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Movies / On DVD / The Happening
The Happening

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The Happening (2008)

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Reviews Counted:169

Fresh:31

Rotten:138

Average Rating:4.1/10

Consensus: The Happening begins with promise, but unfortunately descends into an incoherent and unconvincing trifle.

Rated: R

Runtime: 1 hr 31 mins

Genre: Action/Adventure

Theatrical Release:Jun 13, 2008 Wide

Box Office: $64,384,941

Synopsis: M. Night Shyamalan directs this thriller about a science teacher (Mark Wahlberg) who tries to escape with his wife and friend's daughter after an apocalyptic event. THE HAPPENING costars Zooey... M. Night Shyamalan directs this thriller about a science teacher (Mark Wahlberg) who tries to escape with his wife and friend's daughter after an apocalyptic event. THE HAPPENING costars Zooey Deschanel and John Leguizamo. [More]

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo, Betty Buckley

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo, Betty Buckley

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Screenwriter: M. Night Shyamalan
Producer: M. Night Shyamalan, Sam Mercer, Barry Mendel
Composer: James Newton Howard
Studio: 20th Century Fox

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Release:

Sep 15, 2009

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • From M. Night Shyamalan, the writer-director of The Sixth Sense and Signs, comes a gripping thriller about a family on the run from a mysterious and deadly phenomenon. Academy AwardŽ Nominee Mark Wahlberg (2006 Best Supporting Actor - The Departed) stars as Elliot Moore, an ordinary man trying to save his family from a terrifying, invisible killer. As Elliot begins to discover the true nature of what is lurking out there, it soon becomes clear that no one - and nowhere - is safe.
  • Source: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
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    Reviews for The Happening

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    1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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    Shot in the inimitable Shyamalan lugubriousness

    Full Review Source: CinePassion | comment Comment
    08/26/09
    Fernando F. Croce
    Fernando F. Croce
    CinePassion

    Shyamalan sve lo%u0161ije reagira na gubitak statusa holivudskog bo%u017Eanstva

    Full Review Source: Index.hr | comment Comment
    07/15/09
    Dragan Antulov
    Dragan Antulov
    Index.hr

    Seeing The Happening is like going on an outing with an earnest person, who happens to be a drunk. Every time it starts to make sense, it slurs its speech and starts dropping things -- such as coherence and credibility.

    Full Review Source: Fayetteville Free Weekly | comment 2 Comments
    02/01/09
    Tony Macklin
    Tony Macklin
    Fayetteville Free Weekly

    More than anything, what bothers me about it is a sense of cheapness that ... centrally comes from a concept mainly built for shock value.

    Full Review Source: Window to the Movies | comment Comment
    11/14/08
    Jeffrey Chen
    Jeffrey Chen
    Window to the Movies

    Undoubtedly M. Night Shyamalan's weakest thriller to date...

    Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | comment 9 Comments
    11/06/08
    David Nusair
    David Nusair
    Reel Film Reviews

    While not as laughable as the narcissistic Lady in the Water ,it fails just as miserably as narrative and even more miserably with its flat characters and tone deaf dialogue.

    Full Review Source: CinemaBlend.com | comment Comment
    10/12/08
    Brian Holcomb
    Brian Holcomb
    CinemaBlend.com

    [A]n astonishment, so idiotic in conception and inept in execution that, after seeing it, one almost wonders whether it was real or imagined.

    Full Review Source: New Republic | comment Comment
    09/22/08
    Christopher Orr
    Christopher Orr
    New Republic
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    It's a great idea. A silent, unknown killing machine knocking people off while a science teacher tries to figure out why. But it just didn't work.

    Full Review Source: The Scorecard Review | comment Comment
    08/27/08
    Jeff Bayer
    Jeff Bayer
    The Scorecard Review

    Shyamalan's latest is an improvement, but a full-fledged comeback ain't happening.

    Full Review Source: IGN Movies | comment Comment
    08/08/08
    Todd Gilchrist
    Todd Gilchrist
    IGN Movies

    Shyamalan is a master at a visual iconic moment - but the "filler" (you might have learned about it in English class by this name: "story") gets weaker and weaker every film.

    Full Review Source: Cinerina | comment 1 Comment
    07/17/08
    Karina Montgomery
    Karina Montgomery
    Cinerina

    The M. Knight brilliance is there in quick jolts of suspense and terror, but those moments are the exception in this otherwise flat little thriller.

    Full Review Source: Atlantic City Weekly | comment 5 Comments
    07/11/08
    Lori Hoffman
    Lori Hoffman
    Atlantic City Weekly

    Shyamalan's religious ideas are a lot like Bush's: Nearly theology free.

    Full Review Source: Film Snobs | comment 3 Comments
    07/10/08
    Stephen Himes
    Stephen Himes
    Film Snobs

    M. Night Shyamalan offers up low-intensity thrills that fail to match the shivery shudders of his best work (THE SIXTH SENSE, SIGNS). His patented approach - mixing domestic drama with horror - plays out on a much larger canvas.

    Full Review Source: Cinefantastique | comment Comment
    07/04/08
    Steve Biodrowski
    Steve Biodrowski
    Cinefantastique

    It is the first film of his career that feels incompetent and utterly gratuitous at times.

    Full Review Source: Movie City News | comment Comment
    07/03/08
    David Poland
    David Poland
    Movie City News

    Shyamalan creates another urban myth with this slow burning thriller. But it never quite comes to life, due to stiff directing and acting

    Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment 1 Comment
    07/02/08
    Rich Cline
    Rich Cline
    Shadows on the Wall

    Usually Shyamalan can hide his limitations as a screenwriter behind his skill as a director. Here, that skill fails him as well, and the whole movie falls apart.

    Full Review Source: The Cinema Source | comment Comment
    07/01/08
    Michael Dance
    Michael Dance
    The Cinema Source

    Un nuevo fiasco de M. Night Shyamalan, que sigue siendo un director con ideas interesantes (tanto argumentales como visuales) pero que necesita urgentemente la ayuda de un buen guionista.

    Full Review Source: Uruguay Total | comment 1 Comment
    06/28/08
    Enrique Buchichio
    Enrique Buchichio
    Uruguay Total

    Holy Mother of God...this is awful.

    Full Review Source: Reno News and Review | comment 24 Comments
    06/23/08
    Bob Grimm
    Bob Grimm
    Reno News and Review

    The Happening is an awful letdown, yet it leaves you with something new, as a gently waving tree -- that classical image of pastoral tranquillity -- mutates into a harbinger of doom.

    Full Review Source: New Yorker | comment 7 Comments
    06/23/08
    Anthony Lane
    Anthony Lane
    New Yorker
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    This major studio release asks the question, how long can you survive on past glories? Shame on Shyamalan.

    Full Review Source: Cinema Signals | comment Comment
    06/22/08
    Jules Brenner
    Jules Brenner
    Cinema Signals
     
     
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