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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   59,002 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 12% 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
Awards:
1 win & 4 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(190 articles)
The Last Airbender Katara and Sokka Photos
 (From toxicshock. 15 July 2009, 12:30 AM, PDT)

Zooey Deschanel Joins Your Highness
 (From TheMovingPicture. 9 July 2009, 11:27 PM, PDT)

User Comments:
It might be cliché, but it has to be said: The Happening is not happening. 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 answer to Julian's math riddle, with the average month having 30 days, is $10,737,418.23. more
Goofs:
Plot holes: In the final scene, during a close-up on a Frenchman's face, a bus drives by in the background. Considering the plot, that is impossible. 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 The Exorcist (1973) more
Soundtrack:
Piano Concerto Nš21 In C K467 ('Elvira Madigan': 2.Andante) more

FAQ

A Note Regarding Spoilers
How did critics react to the film?
Why did Julian say "Don't take her hand unless you mean it!" to Alma?
more
410 out of 727 people found the following comment useful:-
It might be cliché, but it has to be said: The Happening is not happening., 12 June 2008
4/10
Author: shariqq from United Arab Emirates

Shyamalan has proved to us earlier that he can be as good as the best with masterpieces of cinema with The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. Yet, since then, he has declined steadily. Signs and Village were good movies, but with Lady in the Water and now The Happening, he has touched a level of incompetence that could never have been expected of him.

The Happening is about a pandemic that is gripping north-eastern USA. It starts with a stunning sequence of events that show people succumb to an unspecified threat – the brilliance of this opening repeated only once more for a five-minute sequence towards the end of the movie. Unfortunately, Shyamalan's writing is a big let-down for the rest. As the focus moves from metropolitans to towns and from crowds to smaller groups, the sense of fear is lost – the biggest sin a horror movie can commit. In the oft repeated criticism for its director, this movie would have been best served as a half-hour episode of Twilight Zone to make it really work.

And to add woe, the actors do not do much to better the experience – Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel are grossly miscast as the protagonists. Any of his previous leading men (Bruce Willis, Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix and Paul Giamatti) can be imagined to have done a better job for the Science teacher that Wahlberg plays. The camera scrutinizes the performance to a degree that requires an actor with strength in emotions – Wahlberg instead brings a physical presence that the role does not need. Zooey, on the other hand, struts around like in a Disney movie, not for once threatened by the pandemonium.

This time, though Shyamalan humbles his vanity – you don't see him on screen. He now should swallow his pride and leave the writing to the writers. Armed with a better script, we can still expect Shyamalan to make his future movies worth waiting for. For now it is only the memory of the opening sequence, which can be proclaimed as mind-numbing greatness, which is really worth taking away from this movie.

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100 Things I Learned From 'The Happening' SPOILERS saturnchick
Zooey Deschanel abby_rose
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M. Night Shyamalan abby_rose
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