Writer-director M. Night Shyamalan reinvents his films, in Jason Blum's Blumhouse low-budget style, for a genius film "The Visit."
This may not be the most frightening film of the year, but it's definitely one of the most enjoyable ones to come out so far.
"The really wonderful part about making smaller movies sometimes is that limitation creates opportunities," Shyamalan said. "We can't leave the location as much, when you are making a smaller budgeted movie, so I found this farmhouse. I shot it very near to where I live."
Even though Blum had been eager to work with Shyamalan it took Blum several visits to get Shyamalan to understand Blumhouse's style of filmmaking.
Blum was persistent and visited Shyamalan several times at his home.
"Here's the thing about Jason (Blum), he's super inspire-able," Shyamalan said. "To be with a partner who advices you on the business side, but all he really wants is to be inspired, that makes me feel safe."
"I've always, obviously, been a huge fan of Night's movies, so I first started calling him and saying 'We have this low budget system,'" Blum said.
Not only did Blum call, but he went to Shyamalan's house and sat down with Shyamalan to explain the system.
"I got a call, about a year ago, and (Shyamalan) said, 'I heard everything that you said and I did it,'" Blum said.
Shyamalan shot the movie on his own and came to Blum to finish the film.
What came about was a fantastic horror-comedy which is thrilling to watch.
The suspense can go either way — comical or scary — and the timing of each is perfect.
Each scene continues to draw the audience attention more and more.
The acting was phenomenal, with relatively unknown talented actors doing an exceptional job.
"You can't have very recognizable people in a found footage film because it's like 'how did Brad Pitt suddenly get in this footage that was captured by accident,'" Blum said. "You really have to find people who are great actors, but not recognizable, which is hard because most people get recognized once they get famous because they are good at what they do."
With the found footage style, which Blumhouse films have been known to reinvent film after film, being more of a mockumentary style film, the film is more balanced and the camera feels less bothersome and more of a character observing the lives of the characters.
"We do alot of found footage movies and I really feel this is very different. It's mock-documentary and I almost they are opposite," Blum said. "Found footage is really purposely sloppy and the person documenting found footage has nothing to do with wanting to be a filmmaker. They are amateurs and they are catching it by accident. The lead of this movie is the opposite. She loves cinema and is making a documentary to kind of bring her family together."
"The Visit" is out in theaters Sept. 11.
