John’s Horror Corner: The Visitor (1979), the weirdest, most senselessly dumb thing you’ll ever see…in a bad way

A movie poster that makes no sense…NONE!  There are no evil claws and there is no giant evil eyeball.

MY CALL:  I watched this because someone called it one of the great horror movies and that it had more jaw-drops per minute than anything else they had ever seen.  I’ve learned never again to trust this reviewer…EVER!

From the first minute this movie is clearly anything but normal.  Barbara’s daughter Katy Collins is almost eight year old, sociopathic and terrifyingly precocious.  She likes to bully boys at the ice skating rink and she’s really good at Pong.  No idea why.  The director must have thought it was symbolic or clever or something.

Then there’s Raymond.  Raymond (Lance Henriksen; The Pit and the Pendulum, AVP) owns a basketball team and is a member of a strange cultish group. Raymond has been tasked by his weird cult with marrying and procreating with Barbara, the only woman of our generation capable of giving birth to an evil, empowered lineage.  Making any sense yet?  No?  Well this won’t help.  There’s also a Christ-like figure who seems to be leading a cult of robed, monk children and another tall, culty-looking, bearded, really old guy who is going to find Katy Collins and bring her back…to their cult of little bald kids…with the Christ guy…that’s a little creepy.

Weird guy!

More confusing than the story itself was the music.  I cannot recall a more senselessly scored movie.  Quite mundane scenes (like a dude walking down some stairs really casually or someone waiting in the halls in the hospital) are dynamically scored for no reason.  In fact, the whole movie is senseless.  The repetitive use of birds as a “symbol” failed across the board.  The bird scenes are not compelling, thoughtful or interesting–they’re just annoying.

This movie seems to fail at EVERYTHING.  The only entertaining aspect of this movie was what they got such a young child actress to say on screen in the 70s.  Some of her lines were a little messed up, reminding me of The Possessed (1975).

Right now you may think I’m skipping over a lot of major plot details.  However, they make so little sense that the review would just be more confusing.

Like when this happens.

I watched this because someone called it one of the great horror movies and that it had more jaw-drops per minute than anything else they had ever seen.  I’ve learned never again to trust this reviewer…EVER!

An alternate poster that also makes no sense at all.