By J1 Reporter Lauren Martin 

Once upon a time, a teen ran away from her parents. After having children of her own, her kids seemed to keep asking who their grandparents were. After careful consideration, the two kids finally got the opportunity to meet their long lost grandparents for the first time. After leaving their mother and hours of traveling, the 13 and 15-year-old ran off the train, ecstatic to hug their grandparents for the first time…or so they thought. 

As time goes on, things seem to get stranger each night after lights out. After the kids start getting creeped out by their grandparents, they FaceTime their mom. They tell her some of the weird things that have been happening only to find out someone has cracked the camera leaving the screen blank. Why would they crack the camera unless there was something to hide?

The Visit offers the perfect balance between horror, comedy, and mystery. This 2015 film, directed by M. Night Shyamalan, is one of the only horror movies that can genuinely make me laugh and scare me at the same time. I saw it originally in a theater, but I was so drawn in that I also watched it a few times on streaming services. 

The whole time, I was trying to put together all of the pieces in my head. After everything I thought the ending could be, it ended up being something I would’ve never imagined. 

The scenes in this movie match my sense of humor, and I think a lot of high schoolers my age could say the same. 

The story line starts with something that seems fairly normal which leaves the ending such a surprise. I personally would have never guessed the ending of this movie which is why it kept my attention and made me want to keep watching. 

Usually, you can space out or get distracted during movies. With the amount of crazy plot twists in The Visit, I wanted to keep watching without pausing, and I kept getting more and more drawn in each time a new clue was discovered. 

The Visit is rated PG-13, runs for 1 hour and 34 minutes, and can be found on Google Play Movies or Amazon Prime Video.