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The Happening
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The Happening (2008) More at IMDbPro »

Photos (see all 40 | slideshow) Videos (see all 12)
The Happening (2008) -- This is the second theatrical trailer for M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening.
The Happening (2008) -- Clip: I'm Going To Get Mommy
The Happening (2008) -- Interview: John Leguizamo and Zooey Deschanel "On their characters"
The Happening (2008) -- Actor Mark Wahlberg is known for his strong physical presence on screen. But in M. Night Shyamalan's thriller "The Happening" he plays a character known more for his mind. Harry Smith reports.
The Happening (2008) -- A paranoid thriller about a family on the run from a natural crisis that presents a large-scale threat to humanity.

Overview

User Rating:
5.2/10   58,621 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 1% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
M. Night Shyamalan
Writer (WGA):
M. Night Shyamalan (written by)
Contact:
View company contact information for The Happening on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
13 June 2008 (USA) more
Tagline:
We've Sensed It. We've Seen The Signs. Now... It's Happening.
Plot:
A strange, horrible and unprecedented crisis begins in Central Park. A high school science teacher, his wife and a young girl do what they can to survive it. full summary | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
4 nominations more
User Comments:
Not brilliant but it is worth a look more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

Also Known As:
Green Planet (USA) (working title)
The Green Effect (USA) (working title)
more
MPAA:
Rated R for violent and disturbing images.
Runtime:
91 min
Country:
USA | India
Language:
English | French
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The movie was shot completely in sequence. more
Goofs:
Errors in geography: Westover Military Base is near Chicopee, MA, over 500 miles from Filbert, PA. more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Woman Reading on Bench with Hair Pin: I forgot where I am.
Woman Reading on Bench: You're at the place where the killers meet to decide what to do with the crippled girl.
more
Movie Connections:
References Ghostbusters II (1989) more
Soundtrack:
Black Water more

FAQ

Why did "the happening" not affect some people?
Why did Julian say "Don't take her hand unless you mean it!" to Alma?
Was this meant to be a B-movie?
more
203 out of 399 people found the following comment useful:-
Not brilliant but it is worth a look, 13 June 2008
6/10
Author: Mel J from Dundee, Scotland

When I first saw the trailer for 'The Happening', I was quite excited at the prospect of another film by M. Night Shyamalan. After all, I enjoyed all his previous films, save 'Lady in the Lake', and was sure he would deliver another breath-taking blockbuster. Sadly, I was wrong and while the film was not a turkey, it was not of the excellence I had expected.

The film sees some sort of mysterious ecological event leading to people committing mass suicide, the phenomenon spreading first from large cities then to smaller towns until it is clear a huge chunk of the East Coast is affected. At first, it is assumed to be a terrorist attack but, as more and more people are spontaneously kill themselves, it is clear the cause may be something else entirely...

One of the problems with the film was the quality of the acting and the characters themselves. Mark Wahlberg stars as Elliot, the science teacher who is our main protagonist, and he does flounder in many scenes as if he forgets he's playing an intelligent but ordinary everyday guy, not a gung-ho military hero who is cool in all situations. He could have injected more emotion into his performance. Zooey Deschanel plays Elliot's girlfriend Alma and she too fails to make the audience care for her with the way she depicts the character to be some sort of an escapee from a teeny-booper romance flick. To be fair, it is not entirely Deschanel's fault as Alma is a weak, self-centred character with the emotional capacity of a young adolescent (for example, she puts Elliot and a child at risk a couple of times with her stupid decisions and, at the start, when it's clear people are dying, she is in a huff because Elliot and his friend 'hurt' her feelings).

When it comes to the actual storyline, the plot does start off intriguingly and there are many chilling moments when we see people are coolly committing suicide like mindless zombies. However, the finale doesn't deliver what the build-up promised. There are no real explanations or solid end result. In many ways, this film is similar to Shyamalan's previous project 'Signs' both in terms of a mass disaster and no real end resolution to the events but 'Signs' worked better because the characters were more effectively portrayed and their personal storyline was enough of a finale to compensate. This is not the case in 'The Happening' where the storyline fizzles out.

Overall, this is by no means a terrible film. It is enjoyable and fits nicely into the apocalyptic genre but 'Signs' has done this sort of idea before and did it better. That said, there was not only moments that had me on the edge of my seat but also lines which were quite humorous. And certainly, it does make one think about the state of the planet in regards to whether humanity does have it coming to them and how we would cope in such an event. It is worth a look, especially in a week when the other premiere is 'The Hulk, a film aimed at keeping twelve-year-olds' entertained.

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Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for The Happening (2008)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
100 Things I Learned From 'The Happening' SPOILERS saturnchick
Let's name 30 cheesey lines from 'The Happening'! justkilledbill
M. Night Shyamalan abby_rose
Questions...(SPOILERS ) Ellimac1981
Just saw the film for the first time, a few things...(POSSIBLE SPOILERS) Tweekyboy-1
This movie is all the more reason to put googly-eyes on your plants... L-Meister3
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