The Happening Release Date: June 13, 2008 Studio: 20th Century Fox Director: M. Night Shyamalan Screenwriter: M. Night Shyamalan Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo, Betty Buckley,
Spencer Breslin, Ashlyn Sanchez Genre: Thriller MPAA Rating: R (for violent and disturbing images) Official Website: TheHappeningmovie.com
Plot Summary: From director M. Night Shyamalan ("The Sixth Sense,"
"Signs") comes a lightning-paced, heart-pounding paranoid thriller
about a
family on the run from an inexplicable and unstoppable event that threatens not
only humankind... but the most basic human instinct of them all: survival.
It begins with no clear warning. It seems to come out of nowhere. In a matter of
minutes, episodes of strange, chilling deaths that defy reason and boggle the
mind in their shocking destructiveness, erupt in major American cities. What is
causing this sudden, total breakdown of human behavior? Is it some kind of new
terrorist attack, an experiment gone wrong, a diabolical toxic weapon, an
out-of-control virus? Is it being transmitted by air, by water... how?
For Philadelphia high school science teacher Elliot Moore (Wahlberg) what
matters most is finding a way to escape the mysterious and deadly phenomenon.
Though he and his wife Alma (Deschanel) are in the midst of a marital crisis,
they hit the road, first by train, then by car, with Elliot's math teacher
friend Julian (Leguizamo) and his 8 year-old daughter Jess ( Sanchez), heading
for the Pennsylvania farmlands where they hope they'll be out of reach of the
grisly, ever-growing attacks. Yet it soon becomes clear that no one - and
nowhere - is safe. This terrifying, invisible killer cannot be outrun. It is
only when Elliot begins to discover the true nature of what is lurking out there
- and just what has unleashed this force that threatens the future of humanity
-- that he discovers a sliver of hope that his fragile family might be able to
escape what is happening
EN 5 Second Review:
At this point any high school junior can write and
direct a M. Night Shyamalan movie as their junior English report, and it
would be less predictable than this schlock.
Nothing's
'Happening' in M. Night Shyamalan's vague non-thriler Lawrence Toppman: Charlotte
Observer
You know those meringue cookies that look so tempting on
bakery shelves, the ones that evaporate moments after you pop them in
your mouth and leave only the vaguest, unmemorable taste behind? That's
The Happening...more
Something
Lethal Lurks in the Rustling Trees Manhohla Dargis: NY Times The Happening is a divertingly goofy thriller with an
animistic bent, moments of shivery and twitchy suspense and
a solid lead performance from Mark Wahlberg...more
EN 5 Second Review:
At this point any high school junior can write and
direct a M. Night Shyamalan movie as their junior English report, and it
would be less predictable than this schlock.
Something
Lethal Lurks in the Rustling Trees