The Happening (DVD)

I didn't want to believe the hype on this one, after all M Night Shyamalan got off to such a great start with the effective and brilliant Sixth Sense, and to a lesser degree Unbreakable. However, each subsequent film has declined in quality and become even more pretentious and unfathomable, its hard not to dismiss Shyamalan as a one hit wonder who has bought into his own hype. The Happening opens with the intruiging premise of a group of people in Central Park suddenly hit by some unknown force that causes them to become disorientated and eventually kill themselves. An early sequence showing a group of building site workers throwing themselves from the top ...  Read the complete review

Originally written by me for my film review website (ShaunMunro.co.uk). Cheers. ~~~ M. Night Shyamalan's film career thus far is as erratic as any working filmmaker in Hollywood today - his first three features, The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs were received to considerable acclaim, whilst his most recent pictures, The Village and The Lady in the Water, received less than stellar responses. As Shyamalan's latest film hits screens, The Happening, which dictates a world in crisis following a global natural disaster, he strives to break the unfortunate rut he seems to have run himself into. The Happening certainly begins promisingly, ...  Read the complete review

"The Happening" (2008) Certificate: 15 (UK) / 15A (Ireland) / R (USA) Running time: 91 minutes Writer: M. Night Shyamalan Director: M. Night Shyamalan Main Cast: Mark Wahlberg - Elliot Moore Zooey Deschanel - Alma Moore John Leguizamo - Julian Ashlyn Sanchez - Jess Betty Buckley - Mrs Jones The director M. Night Shyamalan has built a career around reworking pop culture staples, having given makeovers (with varying degrees of success) to ghost stories in "The Sixth Sense", science fiction in "Signs", historical fiction in "The Village", comic books in ...  Read the complete review

Imagine working on a building site and having the horror of seeing one of your best friends fall from a building onto the floor dying instantly. Worse still imagine watching on in horror as nearly every one of your work colleagues fall from the sky hitting the floor and dying straight away. No warnings, no time to say goodbye; there one minute gone the next. This is the horrific opening to M. Night Shyamalan's new movie The Happening, and in the flip a coin style basis of the writer/directors career this is a good movie. It's not been since 30 Days Of Night that I have seen anything quite this dark and sinister, Stephen King's The Mist went part way, but ...  Read the complete review

In Central Park all of a sudden the local people start to commit suicide for at the time an unknown reason, at first it is thought that it was a terrorist attack which a chemical weapon was used to cause the people to kill themselfs but after the attacks continue the survivors start to realise that this is not attack by someone but something more shocking. Elliot Moor (Mark Wahlberg) a high school teacher decides to flee to a safer area after a fellow teacher Julian (John Leguizamo) and his daughter decide they are. Elliot convinces his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel) to leave Philidelphia so they can be safe. The Train that Elliot is on unexpectantly ...  Read the complete review