Lucius in confused jealousy. Ivy, who’s blind, resolves to brave the journey herself to save her betrothed. There is the revealing of a maddening truth about Ivy’s father (William Hurt) and there are some annoyingly unanswered questions by the end. But “The Village” remains one of Shyamalan’s best works.

3. ‘Signs’ (2002)

Aliens have arrived, and they do not come in peace. Crop circles and UFOs suddenly appear around the world, including in former priest Graham Hess (Mel Gibson)’s Doylestown cornfield. The stellar ensemble cast (Joaquin Phoenix, Abigail Breslin and Rory Culkin) provides a genuine portrayal of how a family struggles to survive under extraordinary circumstances with moments of grief and levity. There’s tension built into every door creak and wind chime as they try to make sense of the incomprehensible and the aliens come knocking. It’s an exhilarating watch, even if the visual effects don’t hold up today, and the finale only falters in its odd reveal. The Hess family overcomes, and dad, with faith restored, goes back to being Father. Shyamalan excels in taking what could have been a silly premise and making it feel chillingly real.

2. ‘Unbreakable’ (2000)

Shyamalan’s grounded take on a superhero story is riveting from start to finish. Security guard David Dunn (Bruce Willis) is the sole survivor of a catastrophic train derailment, and comic book collector Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson) says he knows why. Seeing comics as true tales of humanity’s superpowers, Price insists that Dunn is special even though the reluctant, quiet dad barely believes it himself. His son (Spencer Treat Clark) is so convinced that, in one astonishing scene, he points a gun at Dunn to prove it. The truth is almost incidental when Dunn realizes it was Price (aka Mr. Glass) who derailed the train and orchestrated terrorist attacks in his restless search for a hero — truly a gasp-worthy moment. The film is gut-wrenching, surprising and unforgettable.

1. ‘The Sixth Sense’ (1999)

This ranking does not have a twist ending: It comes as no surprise that this film is Shyamalan’s greatest. Precise performances, remarkable scares and a whopping reveal cemented this superb thriller as an undeniable classic that earned six Oscar nods, including best picture, best original screenplay and best director. Child psychologist Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) treats Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), who says the iconic line: “I see dead people.” Ghosts are everywhere, blurring the line of reality and leading the kid into dangerous situations as Crowe struggles to help and worries about his own marriage. It’s a master class in storytelling that soars beyond predictable ghost narratives with cinematography that renders even the most mundane shots terrifying. The film is Shyamalan’s crowning achievement

Trap Footage Reaction: M. Night Shyamalan's Latest Horror Movie Puts The Big Twist Up Front And Center [CinemaCon 2024]

There is not a more divisive filmmaker working today than M. Night Shyamalan . Everyone can basically agree that his 1999 breakthrough "The Sixth Sense" is a supernatural classic, but after that? Slip on the brass knuckles and get ready to rumble. Shyamalan's early 2000s hits "Unbreakable" and "Signs," along with his 2017 comeback "Split," generate the least amount of friction, but aside from those three, it's so very on. You'll hear reasonable defenses for just about all of his films (save for the singularly atrocious "The Last Airbender"). While it's hard to sway folks on a movie as wackadoodle as "The Happening," it is only a good thing to have a major filmmaker knocking out provocative original movies for major studios.

Shyamalan's latest provocation, "Trap," will be his first project under his first-look deal with Warner Bros. , and as is typically the case with a new Shyamalan movie, we know next to nothing about it. Thus far, the filmmaker has revealed that the film is "a psychological thriller set at a concert." He's also hinted that it's a unique spin on a familiar story.

All we know for certain is that it stars Josh Hartnett and the legendary Haley Mills (of the original "The Parent Trap"). Hartnett recently told IndieWire that "Trap" is "very bizarre, very dark and it's wild." The film wrapped principal photography last December, so WB and the secretive Shyamalan brought a first tease of it to CinemaCon 2024 attendees today.

Read more: R-Rated MCU Scenes We Never Got To See In The Original Cut

Trap At CinemaCon

CinemaCon simply wouldn't feel complete without an appearance by one of the biggest, most recognizable, and most successful name-brand directors around -- one who always manages to put butts in seats, to the delight of theater owners everywhere. Not only is M. Night Shyamalan's daughter Ishana Night already gearing up for the release of her feature film debut with "Watchers," but the elder filmmaker is also set to stage a box office matchup for the ages as his latest effort, "Trap," is also debuting later this year.

The hype was downright tangible as Shyamalan took the stage in Las Vegas, according to our very own Ryan Scott. He kicked off the festivities by describing how his eldest, Ishana, is also a musician and that he's come to value the "immersive" experience of concerts. By taking those two aspects and adding them together, the idea for "Trap" was born. As he put it, "What if we did something together? You could take music, that experience, and add a thriller to it." And in case mere talk about immersion and verisimilitude wasn't enough, Shyamalan turned the panel into an impromptu concert, ushering his other daughter Saleka onto the stage to sing her own special song for the occasion. That's a commitment to the bit that we can all respect!

From there, attendees finally had a chance to lay eyes on exclusive footage of "Trap," before the rest of us mere mortals will. Here's what those lucky folks got to see.

It's A Trap (Footage Reaction)

"Trap" has kept its cards close to the chest, with the only known information about it revolving around the main setting of a concert venue with psychological thriller vibes "where they realize they're at the center of a dark and sinister event," according to the logline. The mind reels at the possibilities, but here's how the CinemaCon footage unfolded. As reported firsthand by Ryan Scott, the reel begins with a singer known as Lady Raven(possibly played by Saleka Shyamalan, as well) taking the stage while Josh Hartnett's character is in attendance with his daughter -- apparently in full dad mode. Everything seems happy and normal and decidedly stress-free, as we all know Shyamalan films always turn out to be.

But, of course, things start to get weird in no time. Upon leaving his prime seat to visit the restroom, Hartnett's character suddenly encounters police cars and camera people buzzing about some unknown development. After asking someone what's going on, he's informed that a mysterious figure known only as "The Butcher" is the target, and the entire concert was set up as an elaborate trap that could very well be a serial killer. From there, the quick-cutting reel teases increasingly horrific imagery that includes Hartnett looking at his phone and seeing video of someone trapped in a basement. And here's the twist of all twists: it appears that the footage actually reveals the film's major surprise (or, more likely, one of the major surprises).

Read no further if you'd like to avoid spoilers.

Still here? Good. It certainly appears that Hartnett himself is actually the "Butcher" in question, and the video on his phone is that of his own hostage. The footage ends with him giving a "sinister smile" to the camera. We have absolutely no idea what to expect from this thriller, needless to say, but we're here for it.

"Trap" springs into theaters August 9, 2024.

Read the original article on SlashFilm

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The Watchers

A young artist gets stranded in an extensive, immaculate forest in western Ireland, where, after finding shelter, she becomes trapped alongside three strangers, stalked by mysterious creatur... Read all A young artist gets stranded in an extensive, immaculate forest in western Ireland, where, after finding shelter, she becomes trapped alongside three strangers, stalked by mysterious creatures each night. A young artist gets stranded in an extensive, immaculate forest in western Ireland, where, after finding shelter, she becomes trapped alongside three strangers, stalked by mysterious creatures each night.

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The Watchers Footage Reaction: A Horror Fairy Tale That Continues The Shyamalan Legacy [CinemaCon 2024]

A group of people stuck in an isolated location being terrorized by enigmatic and very possibly supernatural forces residing just outside the barriers of their refuge, all of which feels more like a waking dream than events taking place in the real world? "The Watchers" is a Shyamalan joint alright , just not the Shyamalan who gave us thrillers like "Signs," "The Village," and "Knock at the Cabin." This intriguing big-screen take on A. M. Shine's novel of the same name instead comes from writer and director Ishana Night Shyamalan, daughter of M. Night and a first-time feature filmmaker looking to mark a splash after helming multiple episodes of the acclaimed Apple TV+ series "Servant" (which M. Night also worked on as a producer and director) and doing second unit work on some of her pop's pictures since his return to low-budget thrillers around a decade ago, starting with "The Visit."

Ready to learn more? /Film's Ryan Scott is currently on the ground for the 2024 CinemaCon in Las Vegas, where he was able to attend the Warner Bros. panel and check out some brand-new "Watchers" footage for himself.

The Watchers in the woods

"The Watchers" comes on like an M. Night Shyamalan film, but according to Ishana Night Shyamalan, "We worked hard to make it a unique visual experience."

According to /Film's Ryan Scott, the trailer that debuted at CinemaCon opens with Dakota Fanning hitting a bar for a date, which turns sinister afterwards when she's driving through the woods and her car stalls. After being assailed by birds, she finds a sanctuary where an old woman hustles her into safety. "You have five seconds before the door is sealed."

Fanning is now in a room with other people, where she is watched for uncertain reasons. These people have been here for an indeterminate span of time, and a video provided by the husband of Georgina Campbell's character only heightens her confusion. She wanders through an underground passage that only seems to worsen her situation.

Shyamalan's film appears to be a dark fairy tale, one that contains supernatural monsters and other horrifying elements. We'll find out what Ishana Night Shyamalan has in store for us when "The Watchers" hits theaters on June 14, 2024. In the meantime, you can check out the official synopsis below.

From producer M. Night Shyamalan comes "The Watchers," written and directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan and based on the novel by A.M. Shine. The film follows Mina, a 28-year-old artist, who gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland. When Mina finds shelter, she unknowingly becomes trapped alongside three strangers who are watched and stalked by mysterious creatures each night. You can't see them, but they see everything.

Takeaways From CinemaCon 2024: Not Enough Movies, Too Much Testosterone

No way around it — this is going to be a painful year at the box office. The hope in the room (and there was some) is really about 2025 and 2026

It’s going to take another year to break out balloons and bubbly to celebrate the return of the theatrical business after COVID and two Hollywood strikes, but at least there’s a halo over the horizon. That said, CinemaCon 2024 made clear that the studios don’t have enough movies to satisfy theater owners this year — and what they do have feels uneven.

There’s some good work coming up: Universal’s “Wicked” at Christmas will be incredible. Disney’s “Kingdom of Planet of the Apes,” coming next month, looks otherworldly. Bong Joon-ho’s “Mickey 17,” in which Robert Pattinson keeps dying and getting cloned, from Warners, looks insane in the best possible way.

But the strike took its toll. The studios don’t have the full complement of movies and there’s no way around it: 2024 is going to be painful at the box office. The hope in the room (and there was some) is really about 2025 and 2026.

A week in Las Vegas at the annual CinemaCon gathering of movie exhibitors with midday cocktail parties at Nobu (thanks Lionsgate) didn’t mask the fact that the coming eight months of movies will be scraped together after a brutal year. It will be painful for moviegoers who want something other than angry shoot-em-ups, ear-shattering sound tracks and constant horror. The slates of Warner Bros., Paramount and Lionsgate particularly screamed of unrelenting testosterone and a stream of fear, anger and retribution.

I’ve said it before: Is there no joy, no tenderness, no intimacy permitted as part of the moviegoing experience? Do we audiences ever get to dream? To feel awe and empathy in between the white-knuckle moments? Are Hollywood executives who greenlight the movies unfamiliar with … y’know, kindness? Think about it please.

Here are my CinemaCon takeaways.

1. Disney might have had the fewest movies, but it has the biggest winners, and had the best presentation . Several years ago, Disney — at the top of its game and in the height of arrogance — showed up to CinemaCon and presented a giant screen with a calendar of its upcoming releases. And that was it. This year, the studio tried a lot harder, presenting delightful chunks of footage from their slate — including a stunning glimpse of “Apes” — and onstage patter, with everyone from Marvel’s Kevin Feige to the dapper distribution chief Tony Chambers dropping the F-bomb. It was liberating, honestly. Disney’s strength lies in its array of brands that cater to audiences and taste across the board, and in a year like this one it showed: movies for kids with “Inside Out 2” and “Moana 2,” the latter of which was presented by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson; a sensory, four-quadrant experience like “Apes”; and a fully hilarious foray into R-rated superhero fare with “Deadpool & Wolverine.” Actually, it was refreshing to not be bombarded with classic Marvel superhero fare. The studio was smart to let the movies do the talking, and the exhibitors responded with cheers of appreciation.

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - APRIL 09: (L-R) Bong Joon-ho and Robert Pattinson attend the Warner Bros. Pictures Presentation during CinemaCon 2024 at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace on April 09, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

2. New Line lives? The Warner Bros. slate presented by Mike DeLuca and Pam Abdy (maybe not professional moderators, but at least real humans) felt like nothing so much as New Line Cinema circa the 1990s, where DeLuca spent a decade of his career. The movies were heavy on genre — violent action, horror and crime. So sure, “Furiosa” by George Miller with Anya Taylor-Joy, is a feast for all the senses. But by the time you got through “The Watchers” (horror), “Traps” (thriller), “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” (fantasy-horror) and Todd Phillips’ follow-up to “Joker” — “Folie a Deux” (I don’t know what to call this thing, but it’s mad creepy) — the audience was begging for a reason to laugh or cry — anything but cower in fear. The movie on the Warner slate that got the strongest response from the CinemaCon audience was not made by Warner. It was the Sundance documentary “Super/Man,” acquired by the studio. The trailer they showed about the courage of Christopher Reeve, the love of his wife and his devotion to his children, made everybody cry. Yeah, Hollywood, that’s a thing.

3. “Where are the women?” That’s what I scrawled in my notebook after the third consecutive studio presentation and the umpteenth cast with a half-dozen men and one single woman. (Actually, it was after Paramount’s animated “Transformers One” and the studio’s decades-later sequel of “Gladiator 2.”) Not only weren’t there movies to appeal specifically to a female audience, even the so-called “broad” appeal movies have overwhelmingly male casts and a token woman. “Gladiator II” has Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington … and Connie Nielsen. “Transformers One” has Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry and a bunch more guys … and Scarlett Johansson. This absurd imbalance was supposed to have been addressed after the awakening of #MeToo, no? Women are half the population, and we like movies, too. But you’d never know it from these slates. Lionsgate was especially egregious in trotting out a full slate of movies that were a litany of violent combat, breaking bones, machetes and knives. Guy Ritchie and Eli Roth were in the mix, of course. Keanu Reaves was in four of the movies. One guy got stabbed in the eye. “Ballerina” stars a woman (Ana de Armas) but it’s no less violent for that. I don’t know what they’re eating over there, but it feels like a diet of nails and rawhide.

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - APRIL 10: (L-R) Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo speak onstage during the Universal Pictures and Focus Features Presentation during CinemaCon 2024 at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace on April 10, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

4. Universal is riding high after its Best Picture win with “Oppenheimer” and a box office performance that defied expectations in 2023. And while the studio, blessedly, had a variety of films on its slate that suggested something other than just horror and violence (although they’re going hard on the Blumhouse canon with sequels to “Five Nights at Freddy’s” and “M3ghan”), that slate is undeniably thin. It’s going to be a long wait until December, when the studio can unveil what appears to be a spectacular experience in “Wicked,” starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in the first of two films. Director Jon M. Chu said the production planted 8 million tulip bulbs to create the practical effect of fields of blooms in the movie. Universal cleverly gave every attendee at their presentation a tulip that lit up in the dark and created a magical, glowing effect in the auditorium.

5. Nepo-baby alert. I would have thought that Warner Bros. would be embarrassed to bring not one but TWO M. Night Shyamalan progeny out on stage to tease their new movies. There was 22-year-old Ishana with a twist on her dad’s horror in the woods genre; and 27-year-old Saleka who sang live, which was probably not a great decision for “Trap,” written and directed by M. Night. But then again, the studio is merely being paid a distribution fee for movies Shyamalan has financed himself.

Good luck to the box office, and see you next year, CinemaCon!

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The Visit review: the most shocking M. Night Shyamalan twist is a good movie

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Film Review: ‘The Visit’

Geoff Berkshire

Popular on Variety

Reviewed at Arclight Cinemas, Hollywood, Sept. 8, 2015. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 94 MIN.

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With ‘The Visit,’ M. Night Shyamalan Returns to His Filmmaking Roots

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How Does This Twist Compare To Others In M. Night Shyamalan Horror Movies?

Screen Rant

M. Night Shyamalan's Films Ranked From Absolute Worst To Best (Including Old)

Becca & Tyler Had Never Seen Their Grandparents Before

The Kids Weren’t Allowed To Leave Their Room After 9:30 pm.

Nana’s Odd Behaviour During Hide-and-Seek

Pop Pop Attacked An Unknown Man On The Street

Nana “Accidentally” Covered Becca’s Laptop Camera With Dough

Dr. Sam’s Visit To Check On The Grandparents

Nana Asked Becca To Clean The Oven

Stacey’s Visit & Confrontation

Why Nana & Pop Pop Killed The Real Grandparents

The Visit: Where Was M. Night Shyamalan’s Horror Movie Shot?

The Visit Filming Locations

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Chester Springs, Pennsylvania

Royersford, Pennsylvania

Miami, Florida

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The Visit (2015)

The Visit streaming: where to watch online?

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