[Bigfish]

I rented and watched "The Happening" last night.  Weird but an interesting movie that I kinda enjoyed.  Worth renting but I would recommend against kids seeing this one.  3 stars out of a possible 5.

Ken

[disco]

This movie got reamed by the critics, but if you like M. Knight's movies(I really do) then you may like this one. It is not a fast paced action thriller so be prepared. Also you may take my recommendations with a grain of salt as I liked Lady In the Water .

[BobM]

It's better than some of his other recent stuff (like lady in the water) but not anywhere near the 6th sense ot the village. It was enjoyable, if you're a fan of his.

Bob

[mca]

I found it to be a bit on the boring side, but the biggest surprise was how bad Mark Wahlbergs acting was.

[Folsom]

I found it to be a bit on the boring side, but the biggest surprise was how bad Mark Wahlbergs acting was.

It is not always that the acting is bad, often it can be the directing. It sucks but as an actor if the director makes you do stuff a certain way, it can appear as bad acting. They basically ask people to act poorly sometimes even if the actor disagrees.

[jimdgoulding]

Thought M. Knight got outstanding performances from his actors in Signs.

[JRace]

I found it to be a bit on the boring side, but the biggest surprise was how bad Mark Wahlbergs acting was.

First Marky Mark picture you've seen i take it!

[ajzepp]

Count me in with those (few) who enjoy just about everything this guy does. I was reluctant to see Lady in the Water because of the near-universal panning of the flick, but I can't say it didn't entertain me. I look forward to M.Night's work and have enjoyed every offering...can't help it!

BTW, I read that he was ready to get started on Unbreakable II...I can't wait! I think unbreakable is his most underrated film.

[nathanm]

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Thanks message board, but I'm going to take my chances.  If I don't make it back, tell my wife and kids I love them.

Being totally out of the loop, I had only heard recently that this was a new M. Night flick and just rented it.  I loved everything I saw from this guy previously but this one laid a big fat egg.  Bleah!  Horrible!  It was kind of like War Of The Worlds, expect that NOTHING HAPPENS!!!  Blair Witch showed nothing on screen too, but still managed to be scary.  This one shows nothing on screen and isn't scary at all!  They brought along a cute little girl to imperil and she doesn't have any damn lines!  She can't even cry!  And where's my twist ending after all that damned tedium?  Sheesh!  Glad I didn't buy the DVD or I'd have to throw myself under a lawnmower.  Thank goodness for Rifftrax.

[2bigears]

   please do not rent this dvd,it sucked big time.....   just watched Grand Torino,made me cry at the end.....good flic

[ajzepp]

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Thanks message board, but I'm going to take my chances.  If I don't make it back, tell my wife and kids I love them.

 

[Tyson]

So, if this movie is not disturbing, which movies are?

[launche]

This one did very little for me, The M.Night magic has been fading since it began.

There's a new Always tampon commercial where it's underwater and there a few deep bass sounds and water ripples and it emerges having absorbed all the water.  That scared and intrigued me more than this movie, but seriously that's one hell of a tampon commercial in surround sound.

[PhilNYC]

I was not a fan of The Happening.  Saw an interview with M shortly after seeing it, and he explained that he was trying to make a campy movie.  Not sure if he was telling the truth or if he was just covering for some of the bashing he got from the critics...IMHO, it was probably a little bit of both.  In the end, it wasn't campy enough for me to really laugh with it, and it wasn't serious enough for me to really delve deep into it...

[anthony a.]

totally cheesing.  i did laugh however at some of the parts where people were driving into trees and stuff, but overall not scary at all.  i have a few friends who loved this movie, so take it what its worth.  don't expect much plot or character development.

[nathanm]

M. Night had awesome scary parts in other movies, and yeah they are probably just well known tricks, but they were awesome nevertheless.  My favorite is the red-cloaked wood monster moving in towards the house in The Village.  Gives me the freaking willies!  The just-out-of-frame creature shots in the woods are also good.  There's the great alien-moving-across-the-alley scene in Signs (I think) and the alien reflection in the TV set.  It could be argued that these are just cheap shocks, like that one director guy who said he could just put up a white frame and a loud noise and scare anyone, but dammit, it works.  Not always, like the 'ol character backs slowly up at the edge of frame and camera whip pans to scary thing just behind them is pretty trite.  I guess he did do this trick in The Happening with the hanging corpses, but it just didn't creep me out.  I like it when the camera is in a stationary wide shot and something scary happens in the distance.  For example the blue dress twins at the end of the hallway, and that killer shot of the girl getting out of the well in that American adaptation of the Japanese horror movie whose name escapes me.  Those kind of scenes are disturbing.

The closest The Happening came to being disturbing were maybe people walking backwards before they offed themselves, but that's like the discount bin version.  Hardly worthwhile.  Why didn't any of these dolts, when confronted with the notion that it might be some airborn pathogen, put a handkerchief around their faces at the very least!?

[mcgsxr]

A personal fav for "horror" scenes is in The Exorcist 3, when viewing down a long hallway in the hospital, a character is walking across the screen, and then moving behind them closing the pace is a person carrying a large medical implement about to be repurposed for decapitation! 

I just love the smoothness of it, the pure evil of the moment, and the complete lack of gore.

I will NEVER forget that scene!