The Happening

Yes, I know, some of you are probably thinking that an environmental blog isn't the best place to review a film, but The Happening, which was written produced and directed by M. Night Shyamalan's isn't your typical horror flick. The psychological doomsday thriller could have easily carried the title When Plants Attack, in fact, the first draft of the script was appropriately titled, The Green Effect. At times funny, at others gruesomely dark, The Happening is an unofficial warning against environmental degradation. The film is centered in the Northeast, where a pandemic is spreading. It stops it victims dead in their tracks, where they quickly become disillusioned and instaniously commit suicide. One man feeds himself to a tiger, in another scene, construction workers throw themeselves from the roof tops, like apples fall from a tree. Initially bioterrorist are blamed for all the self-inflicted killings. But, a sweeping rate of infection suggests that something else is going on. Without giving too much away, we learn that the source of all the mayhem is much greener then anyone could have ever imagined.

Shyamalan compares this film to such classics as Alfred Hitchcock's The Bird's. I enjoyed how The Happening was undeniably frightening without relying on too much gore or special effects; in that respect it is much like the classics Shyamalan sought to emulate. Robert Ebert praised the film with a four out of five star rating, and the New York Times applauded Mark Wahlberg's performance. Despite these rave reviews, most mainstream critics haven't been so generous. On rottentomatoes.com, which compiles reviews from top critics, the film has a lowly 11% rating. I'm glad I saw, the movie, which I thoroughly enjoyed, before checking out what the critics had to say.