The trajectory of writer/director M. Night Shyamalan’s career has been one filled with just as many twists and turns as one of his films. Although The Sixth Sense established him as a bold new filmmaker back in 1999, the director’s tactics soon began to wear thin on audiences who grew tired of his focus on shocking endings and self-indulgence. Remember, this is the man who cast himself as a writer whose story would change the world in the 2006 pseudo-fairy tale Lady in the Water. Critical disasters like The Happening, The Last Airbender and After Earth followed, leading many to question whether the man who was once heralded as the next Alfred Hitchcock was gone forever. The Visit, his latest release, offers the long-awaited answer.

Newcomers Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould star as teenage siblings Becca and Tyler, who travel to spend a week with their estranged grandparents in the hopes of reconnecting to their mother’s roots. For Becca, the visit also provides a chance to finish the documentary film she’s making. However, soon after the children arrive, they discover that something may be seriously wrong with their grandparents.

The fact that The Visit employs a found footage style to tell its story may turn off some viewers, but Shyamalan effectively embraces the technique to draw audiences into the claustrophobic nature of the situation Becca and Tyler are in. Moreover, the role Becca’s film plays in the story lends emotional heft to the human elements of The Visit. Sure, the presence of a camera within the film’s story feels awkward at times and recalls similar moments in the Paranormal Activity franchise on more than one occasion. Still, Shyamalan’s choice here is a fitting one, allowing The Visit to stand as a solid addition to the found footage genre, even if it’s not a game-changer.

DeJonge and Oxenbould anchor the film with their winning performances, with the former serving as the heart of the film and the latter garnering the biggest laughs with his freestyle rapping (yes, really). Meanwhile, Deanna Dunagan and Peter McRobbie deliver spot-on performances as the quirky, potentially troubled grandparents at the center of the film. As its marketing suggests, The Visit hinges on the question of whether or not these two are insane or simply suffering the effects of old age, a debate that plays on the very true-to-life oddities that can creep up when one reaches his or her elderly years.

It’s telling that the film is Shyamalan’s lowest-budgeted studio film. His last two critically reviled films each reportedly cost far more than $100 million, while The Visit was made for just $5 million. History has shown that the most memorable horror films (e.g. A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Exorcist, Halloween) made the most of limited resources to create truly horrifying images that have stood the test of time. Even last year’s underrated Australian release The Babadook largely eschewed expensive visual effects for a chilling atmosphere, resonant themes and top-notch acting to become one of our favorite films of 2014. Granted, Shyamalan’s last couple of films were not centered on producing scares, but the point stands that the filmmaker is at his best when his stories are stripped of needless extravagances.

While The Visit may not be Shyamalan’s definitive masterwork (personally, Unbreakable remains his best film to date), it marks a welcome return to good ol’ scares and character-driven creep-outs for the filmmaker. In fact, it emerges as his cleanest, most satisfying film in 15 years and singlehandedly restores faith in his ability to craft stories that are compelling and worth a trip to the theater. At last, night has fallen, and Shyamalan the auteur appears to be back where he belongs.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

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