Shyamalan revisits spooky

At first glance, “The Happening” seems like a retrenchment for filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan following the critical and commercial disaster of his last movie, “Lady in the Water.”

But even though “The Happening,” slated to open in June, shares the spooky nightmare vibe of “The Sixth Sense” and “Signs,” both the action and atmosphere here are much more intense. It’s Shyamalan’s first R-rated feature, and judging from the way he’s talking about it, it won’t be his last.

“This is probably the most fun I’ve ever had making a movie,” Shyamalan says. “It was great not pulling any punches.”

The movie, which Shyamalan calls a cross between “The Birds” and “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” follows a high-school science teacher (Mark Wahlberg) trying to escape a “force beyond our understanding”that seems to be environmental in nature.

[Mercury News]

9 Comments

  1. This movie is sounding pretty intense! Muscle contractions?! People feeling sore after seeing it? Wow, cant wait!!

  2. I don't know what to say… I guess I can say the usual: I am sooo excited for this film!!! I really am expecting this to work well on so many levels.

    Night, you are the man! 😉

  3. Pretty kick ass…I can't believe how close it is. Seems like just yesterday we heard about “The Green Effect”

  4. hey guys im at cinemark.
    im already in line for the happeing…i just thought id say hey and ill save you a spot if you like.
    i ve been here for a week now. im hungry.
    so excited though……

    dear mrGlass….boredom.
    you know…..

  5. 🙁

    Can't see it. Rated “R”. When his first movie came out, he said in an interview that he believed that a scary movie did not need to be graphic. He wanted the audience to use their own imaginations to create the horror.

    I totally thought Shylaman believed a scary movie didn't need to be rated “R” to be scary. His movies have thus far, been intelligent masterpieces which treated the audience like imaginative people who could dream up self imposed terror from their own imaginations without being force-fed images coming from the commercialized no-brainer slasher movies of late.

    I am sure that it will not be a brainless slasher movie but I also believe that he did not need to go for the “R” rating for it to be terrifying, either. I am sure that it will be good, but some of us will have to bow out for this one and any other Shylaman movie with a rating of “R”.

    🙁

  6. The reason Lady in the Water failed was because the ads were way too vague and Night's name was attached to it.
    Many people now have a mental block against Shyamalan. If they would stop putting M. Night Shyamalan before every title, then they would sell more.

    When I hear M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening, I think “holy shit, another really vague title with failure written all over it.

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