- Directed by Justin P. Lange
- Written by Simon Boyes, Adam Mason
- Stars Jessica McNamee, Finn Jones, Victoria Harris
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 29 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuNAnj3x4f8
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This was an interesting one riding along trying to figure out what’s going on and why. The longer it goes on, the stranger and more ominous things get. It’s well-acted and directed with things funneling down to a satisfying if dismaying finish.
The Visitor is the latest horror-thriller film from Blumhouse Productions. When Robert and his wife Maia move to her childhood home, he discovers an old portrait of a man with his likeness – a man referred to only as ‘The Visitor’. Soon he finds himself descending down a frightening rabbit hole in an attempt to discover the true identity of his mysterious doppelgänger, only to realize that every family has its own terrifying secrets. The Visitor is available to buy or rent on digital now.
Synopsis
Robert and his wife Maia have inherited her father’s huge house, and they’re moving in. Almost immediately, she goes to a secret compartment in the floor that contains a creepy doll. They go to the bar and talk to Judy the bartender. Everyone in town is happy to see Maia returned, and they all buy them drinks. Robert drinks way too much and passes out.
Late that night, Robert hears crying coming from the attic. It’s a very old blind woman. “You’re home,” she says before roaring at him. Nope, just a nightmare. The couple talks about losing their baby in a miscarriage; she thinks he blames her for the loss.
Robert finds a painting in the attic that looks exactly like him. She doesn’t think it looks that much like him. The painting is titled “The Visitor Accepts,” and she has no idea where her father got the old painting. We see that Robert is on medication for his anxiety, and he’s had trouble with it before.
Robert goes to the hardware store, and the clerk says, “We need to talk, Robert.” When another customer comes in, she ends up writing him a note. “Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth.” The note mentions Delacroix Art & Antiques.
Robert and Maia go to her father’s memorial service, and the pastor gives a speech about his devastating absence.
Everyone in town is way too friendly to Robert. He goes to the antique store the hardware lady indicated and finds a civil war-era painting there, again with his face. This one is titled “The Visitor Watches it Burn.” The owner says the painting was there when she bought the store. The woman says he doesn’t really want answers; “You don’t want answers– What you need is to run back to London as fast as your legs can carry you!”
When he comes home, Maia has hung the first painting in their living room as a joke. He thinks the stress is getting to him. Meanwhile, over at the antique shop, the proprietor gets an unexpected visitor, a swarm of locusts that kill her.
The next morning, Maia tells Robert that she’s pregnant. Several months pass. The pastor has a talk with Robert about being a true believer, which Robert is not. “You will be,” the old man says. “When you see for yourself, you won’t be able to deny it.” The preacher has his own painting, “The Visitor Stakes His Claim.” The preacher says the painting was of Alistair Edgar, the man who saved their town back in the day. Robert and Maia find a bunch of frogs in their living room when they get home.
Robert gets a strange phone call from Maxwell Braun, another art dealer. He’s been researching the Visitor paintings and photos as well; he’s got one with Hitler and another with Saddam Hussein and Stalin. Robert, or the Visitor, has turned up in hundreds of photos and paintings “corresponding to moments in history we wish we could forget.” Maxwell says it’s not too late to go back to London; he hands Robert an envelope full of money. If he stays, he will become the Visitor.
Robert is convinced. Maia goes berserk when he mentions going home to London. Robert gets a call from Maxwell to meet in the woods. When he gets there, Maxwell is dead and tied to a tree. He goes home looking for Maia and finds another picture of himself, but Maia says that this one is of her father. And, as it turns out, his father as well; Robert had been kidnapped as a baby. Maxwell and his friends sent Robert to London to grow up, hoping to break the cycle.
Maia reveals to Robert that it’s been him going out at night and killing people. He is a vessel for a greater power. This has been going on since Alaistair sold his soul for the town in the 1700s. Even the miscarriage in London wasn’t an accident – it was a girl and she needs to have a boy to continue the line of “Roberts”. Robert passes out, and Maia says now he can be who he was always meant to be.
We get a flashback of when Maia and Robert met in London, cut with Maia giving birth, ala “Rosemary’s Baby.” The whole town is there in robes and masks chanting as the baby is born. Robert, who is now The Visitor (again) takes the throne. Afterward, Maia is blind just like her mother. He drives through the town, jubilant as they all celebrate his return.
Commentary
We very quickly got a “Wakewood” vibe, and that soon degenerated into a “Wicker Man” feeling. For most of the film, it was obvious that most of the town was in some kind of secret conspiracy, and the only one out of the loop was Robert.
Everything is explained, and it all makes sense. Some of it is predictable, but some of it isn’t. It’s not entirely clear what’s going to happen after the end of the film, but it’s not going to be good. Sometimes the dragon wins.