the diaper scene the visit

‘The Visit’ Ending Explained: Family Reunions Can Be Torture

What's wrong with Grandma?

The Big Picture

• In M. Night Shyamalan's The Visit , the main characters discover that the grandparents they are staying with are actually dangerous imposters.
• The twist is revealed when the children's mother realizes that the people claiming to be their grandparents are strangers who have assumed their identities.
• The climax of the film involves a tense and dangerous confrontation between the children and the imposters, resulting in the reveal of the true identities of the grandparents.

M. Night Shyamalan is considered a master at delivering drop-your-popcorn-level twisty conclusions to his haunting films. People still talk about the end of The Sixth Sense as perhaps one of the greatest twists in the history of modern cinema. The jaw-dropper at the end of Unbreakable ranks close to the top as well. But there is another pretty decent curveball that the director tosses up in a lesser-known movie that is currently streaming on Max. In 2016's The Visit (which is currently streaming on Max ) he plays on the hallowed relationship between children and their doting grandparents. How could Shyamalan toy with the innocence of this? It is an excellent film that deftly blends found footage with the director's signature slow-burning tension to leave audiences with yet another "WTF?" moment . Let's dig into what exactly happens at the end of his underrated movie, The Visit .

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

What is 'The Visit' About?

Young Becca Jamison ( Olivia DeJonge ) and little brother Tyler ( Ed Oxenbould ) are sent away by their divorced mother Loretta ( Kathryn Hahn ) to finally meet and spend some time with their grandparents , Frederick, or Pop Pop ( Peter McRobbie ), and Maria, better known as Nana ( Deanna Dunagan ). They have a nice rural estate away from the hustle and bustle of the city, and it feels like this is going to be a heartwarming story of two generations of the Jamisons getting to know each other. It seems a bit odd that these two preteens have yet to meet their maternal grandparents, but Shyamalan explains that nicely in the first few scenes: Loretta has had a years-long falling out with her parents after leaving the family farm at the age of 19.

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

Loretta is still estranged from her parents but she wants her children to have a relationship with them — she only wants to go on a cruise with her new boyfriend and needs someone to watch the kids. So, the children have no idea what their Nana and Pop Pop actually look like. And you can feel something amiss from the very beginning of the film as the two precocious but excited kids set off to meet their grandparents. The entire film is told through the kids' (mainly Becca, an aspiring filmmaker) camcorder, as they have decided to document their trip. It's clear right away that Becca resents her father as a result of his abandonment, as she refuses to include any footage of her dad in her film.

Shyamalan Expertly Builds Tension in 'The Visit'

Upon the kids' arrival, Nana and Pop Pop seem like regular grandparents with regular questions like, "Do you like sports?" and "Why are your pants so low?" Nana tends to the chores like cooking and cleaning while Pop Pop handles the more rugged work outdoors like cutting wood. Naturally, Shyamalan tightens the screws immediately when the audience discovers that there is little to no cell phone reception, so he can isolate our four players into a single space. The Grandparents seem fairly easygoing but they have one strict rule — the kids must not come out of their bedroom after 9:30 pm. The very first night, Nana exhibits some bizarre behavior, walking aimlessly through the downstairs portion of the house and vomiting on the floor. However, the next morning she seems to be just fine.

Pop Pop explains to Becca and Tyler that she suffers from "sundowning" which is a very real diagnosis that usually affects the elderly . He tells them that at night Nana gets this feeling that something is in her body and just wants to get out. Pop Pop is clear and coherent, and yet again, we, along with our two young lead characters, assume the grandparents, while odd, are nothing to fear. A Zoom call with Loretta further assuages their fear by explaining away all the strange behavior as part of getting older. It's a back-and-forth that Shyamalan expertly navigates by pushing the audience only so far before reeling it back in with a logical explanation. But soon, things become inexplicably dire and dangerous.

"What's in the shed?" Tyler asks as he looks into the camera while contributing to Becca's documentary . "Is it dead bodies?" What he discovers is a pile of used, discarded adult diapers filled with Pop Pop's excrement. The smell sends Tyler reeling, and he falls out of the shed onto the snowy ground. This time, it's Nana who explains away Pop Pop's odd behavior. She tells her grandson that Pop Pop has incontinence and is so proud that he hides his waste in the shed. At this point, everything seems very odd to say the least, but there is nothing to suggest anything sinister is afoot . Not yet anyway. Even after he attacks a random stranger who he believes is watching him out on the streets on a trip into town, you still just think that maybe Pop Pop may just have a loose screw. However, the sense that these elderly people are something more than doting parents is intensified when Nana leaves Becca inside the oven for several seconds.

What Is the Twist at the End of 'The Visit'?

"Those aren't your grandparents?" Get the heck out of here! What?! Loretta finally sees the two people claiming to be her parents and tells Becca and Tyler via Skype that they aren't their beloved Nana and Pop Pop, but two complete strangers who have assumed their identities. Loretta immediately calls the police, but it will take hours for help to arrive at the remote farmhouse. Becca and Tyler are going to have to play along with these dangerous imposters. After the most tense and awkward game of Yahtzee in the history of board games, things get really, really ugly. Nana and Pop Pop haven't laid a hand on either of the kids in the movie so far. You can feel the slow and excruciating tension that Shyamalan is building . He knows that the audience is waiting for that "point of no return" moment when it is crystal clear that Becca and Tyler's lives are in danger. Becca manages to escape to the basement to discover the dead bodies of two elderly people murdered. Nana and Pop Pop are escaped mental patients from the nearby psychiatric hospital and have killed the real Jamison grandparents.

What Happens at the End of 'The Visit'?

Pop Pop realizes their cover is blown and becomes physical with Becca. He's upset that Becca is ruining Nana's perfect week as a grandmother. He tells her, "We're all dying today, Becca!" pushing her into a pitch-black upstairs room. Meanwhile, he grabs Tyler and takes him into the kitchen, and does one of the most foul and stomach-turning things ever in a Shyamalan film . He takes his used diaper and shoves it in the boy's face. He knows that Tyler is a germaphobe, and it is the most diabolical and traumatizing thing he could do to the boy. Becca is trapped upstairs with the sundowning Nana, fighting for her own life. After a struggle, Becca grasps a shard of glass from the broken mirror and is able to stab Nana multiple times in the gut.

She breaks the lock on the door and runs downstairs to help Tyler. She pulls "Pop Pop" off her traumatized younger brother. Suddenly, Tyler snaps out of his stupor and releases the pent-up anger of his football tackling lessons with his estranged father. He knocks Pop Pop to the ground and slams the refrigerator door on his head over and over . This is significant because earlier in the movie, Becca ribs Tyler about how he froze up during a big play in a youth football game, and this time he comes through to save Becca in the final kitchen scene conquering his biggest fears.

Loretta and the police arrive and the kids run frantically out of the house. The final scene has Loretta setting the record straight for the documentary about the traumatic moments surrounding her running away from home. 15 years before the events of the film, before Becca was born, Loretta fell out with her parents over her decision to marry her teacher. The argument led to Loretta and her parents getting physical with each other, and she left home that night and never responded to their attempts and pleas to reconnect. It's the most emotional scene in the film as Loretta is feeling a huge amount of guilt at never getting to say she was sorry for the strained relationship between her and her parents or getting to possibly hear an apology for the wrongs they also committed. Loretta tells Becca "Don't hold on to anger! You hear me?" The two then share a meaningful embrace. And the final shot is of the two kids with their dad on a birthday when they were much younger.

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

Watch on Max

In The Visit , a Teenage Rapper Gets Shit Rubbed in His Face

Thanks a lot, m. night shyamalan.

T here is a shocking twist in M. Night Shyamalan's The Visit ! "That it's good?" you ask? Hahahahaha... no. The Visit is terrible. "That it's funny?" you ask, giving at least some credit to the fallen-on-hard-times filmmaker, who once made great movies like 2000's Unbreakable. Bwahahahahaha... no. The Visit is not funny—at least, not on purpose. Spoiler: The shocking twist is that the best scene involves a teenage rapper getting adult-diaper gravy rubbed all over his face. Does this bit of (unintentional) comedic genius make the cringe-inducing The Visit worth seeing? Well, that depends (eh?) on your threshold for watching elders lose their shit.

Kathryn Hahn plays a mom who hasn't talked to her parents in 15 years, but still sends off her two teenagers to spend a wintry week at their farm in Pennsylvania. Nice parenting, Kathryn Hahn. Besides Nana's (Deanna Dunagan) unusual nighttime routine of running around on all fours, Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and Rappin' Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) are enjoying their first visit with the olds. But even considering aging's inevitable downward slide, their grandparents' behavior starts to get too peculiar to explain—what with Nana's naked forays into the hallway and Pop Pop mistaking the business end of his rifle for a Werther's.

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One Of The Scariest Scenes In The Visit Goes Bump In The Night

(Welcome to Scariest Scene Ever , a column dedicated to the most pulse-pounding moments in horror with your tour guides, horror experts Matt Donato and Ariel Fisher. In this edition, Matt turns a camera on some innocent-looking grandparents in "The Visit" and Ariel can't stand the silence.)

The found-footage movement was birthed by filmmakers with tight budgets and minimal resources who defied the odds to popularize home video horrors. Movies like "The Blair Witch Project" and "Paranormal Activity" showed that $15,000 and a handheld camera could gross $190 million . Everyone wanted their cut of the insanely profitable subgenre (when done right). Little by little, found footage was everywhere, eventually being adopted by mainstream filmmakers and studios who wanted to profit off of the trend. Kaijus, exorcisms, and zombies got in on the action, and then it was M. Night Shyamalan's turn. 

"The Visit" proves that found footage efficiency boils down to ideas, execution, and storytelling. Shyamalan's pedigree as a blockbuster filmmaker does nothing to rob the first-person horror show that is grandchildren fighting off their septuagenarian babysitters. 

Some complain that big-budget found footage films are too cleanly produced and lack that guerilla filmmaking grime, but that's not necessarily a damning factor. "The Visit" shouldn't be docked just because it's cleanly shot. As long as the scares are well-produced, it's still successful found footage. 

Shyamalan finds a way to make senior citizens terrifying while creating a found-footage gem that smells like a scented candle named "Home Sweet Hell."

Over the river and through the woods, to grandmother's house 15-year-old Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and 13-year-old Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) go. Oddly enough, they've never met their Nana (Deanna Dunagan) or Pop Pop (Peter McRobbie). Their mother, Loretta (Kathryn Hahn), severed ties with her parents 15 years prior because they disapproved of her marrying her high school teacher. Loretta's headed on a cruise with her new boyfriend, so it's a perfect excuse for the children to stay with family and spend some quality catch-up time.

Becca and Tyler have to endure five days with Nana and Pop Pop. For the duration, they plan to videotape what will become a documentary about finally meeting their relatives. Something this momentous should be recorded for prosperity, which becomes Shyamalan's explanation for why his adolescent main characters keep their camera rolling on Nana and Pop Pop.

As far as these types of justifications go, "The Visit" soundly reasons its adoption of the found footage format.

The story so far

Nana and Pop Pop are a bit off-center from the start, laying out rules the children must obey. Becca and Tyler must never venture into the basement due to hazardous mold, and they must be in bed by 9:30 p.m. every night. There's little resistance, although children will always be disobedient runts. Becca wanders downstairs after curfew on the first night and catches Nana projectile vomiting. It's enough to give minor pause or a kernel of suspicion, but that's not where Nana and Pop Pop's behavior ceases to trouble.

An unsettling game of hide-and-seek with Nana becomes increasingly creepy, as Nana reacts irrationally to the mention of Loretta's name, and Tyler later discovers a mountain of dirty diapers in Pop Pop's shed. Then Pop Pop attacks someone in public and the youngsters' worry increases.

Nana and Pop Pop are confronted about their actions but dismiss one another's peculiar activity. Becca and Tyler are becoming more concerned by the minute and even see one of their grandparents' previous counseling patients arrive with a baked treat but never exit. Becca scours the internet for explanations and confides her concern in Loretta via video call, who downplays the habits of the elderly. Tyler decides to do some detective work of his own and rigs the camera as a secret surveillance device in the living room, hoping to catch Nana or Pop Pop doing whatever the kids aren't allowed to witness past bedtime.

Around 10:40 p.m. that night, Nana gives the documentarians something to fear.

Becca and Tyler lay asleep under dark shadows behind a locked bedroom door. The camera perspective flips to the living room in more shadowy darkness to suggest no one is awake and stirring — until Nana appears in the kitchen in her flowing nightgown. She seems to have a snack, which she places on the table. Then she walks to the closet and starts opening, then closing the door, slamming it repeatedly, fixated by each hard thrust.

The camera cuts back to Becca and Tyler's room, where neither is woken up by the banging downstairs.

Cut back to Nana's ruckus, and she abruptly stops. She walks trance-like across the camera's lens without paying it any attention, from far left to just out of frame, far right. Her shadow vanishes, and there's a moment of silence. Nana has disappeared, leaving an empty living room. Then a scamper starts off-camera, like something on all fours hurriedly crawling across the hardwood floor. We witness nothing, just the sound growing closer and louder.

The noise stops, and that's when Nana leaps from beneath the frame and makes an infernal growl. Something demonic. She purposely executes a quintessential found footage jump scare. It's brash, in our face, and supremely frightful as Nana glares into the lens with a noticeable scowl — she's being watched and doesn't appreciate the tactic. It's a dagger-filled look that means consequences.

She grabs the camera and walks into the kitchen once again, where she also grabs a knife. The camera, pointed towards the ground, keeps recording Nana as she ascends the stairs that lead back to the second floor. She puts the camera down, angled towards Becca and Tyler's door, where Nana briskly walks, brandishing the cutlery.

The camera swings back on Becca and Tyler, still snoozing, and we hear someone trying to jimmy their door open.

Tyler wakes up — there's a loud bang.

Nana attempts to bash down their door in frustration but goes back to the lock. Then another bang. Becca and Tyler are now sitting upright in their beds, staring at the door, praying whatever's on the other side can't enter.

The impact (Ariel's take)

Cringe-worthy rapping and gross-out tactics aside, "The Visit" definitely surprised me. It didn't linger quite the same way "Paranormal Activity" did, as far as found footage movies go, but I liked it well enough. The way Shyamalan weaponizes both the fear of the elderly and the fear of being accused of ageism is impressive, not to mention effective. And this is one of the best scares in the movie, without question.

I've said this before, and it'll likely come up many times in the future, but there are a few things that truly scare the s*** out of me, and one of them is being charged. Even the sound of feet running towards me is enough, whether it's coming from a movie or out in the real world. With all that said, Nana's footsteps probably scare me more than her jumping up in front of the camera with a snarl. Follow that with the absolute dead silence of the house and Nana's banging on the door ... no thanks. Hard pass. I'll stay at an Airbnb.

The Ending Of The Visit Explained

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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2015 Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

No one loves you like your grandparents.

The terrifying story of a brother and sister who are sent to their grandparents' remote Pennsylvania farm for a weeklong trip. Once the children discover that the elderly couple is involved in something deeply disturbing, they see their chances of getting back home are growing smaller every day.

Olivia DeJonge Ed Oxenbould Deanna Dunagan Peter McRobbie Kathryn Hahn Celia Keenan-Bolger Samuel Stricklen Patch Darragh Jorge Cordova Steve Annan Benjamin Kanes Ocean James Seamus Moroney Dave Jia Sajida De Leon John Buscemi Richard Barlow Shawn Gonzalez Shelby Lackman

Director Director

M. Night Shyamalan

Assistant Directors Asst. Directors

Brian Moon Sebastian Mazzola

Producers Producers

M. Night Shyamalan Jason Blum

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Steven Schneider Ashwin Rajan

Writer Writer

Casting casting.

Douglas Aibel

Editor Editor

Luke Ciarrocchi

Cinematography Cinematography

Maryse Alberti

Camera Operator Camera Operator

Peter Nolan

Production Design Production Design

Naaman Marshall

Art Direction Art Direction

Scott G. Anderson

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Christine Wick

Special Effects Special Effects

Dane Wilson

Visual Effects Visual Effects

Jennifer Wessner Bob Lowery

Stunts Stunts

Drew Leary Laurie Singer

Sound Sound

Skip Lievsay

Costume Design Costume Design

Amy Westcott

Hairstyling Hairstyling

Teresa Morgan

Blumhouse Productions Blinding Edge Pictures Universal Pictures dentsu

Releases by Date

10 sep 2015, 11 sep 2015, 17 sep 2015, 24 sep 2015, 25 sep 2015, 07 oct 2015, 08 oct 2015, 15 oct 2015, 22 oct 2015, 23 oct 2015, 19 nov 2015, 26 nov 2015, 11 dec 2015, 09 feb 2016, 16 aug 2022, 01 feb 2016, 23 feb 2016, 16 mar 2016, releases by country.

• Theatrical M
• Theatrical 14A
• Physical 15
• Theatrical 12
• Digital VOD
• Physical 12 DVD & Blu-Ray
• Digital 12 Netflix
• Theatrical 15A

Netherlands

• Theatrical 16
• Physical 16 DVD, Blu ray
• Theatrical M/16

South Korea

• Theatrical 15
• Theatrical 15+
• Theatrical PG-13

94 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by sexualjumanji ★★★★½ 9

Just called my grandparents and told them to fuck off forever.

Review by 𝚮𝖆𝖗𝖑𝖊𝖖𝖚𝖎𝖓𝖆𝖉𝖊 🌃 ★★★ 34

>5 minutes in >the kid starts rapping >I add this to my films that made me happy I’m childless list >9 minutes in >it happens again >I google "how to make sure you don't get pregnant" >89 minutes in >IT RAPS ONCE MORE >I decide sex is never worth the risk

📝 Shyamalan: ranked

Review by maria ★★ 17

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

bold of m. night shyamalan to include a scene where a diaper full of shit is being shoved into someone's face to symbolize how much shit he's gonna be shoving into our faces for the next 94 minutes

Review by ˗ˏˋ suspirliam ˊˎ˗ ★★★ 1

WHAT IN THE TAYLOR SWIFT WAS THAT

Review by cait ★★★ 6

if m. night wanted me to sympathise with the kids why did he make one of them a freestyle rapper. how am i supposed to find any sympathy towards that. little freak deserved everything that happened

Review by gab🦕 ★★★★ 6

you cannot convince me that this isn’t a comedy

Review by WraithApe ★★★ 23

Yo.. yo.. yo..

M. Night Shyamalan comin at ya with an alarmin yarn about Pop Pop and Nana livin the good life in homedown manor

Enter Becca and her litle bro far from a pro wannabe rapper T. Diamond Stylus Stubbin his toe with an 'Oh Mylie Cyrus!' droppin the mic with a 'HO'

Got a ringside seat M. Night finds footage thru documentary conceit Set-up's begun take it back to film school, 101 Establishing shot, set-up again zoom lens, cross cut, mise-en-scène

Goin meta with Becca but Nana's still gonna get her Makin night moves outside the door Sundown fright on a lower floor red eyes fed by satanic delight

Pop's runnin shit like dystentry Pilin up diapers like…

Review by adambolt ★★½

I'm gonna act like this whenever my grandkids stay over just to fuck with them

Review by SilentDawn ★★★★½ 16

The works of M. Night Shyamalan, no matter the quality, are each on a quest of searching mystery and eventual discovery. All of his films are bursting with uneasy traps and elusive secrets, and it is these traits in which Shyamalan's fame was built upon. To say he had a dry spell is a massive understatement, but as soon as The Visit flares up with its opening shot, a startling vision immediately makes its presence known.

I felt like I was home again.

The Visit , while advertised as a silly and creepy chiller, is more of an insane boiling pot of family turmoil and batshit antics. It's a bewildering mix of humor, horror, and heart-wrenching dramatic impact, and each…

Review by Josh Lewis ★★★★ 4

"Old people sometimes have troubles with their body" "People leave. They find something better."

Doesn't quite have the scope of his early work but probably the most vital found footage filmmaking has felt in... ever? Shyamalan's visual grace & intelligence blends really well with the cheap, modern ageism Hansel & Gretal exploitation movie he's making here and he very effectively uses the immediacy inherent to the form to sneak real sudden thrills into some of his usual themes of familial breakdown/estrangement and masking/physically overcoming emotional trauma. There are a number of very creepily conceived shocks but weirdly enough the film is much more emotionally clear & cathartic than it is scary by the end. It totally works though so I have trouble seeing this as a bad thing.

Review by Gonzo ★★★½ 47

▶ 2015 Movie Rankings

▶ RANKED: M. Night Shyamalan

Is it better than Mad Max: Fury Road ? Even a (very welcome and long-awaited) Shyamalan resurgence can't top the chrome juggernaut.

Wait, wait, wait, hold up, hold up... Shyamalan made a good movie?! M. Night Shyamalan? What?! Yes, people, believe it. Your favorite punching bag is back with a vengeance. It's not as great as The Sixth Sense or Unbreakable , but it's a step in the right direction.

Is there a twist? It's Shyamalan. Of course, there's a twist.

Is the twist predictable? I saw it coming from the get-go. It's a pretty good twist though. It's the sort that doesn't ruin the fun even if you do guess it early…

Review by Neil Bahadur ★★★★½ 11

Unbelievable. Probably my 2nd favourite Shyamalan...one of the great films where everything you thought was right turns out to be wrong, and certainly the scariest film Shyamalan has made. There is explosive digital formalism, cameras seem to be attached to bodies and in moments of intense, quick movement the frame is obscured by flinging hair and occasional ruptures in the image of a human face; abstractions which could be only captured by the size of consumer grade cameras. In a way, it's inspiring because of that.

But much of this movie's terror comes from the opposite of Shyamalan's earlier tendencies, that we should believe in ghosts and demons ala Dreyer or Tourneur. Rather, people are terrifying, and even worse, family.…

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The Visit Explained (Plot And Ending)

The Visit is a 2015  horror   thriller  directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It follows two siblings who visit their estranged grandparents only to discover something is very wrong with them. As the children try to uncover the truth, they are increasingly terrorized by their grandparents’ bizarre behaviour. Here’s the plot and ending of The Visit explained; spoilers ahead.

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Where To Watch?

To find where to stream any movie or series based on your country, use This Is Barry’s Where To Watch .

Oh, and if this article doesn’t answer all of your questions, drop me a comment or an FB chat message, and I’ll get you the answer .  You can find other film explanations using the search option on top of the site.

Here are links to the key aspects of the movie:

• – The Story
• – Plot Explained
• – Ending Explained
• – The Sense Of Dread
• – Separation, Remorse, and Personal Fears
• – Frequently Asked Questions Answered
• – Wrap Up

What is the story of The Visit?

The Visit is about two kids visiting their grandparents for the first time. They are also going there to hope and rebuild a bridge between their mom and grandparents and help their mom heal after a painful divorce. The movie is in documentary form.

The Visit is one of the most unnerving and realistic horror stories. A good thing about classic horror movies is that, after the movie ends, you can switch it off and go to bed,  knowing that you’re safe . Vampires, ghosts, and demonic powers don’t exist, and even if you are prone to these kinds of esoteric beliefs, there are safeguards. If your home is not built in an Indian burial ground and you haven’t bought any creepy-looking dolls from your local antiquary, you’re perfectly safe.

However, what about the idea of two kids spending five days with two escaped psychiatric ward patients in a remote farmhouse? Now, this is a thought that will send shivers down your spine. It’s a story that sounds not just realistic but real. It’s  something that might have happened in the past  or might happen in the future.

This is  what  The Visit  is all about . This idea, coupled with documentary-form storytelling, is why the movie is so unnerving to watch.

The Visit: Plot Explained

Loretta’s past.

As a young girl, Loretta Jamison fell in love with her high school teacher and decided to skip her hometown with him. Before leaving, she had a heated altercation with her parents and hasn’t seen them since. At the movie’s start, she is a single mom of 15-year-old Becca and 14-year-old Tyler, and she  hasn’t spoken to her parents in 15 years .

What really happened on the day Loretta left?

Loretta’s mom tries to stop her from leaving the house, and Loretta hits her mom, and her dad hits her. Soon after, her parents try to reach out to Loretta, but she refuses to take their calls, and years go by.

Meet The Grandparents

Years later, Loretta’s parents reach out to  meet their grandchildren . The grandparents are, seemingly, wholly reformed and now even help at the local psychiatric hospital. Although initially not too fond of the idea, Loretta is persuaded by the insistence of her children. While she had no intention of visiting the parents, she permitted her children to pay their grandparents a five-day visit.

At The Grandparents’

Their first meeting with Nana and Pop Pop starts on the right foot. They start getting to know each other, and other than a simple generational gap, nothing seems too strange. The only thing that seems off is that they are warned  not to leave the room after 9:30 in the evening .

The kids break this rule, and on the first night, they notice  Nana acting erratically , projectile vomiting, scratching wallpaper with her bare hands, and running around the house on all fours. Grandpa appears paranoid and hides his adult diapers in the garden shed, and the situation escalates each day.

The Visit Ending Explained: What happens in the end?

The ending of Visit has the kids finally showing the elderly couple to Loretta. She, completely horrified, states that  those are not her parents . The pair posing as Pop Pop and Nana are escaped psychiatric institution patients who murdered their grandparents and took their places.

The kids survive, kill their captors, and are found alive and well by their mom and the police. Becca kills Nana with a shard from the mirror, thus symbolically overcoming her fear of her reflection. Tyler kills Pop Pop by repeatedly slamming him in the head with a refrigerator door after overcoming his germaphobia and anxiety about freezing.

The Sense Of Dread

The elements of horror in this movie are just  perfectly executed . First of all, the film is shot as a documentary. Becca is an aspiring filmmaker who records the entire trip with her camera. From time to time, we see an interview of all the characters, which just serves as the perfect vessel for characterization.

No Ghouls or Cults

Another thing that evokes dread is  realism . There are no supernatural beings or demonic forces. It’s just two kids alone in a remote farmstead with two creepy, deranged people. Even in the end, when Loretta finds out what’s happening, it takes her hours to get there with the police. The scariest part is that it’s not that hard to imagine something along those lines really happening.

The  house itself is dread-inducing . The place is old and rustic. Like in The Black Phone soundproofing a room  could have prevented kids from hearing Nana rummaging around the house without a clear idea of what was happening, but this was not the case, as the old couple weren’t that capable.

The  characters  themselves  are perfectly played . Something is unnerving about Pop Pop and Nana from the very first scene. It’s the Uncanny Valley scenario where you feel that something’s off and shakes you to the core, but you have no idea what it is.

Separation, Remorse, and Personal Fears

What this movie does the best is explore the  ugly side of separation, old grudges, and remorse . The main reason why kids are insistent on visiting their grandparents is out of their desire to help their mom.

They see she’s remorseful for never  working things out with her parents . In light of her failed marriage and the affair that caused it to end, she might live with the doubt that her parents were right all along. This makes her decision and altercation with her parents even worse. Reconciling when you know you were wrong is harder than forgiving the person who wronged you.

The Kids’ Perspective

There are personal fears and  traumas of the kids . Tyler, in his childish naivete, is convinced that his father left because he was disappointed in him as a son. Tyler tells Becca that he froze during one game he played, which disappointed his dad so much that he had to leave. While this sounds ridiculous to any adult (and even Becca), it’s a matter of fact to Tyler. As a result of this trauma, Tyler also developed germaphobia. In Becca’s own words, this gives him a greater sense of control.

On the other hand,  Becca refuses to look at herself in the mirror  or stand in front of the camera if she can help it. Both kids  had to overcome their fears to survive , which is a solid and clear metaphor for how these things sometimes turn out in real life.

Frequently Asked Questions Answered

The visit: what’s wrong with the grandparents who are the grandparents.

The people who hosted Becca and Tyler were runaway psychiatric hospital patients who murdered the real grandparents and took their place. Nana’s impostor (Claire) was actually responsible for murdering her children by drowning them in a well. Pop Pop’s impostor (Mitchell) wanted to give Claire a second chance at having kids / being a grandparent.

How did the imposter grandparents know about the kids’ visit?

It appears Claire and Mitchell hear the real Nana and Pop Pop brag about their grandkids’ visit. They also learned that neither the grandparents nor the kids had seen each other. The real grandparents appear to have been consulting in the same hospital Claire and Mitchell were being treated. The two crazies take this opportunity to break out, kill the real grandparents and go to the station to pick up the children.

The Visit: What is Sinmorfitellia?

Claire and Mitchell believe that Sinmorfitellia is an alien planet, and the creatures from there lurk on Earth. They spit into the waters of wells and ponds all day, which can put people into a deep sleep. They take  sleeping with the fishes  quite literally. Long ago, Claire drowned her children believing they would go to Sinmorfitellia.

The Visit: What happened to the real grandparents?

Claire and Mitchel killed Nana and Pop Pop and put them in the basement. This information went unnoticed because Becca’s laptop’s camera was damaged by Nana, so Loretta could not confirm the imposters. Claire and Mitchel were not present every time someone came to visit, so no one suspected foul play except Stacey, who received help from the real grandparents. As a result, she is killed.

What did Claire and Mitchel intend to do?

They plan to go to Sinmorfitellia with Becca and Tyler. They all plan to die on that last night and enter the well, which they believe is their path to the alien planet where they can be happy together. This is perhaps why the grandparents hang Stacey outside the house because they don’t care about being caught.

The Visit: What’s wrong with Nana?

We don’t know what caused Nana’s mental illness, but she was crazy enough to kill her two children by putting them in suitcases and drowning them in a pond. It appears she suffers from schizophrenia as she has delusions.

The Visit: Wrap Up

From the standpoint of horror, The Visit has it all. An unnerving realistic scenario, real-life trauma, and an atmosphere of fear. Combine this with  some of the best acting work in the genre  and a documentary-style movie, and you’ve got yourself a real masterpiece.

On the downside, the movie leaves you with a lot of open questions like:

• Considering the kids have never seen the grandparents and are going alone, Loretta didn’t ensure her kids knew what her parents looked like?
• How are Claire and Mitchell out and about so close to the hospital without being caught?
• Considering they are mentally ill, how did Claire and Mitchell plot such a thorough plan? (e.g. strategically damaging the camera of the laptop)
• I understand  Suspension Of Disbelief  in horror films, but neither kids drop their cameras despite the terror they go through only so we, the audience, can get the entire narrative?

What were your thoughts on the plot and ending of the movie The Visit? Drop your comments below!

Stacey is a talented freelance writer passionate about all things pop culture. She has a keen eye for detail and a natural talent for storytelling. She’s a super-fan of Game of Thrones, Cats, and Indie Rock Music and can often be found engrossed in complex films and books. Connect with her on her social media handles to learn more about her work and interests.

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2015, Mystery & thriller/Horror, 1h 34m

What to know

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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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. 

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Common sense media reviewers.

Shyamalan's found-footage spooker has teens in peril.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Teens learn to overcome past fears to deal with cu

The main characters are teens (13 and 15) who try

Dead bodies, one hanged. Elderly man killed in a s

Minor innuendo involving 13-year-old boy who imagi

"F--k" is used once. Other words include

Skype is used as part of the plot. Sony laptop sho

Adults occasionally smoke cigarettes. A boy mimes

Parents need to know that The Visit is a found-footage horror movie from director M. Night Shyamalan. There are plenty of spooky images, sounds, and dialogue, as well as jump scares and a small amount of blood and gore. Viewers see dead bodies (including one killed in a rather shocking way), and two teens, 13…

Positive Messages

Teens learn to overcome past fears to deal with current situations. They sometimes work together but at other times are forced to split up.

Positive Role Models

The main characters are teens (13 and 15) who try their best to survive a bad situation; they're brave, but their situation isn't one anyone would emulate. The adults in the story aren't particularly admirable.

Violence & Scariness

Dead bodies, one hanged. Elderly man killed in a shocking way. Some blood. Spooky images, spooky dialogue, and jump scares. Stabbing with a mirror shard. Teens in jeopardy. Vomiting and poop. A man briefly assaults another man. Rifle briefly shown.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Minor innuendo involving 13-year-old boy who imagines himself a ladykiller. Nana's naked bottom is shown twice.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

"F--k" is used once. Other words include "s--t," "ass," "ho," "bitch," "goddamn," "hell," "douche," and possibly "a--hole." Middle finger gesture.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Skype is used as part of the plot. Sony laptop shown. A Yahtzee! game, with references to toy companies Hasbro and Milton Bradley.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Adults occasionally smoke cigarettes. A boy mimes "pot smoking" with his fingers.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Visit is a found-footage horror movie from director M. Night Shyamalan . There are plenty of spooky images, sounds, and dialogue, as well as jump scares and a small amount of blood and gore. Viewers see dead bodies (including one killed in a rather shocking way), and two teens, 13 and 15, are frequently in peril. The 13-year-old boy fancies himself a ladykiller, which leads to some minor innuendo, and the "Nana" character's naked bottom is shown a couple of times. Language includes a use of "f--k," plus "s--t," "bitch," and more, most frequently spoken by the 13-year-old. Adult characters infrequently smoke cigarettes, and there's a very brief, mimed reference to smoking pot. Shyamalan is a filmmaker whom horror hounds love to hate, but this movie could be a comeback that fans will want to see. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (19)
• Kids say (82)

Based on 19 parent reviews

What's the Story?

Thirteen-year-old Tyler ( Ed Oxenbould ) and 15-year-old Becca (Olivia DeJonge) agree to spend a week with their grandparents while encouraging their mom ( Kathryn Hahn ) to take a vacation with her boyfriend. The kids have never met their grandparents, "Nana" (Deanna Dunagan) and "Pop Pop" (Peter McRobbie), at least partly because when their mother left home 15 years earlier, something terrible apparently happened. At first things seem fine, but then Nana and Pop Pop start behaving strangely. Even if it can all be explained -- Nana gets "sundown" syndrome, and Pop Pop requires adult diapers -- it doesn't quite ease the feeling that something's wrong. Meanwhile, Becca documents their visit on video, hoping to capture something that explains it all.

Is It Any Good?

After several perplexing misfires, writer/director M. Night Shyamalan has scaled back, gone for a lower budget and a lighter tone, and emerged with his most effective movie in over a decade. THE VISIT begins interestingly; the potentially creepy moments can be easily explained away and even laughed off, but the director still manages to create a subtle, creeping dread that steadily builds toward the climax.

Shyamalan uses the found-footage concept with more creativity than most other filmmakers, displaying his usual intriguing grasp of three-dimensional space, as well as empty space. The characters themselves are even aware of certain cinematic theories that could make their "documentary" more interesting. They're refreshingly intelligent and self-aware, and they never blunder stupidly into any situation. If the movie has a drawback, it's that fans will be looking hard for clues to one of Shyamalan's big "twists." As to what it is, or whether there is one, we're not saying.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about The Visit 's violence . How much is shown, and how much is suggested? How did it affect you? What's the impact of media violence on kids?

Tyler considers himself a "ladykiller." Is his dialogue inappropriate for someone his age?

Tyler likes to rap and posts videos of himself. Is he expressing himself, or is he merely seeking fame? What's appealing about fame? Is it OK for kids to start their own online channels?

Movie Details

• In theaters : September 11, 2015
• On DVD or streaming : January 5, 2016
• Cast : Kathryn Hahn , Ed Oxenbould , Olivia DeJonge
• Director : M. Night Shyamalan
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Universal Pictures
• Genre : Horror
• Run time : 94 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : disturbing thematic material including terror, violence and some nudity, and for brief language
• Last updated : February 3, 2024

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The Visit (I) (2015)

• Parents Guide

Certification

• Sex & Nudity (3)
• Violence & Gore (4)
• Profanity (3)
• Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking (1)
• Frightening & Intense Scenes (7)
• Spoilers (6)

Sex & Nudity

• Mild 105 of 169 found this mild Severity? None 26 Mild 105 Moderate 31 Severe 7 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
• An old woman is seen nude scratching the walls, but the darkness obscures any nudity, so it's not explicit at all. Edit
• After crawling around quickly, an elderly woman turns around to reveal that her dress is ripped and part of her buttock is exposed. Played for laughs. Edit
• Boy raps mildly sexually suggestive lyrics, such as having a girl "in [his] bed", and using the word "hoe". Edit

Violence & Gore

• Moderate 59 of 86 found this moderate Severity? None 4 Mild 16 Moderate 59 Severe 7 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
• Some images of dead bodies are shown towards the end of the film. Edit
• The children, particularly towards the end of the film, are cruelly terrorised. Edit
• A body is seen hanging from afar. Brief. Edit
• It is implied that the the boy has been hit on the head with an object. Brief mild injury detail. Edit
• Mild 51 of 82 found this mild Severity? None 2 Mild 51 Moderate 27 Severe 2 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
• 2 uses of the f-word. Edit
• A middle finger gesture and some uses of "shit" is also present. Edit
• Various uses of "G-damn", "Jesus" "douche", "ass", "shit", "hell", "bitch", "hoe" in dialogue and in rap songs. Edit

Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking

• Mild 45 of 76 found this mild Severity? None 29 Mild 45 Moderate 1 Severe 1 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
• Grandmother smokes a cigarette at one point in the film. Edit

Frightening & Intense Scenes

• Severe 64 of 98 found this severe Severity? None 2 Mild 6 Moderate 26 Severe 64 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
• Grandma crawls around, chasing the kids through the crawl space. She is very fast in this scene, and it contains a couple jump scares. Edit
• Towards the end of the film, a boy who is severely germophobic has a used adult diaper smeared on his face. We don't see the direct act happening but we hear the noise and see the aftermath. Edit
• A psychotic old lady vomits onto a young girl and she cries. Edit
• A girl opens a door to leave the house and sees a corpse hanging from a noose. Edit
• An elderly man is seen putting a rifle in his mouth before pulling it out when he realizes he is being watched. Edit
• An elderly woman asks a young girl to climb inside of an oven to clean it. This happens twice, but nothing comes of it. Edit
• A woman turns into a monster and tries to devour another person alive, until she gets stabbed in the head with the shards from a broken mirror. Edit

The Parents Guide items below may give away important plot points.

• The murder of the real grandparents is implied, and the dead bodies are briefly shown. Edit
• The fake 'Nana' is stabbed with a shard of glass repeatedly, with some brief blood. The act is brief and dark, which lessens the impact. Edit
• The fake 'Pop Pop' is repeatedly tackled shoved, then it is implied that his head is smashed between a fridge and a fridge door. Edit
• 1 use of "f---", pretty hard to hear however. (Any of you bitches wanna f--- with me now?), said by a 13 year old boy, after he kills the main villain. Edit
• Multiple intense scenes where the fake grandparents chase the kids. Some intense jump scares, and a scene where the fake nana runs around the house with a butcher knife. This movie has a very eerie vibe. Edit
• A young girl is going through a basement and briefly sees the corpses of her real grandparents in a dumpster. Edit

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