The Visitor (2022)
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The Visitor (2022)
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this movie.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that The Visitor is a 2022 horror movie in which a man is convinced that he's seeing himself in old paintings and photographs after moving to his wife's hometown in the South. Expect jump scares throughout as well as horror violence and creepy imagery, including a scene in which a man is crucified on a tree (with a close-up of his hand being nailed) and a woman killed by a plague of locusts. Nightmare imagery includes a woman biting the bloody umbilical cord of her newborn baby, and a blind elderly woman screaming. Drinking occurs, including a scene in which the lead character drinks too many shots in a bar and falls backward off his chair. Language includes "f--k."
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What's the Story?
In THE VISITOR, Robert (Finn Jones) is from London and moving with his wife, Maia (Jessica McNamee), to Briar Glen, a small Southern town in the United States where she grew up. They've moved back to Maia's childhood home shortly after the passing of her father. As Robert tries acclimating to small-town Southern life and helps set up their new home, he comes across an old portrait of someone who looks just like him. Maia claims to see only a slight resemblance, but this painting merely adds to the sense that there's something a little bit off with Briar Glen. The locals treat him strangely, and a visit to the home of Pastor Mills (Dane Rhodes) of Maia's childhood church reveals an old photo that looks just like him. Against Maia's wishes, Robert gets increasingly wrapped up in investigating the painting and photographs, and the closer he gets to uncovering the truth, the more he realizes that nothing in his life and his life with Maia is what it seems.
Is It Any Good?
This is a familiar twist on Southern Gothic horror that feels a little too familiar. The Visitor starts off with a common trope in horror movies: the stranger from the city going out to the country. In this case, Finn Jones plays a Londoner moving with his wife, Maia (played by Jessica McNamee), to the small town in the South where Maia grew up. Of course, it doesn't take long to see that the city slicker and his interactions with the locals are more disturbing than the expected "You ain't from around here, are you?" exchanges, and as the story unfolds, there are plenty of jump scares and "oh, that was just a nightmare" scenes to keep the audience engaged.
It's hard to pinpoint an exact reason why this doesn't quite work. Some of it is in the horror clichés, some of it is in a clunky second half of the movie, and some is a lack of exaggeration of the weird moments. There is one truly creepy and gory scene that works, but some of it isn't fully explained, and then it's like they try to paper over this with imagery implying biblical plagues or clichéd characters like the "obsessive conspiracy theorist investigator of the phenomenon who everyone else writes off as being deranged." The town itself doesn't really give off anything unsettling, and the main drag actually looks quite nice, like a good place to attend an outdoor art and craft fair rather than a haven for evil and what have you. Overall, it just doesn't work.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about horror movies like The Visitor. How is this similar to and different from other horror movies you've seen?
How is this an example of a Southern Gothic story?
Do the violence and gore seem necessary to the story, or excessive? Why?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming: October 7, 2022
- Cast: Finn Jones, Jessica McNamee, Dane Rhodes
- Director: Justin P. Lange
- Studio: Paramount+
- Genre: Horror
- Run time: 86 minutes
- MPAA rating: NR
- Last updated: December 24, 2022
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