“The Visitor,” a mystery horror film directed by Justin P. Lange, is a decent effort in this genre. It is hard to say how scary it will be for people, but it will definitely make you feel a bit uneasy. The movie is about Robert (played by Finn Jones) and the enigma surrounding a visitor’s painting that was discovered in his wife’s ancestral home. This is a mystery that is intertwined with the history of mankind. So, let’s explore the underlying secret of this visitor’s painting.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happened in the Film ‘The Visitors’?
“The Visitor” begins with Robert and his wife Maia (played by Jessica McNamee) arriving at Maia’s ancestral home to settle down and raise their family. Maia grew up in this town, but Robert was a native of London. They went to the bar, where the bartender revealed that Maia had recently lost her father, Edgar Cartwell Eden, for whom everyone sympathized with her. But somehow, they looked happy to have Robert in town. Later that night, when he was totally intoxicated, he soon started to experience strange illusions. He saw a horrible lady with pale eyeballs and no hair who appeared to him.
Later, from his conversation with Maia, it was revealed that back in London, their unborn child was unintentionally miscarried, and since then, Robert had become detached. Later, Robert noticed a picture of Maia with her mother. He recognized the mother, who had those pale eyeballs just like the woman he had seen in his nightmare. At the very next moment, he was utterly shocked when he noticed a painting of a man who bore a striking resemblance to Robert. The portrait is called “The Visitor Accepts.” Shortly after that day, Robert went to a store to purchase a newspaper, where the clerk, Kathy, asked him to speak to her. When Robert returned home, he found a note in the newspaper that Kathy had left for him. The note contained the name and address of an antique store owned by a woman named Delacroix. In the meantime, Maia’s late father’s memorial was held, which was led by Joseph, a reverend of the town. He stated that Edgar was a very significant figure in their community who upheld their heritage with great respect. However, from that day, Kathy vanished, and nobody even talked about her. Robert went to visit the art store of Delacroix mentioned in Kathy’s message. Among the various paintings and artworks in this antique store, he found the visitor’s picture, in which he saw himself again. Delacroix, surprised to see Robert, told him that he should go back to London as soon as possible because this place was dangerous for him. Later that night, Delacroix was killed by a flock of flies attacking her.
In the meantime, Maia unexpectedly announced her pregnancy to him. Robert and Maia, expecting a child, arrived at Joseph’s residence. When Joseph talked about converting Robert’s infant to Christianity, he explained that they wouldn’t use the traditional method of submerging the child (which is the common rite in baptism). Instead, they’ll perform a simple rite. Robert even saw an upside-down cross in his house and the same visitor’s painting in the bedroom. Joseph told him that the man in the picture was Alistair Edgar, who had done so much for the town that he had become an idol to them. When Robert told Maia about this, she said that Alistair Edgar was born in 1700, so Robert was just stupidly assuming things. Eventually, Maxwell Braun, a random stranger, contacted Robert to inform him about Alistair Edgar. Maxwell showed Robert many photos of Edgar taken since the Second World War. This figure has been spotted alongside leaders such as Stalin, Hitler, and many others. According to Maxwell, Alistair Edgar was allegedly responsible for one of history’s most damaging deeds. Maxwell advised Robert to return to London since staying there would make him and every member of his bloodline a “visitor,” which is harmful not only to him but to the whole world. In a diary, Robert was writing down the possible names he could name his child, but in the meantime, Maxwell called him once again at night, but when Robert rushed to visit him, he discovered Maxwell had been killed by being crucified to the tree. The page of the diary where Robert had written all the names was also pinned to the tree. Among all the names, “Lucian” is scribbled in blood. Robert went back to the house to tell Maia everything, but as he entered, he discovered a photograph of Alistair Edgar holding a child in his arms. When Robert compared it with the framed picture of Maia and her mother and found it was from the same picture, Maia came in front of him and exhibited her actual form.
Maia finally revealed that the man in this photo is actually her and Robert’s father, Edgar Cartwell Eden, which means Maia and Robert are siblings. She said that Robert was kidnapped by Maxwell and Delacroix, who broke the chain of descent of Alistair. So, Maia was tasked with finding Robert, which she was successful in doing. Maia revealed that Maxwell, Kathy, and Delacroix were all murdered by Robert. All the nightmares that Robert used to have been real. Robert realized that Maia had deliberately aborted their first kid in order to have a son. Robert was informed by Maia that this arrangement was made so that they might continue the chain and conceive Lucian. Robert eventually started consuming a lot of alcohol, which contained some herbs that would help him transform into his original form. Maia gave birth to their kid during a demonic ceremony while Robert gradually changed into himself. After giving birth, Maia changed into a strange-looking pale person with white-colored eyes, just like her mother. To everyone’s delight, Robert absolutely proved to be Alistair’s real descendant. He went out of his house carrying one of his paintings in the backseat of his car, just like his ancestors did.
What Was the Visitor’s Painting About? Why Was It Important?
As soon as Robert arrives in this small town, Robert is welcomed by all the townspeople as if they have been waiting for him for so long. This, however, took on a new significance when Robert noticed that this visitor’s painting had an uncanny resemblance to his face. Maia was merely one of the hosts who transported Robert to his destiny, so she steadfastly avoided all potential danger indicators from the beginning. This visitor’s painting, which was in Maia’s ancestral home, was actually her father, Edgar Eden, who turned out to be Robert’s father as well. However, the old paintings that Robert had seen in Delacroix’s store and Joseph’s house were the portraits of Alistair Edgar. Since Alistair Edgar’s successors resembled him almost perfectly, Robert felt like he kept finding himself in every visitor’s painting. Even so, all the images Maxwell showed him were not simply of Alistair Edgar but rather of his identically similar descendants. Alistair Edgar was born in 1700 and passed away a very long time ago, yet his descendants continued his wicked cult and satanic deeds. However, the film did not make it clear why or where Robert went with the painting at the end. However, previously, Joseph explained to Robert about the painting in his room that Alistair Edgar had gifted to the city, and in return, the town became his colony and vassal. Just as well, Robert might be going to give the portrait elsewhere as a gift that would bring a new colony and a new fraction of his followers. Maybe this piece of art would show him who his ancestors were and where they came from, giving him a chance to start over.
‘The Visitor’ Ending Explained: Was Alistair Edgar A Satanist? What Happened To Robert?
The inverted cross in Joseph’s house implied that Joseph was a highly suspicious man who may have appeared more like a demonic cult leader than a Christian reverend. He even said that he would not submerge the baby in the water for christening, but rather they would do another rite. Even those herbs were being fed to Robert from the very beginning through the drinks. As a result, Robert transformed himself into an evil form and killed everyone. He killed Kathy with a snake bite in the dark of night, for which he found the snake’s shell in his garden. Delacroix was also killed, and Maxwell was also crucified by him. This cult was probably first started by Alistair Edgar, who was probably a satanist or a human form of the “dark Lord” that was mentioned in the film. He may have thought that one of his descendants would carry the bloodline of Satan, which is why Robert’s son was named Lucian, inspired by Lucifer’s name. Even in their demonic ritual, extra-horrendous activities were performed, where Maia had to tear out her placenta with her teeth. In this cult, women are used only as child-bearers. When the child is born, they become colorless, as if they were a living corpse because they have done their job. When Maxwell showed Robert the pictures of Edgar’s descendants with Hitler and Stalin, he indirectly implied that all the evil things in the world are in the hands of Satan, who has carried out these works in Edgar’s human form. Eventually, Robert gets caught in the chain, just like in Roman Polanski’s “Rosemary’s Baby,” where Rosemary is forced to take care of her child eventually. This indicates that the chain of evil cannot be broken even with many efforts, just like the existence of destruction and death cannot be eradicated from the world. Positive energy exists along with negative energy, and this is how balance is maintained.
On the other hand, Robert, who was simply a regular gentleman from London, was obliged by fate to change into the devil. The first cause was the use of certain herbs, and the second was the bloodline, which was solely affected by negative energy. Robert, who fought to ignore all the evil, was ultimately compelled to carry out the same crimes that his forefathers had long since committed. Robert finally left the town with a picture of his father, Edgar Eden, in order to start again and keep this balance. Robert was aiming to do the same things that Alistair Edgar had done to establish his authority and propagate his demonic religion among the populace. He was preparing to send this picture to a different country with a different group of people, spreading his evil once more and maybe bearing witness to the imminent annihilation of humanity.
“The Visitor” is a 2022 Drama Thriller film directed by Justin P. Lange.
