Here’s the deal folks, some of you might of looked at the star rating I gave this film and think right off the bat that I hate M. Night Shyamalan and every film he ever made, but unlike all the haters and fan boys out there this is actually the first film of his that I don’t like. Yes, I liked THE VILLAGE, and LADY IN THE WATER, and SIGNS, UNBREAKABLE and your a fool if you didn’t think THE SIXTH SENSE was a masterpiece. But as for THE HAPPENING, It has to be the worst film I’ve seen so far this year.
Environmental horror films seem to be the new thing this year, THE HAPPENING plays off the premise of what if the environment fought back at us, because we as humans are destroying the planet. There is even mention of a plant in the film that when attacked by a certain insect it puts out a sent that attracts wasps to it so it they will come and eat the insects attaching the plant. So the premise that THE HAPPENING bases it’s self on is what if plants attached humans by sending signals to one another to excrete some kind of bio chemical in the air to make us kill ourselves. However in the film this is only mentioned as a theory and it plays off as being very confusing leaving us with a puzzled look on our faces and thinking really hard about what the hell is really going on in this film.
THE HAPPENING star Mark Walberg as Elliot Moore, a science teacher living in Philadelphia, when word of a terrorist attack in New York City’s Central Park is broadcast, the teachers and students are sent home. Fearing the worst, Elliot’s friend and math teacher, Julian (John Leguizamo) asks Elliot if he and his wife would like to come with him and his family to his mother house in the country. Elliot agrees and they all meet up at the train station. Meanwhile Elliot wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel) is not really sure where her marriage stands with Elliot and Julian is not to fond of her. In a nutshell their marriage is on the rocks, and this is hinted throughout the first half of the film. To make a long story short, what ever is causing people to kill themselves it seems to be traveling across the North Eastern United States, and smack dab in the middle of Pennsylvania, Elliot and company must make there way on foot towards the Western part of the state where it is said all is safe. Meanwhile whatever is causing people to kill themselves, plants, mother earth, whatever is coming after them, and they must try to avoid it at all costs.
I’m going to try and be as nice as possible when discussing the script for this film. I honestly can’t say I really enjoyed anything about it, maybe some of the cool death scenes that were written into it, and the Hitchcock like atmosphere that it gave off. But that’s about it. The character development was nothing great, and the dialogue was just plain bad. The plot was all over the place and after a while I didn’t know up from down or left from right. That’s how all over the place this film was. Certain scenes didn’t make much sense either. Maybe I might be missing something that other people might of picked up on, I don’t know. But this movie was very confusing, and the script is entirely to blame for the downfall of this film.
Mark Walberg, I love you as and actor and even owned the Marky Mark CD when you were a rapper. But my question to you is this; Did you read the script before you signed onto this film? Because to me it seemed as if you were reading off cue card most of the time. I think you’re a great actor, I even thought you were good in the PLANET OF THE APES remake, but my god man your performance was bad in this film, and it makes me wonder if you even had faith in this script to begin with. Unless you didn’t read it until the day of shooting. As for the rest of the cast, some performances were better than others, but most were poor, especially some of the actors in the supporting roles. That is of course except for John Leguizamo who was good in his role, but it seemed more like a cameo appearance than an actual role. The girl who played his daughter Jess, was not half bad; although her dialogue was very limited. Still she gave a decent performance as a scared little girl.
As far as production value goes, THE HAPPENING is very well put together in terms of style of shots used, and the overall production value. Shyamalan has always been good when it comes to painting the canvas and making the images of the script come to life. There are some truly haunting shots in the film and I won’t take away anything from him as a director for that. The script may not be good, but the film is beautifully photographed, and the use of special make-up and visual effects is top notch. The locations are also really nice and some of the landscapes are even pleasant to look at. So the positive element of this picture is it’s production value. The unrated DVD also has more violence and gore, than the theatrical cut did, so we do get more suspenseful effects and sequences, but nothing that’s too over the top where it takes away from the theatrical cut so much.
Overall, this is the first time I have not liked a M. Night Shyamalan film. I felt the overall story was not that great at all and the acting killed any kind of emotional attachment I could of established with any of the characters. I think the only time in the film I actually had any kind of emotional feeling is when none of the younger characters in the film find out her parents are dead and weeps in the arms of Walberg’s character. That was about it. So this horror film with environmental warning is not what many will expect it to be. It’s confusing and the script is poorly written. If you want to check out a good film where the environment attacks humans back for destroying it go rent THE LAST WINTER at blockbuster video. You know something’s not right in Hollywood when a film like THE HAPPENING is getting so much attention, but a great film like THE LAST WINTER only got a limited release. If you’ve seen THE HAPPENING and are as disappointed as I am. Renting THE LAST WINTER might be the way to go.
One good thing I can say about the DVD is that there are a few special features that better explain the film and the whole idea behind M. Night Shyamalan’s imagination and vision for this film. There are a few featurettes where Shyamalan talks about how the studio wanted this film to be R rated and how he accomplished it. There is also a “making of” featurette as well as a gag reel, a few deleted and extended scenes, trailers for the film and more.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
