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.