The Happening

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The Happening

R

2008

1h 31m

Sci-Fi

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

17%

Tomatometer

185 Reviews

24%

Popcornmeter

250,000+ Ratings

An apocalyptic threat to humanity arrives out of the clear blue sky with a series of violent, inexplicable deaths spreading across the country. The cause of the terrifying phenomenon remains unknown, prompting science teacher Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg), his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel) and his colleague Julian (John Leguizamo) to try to elude the invisible killer in Pennsylvania's farmland. Soon it becomes clear that no one is safe.

Critics Consensus

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

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Jason Bailey

Flavorwire

01/30/2017

For reasons still unknown, Shyamalan wrote the dialogue this stiffly, and instructed his performers to act like they'd never said words or interacted with each other before.

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Chris Stuckmann

ChrisStuckmann.com

04/17/2015

C

The Happening is his first hilariously awful film.

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Nigel Floyd

Time Out

11/16/2011

2/5

At first, a great deal happens, then nothing much happens for quite some time, then something so underwhelming happens that one is left wondering, 'Did that really just happen?'

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Bryce Hanson

Horror Movie Talk

Sep 23

3/10

In this film however, it just makes you wonder how someone that is capable of writing convincing human moments would decide to write the rest of the movie like everyone has a head injury.

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Patrick Cavanaugh

The Wolfman Cometh

09/20/2023

1/5

The handful of visually unsettling sequences fail to make up for the complete absurdity of the premise and performances.

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Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

09/06/2023

1.5/4

The result is a promising idea realized with a laughable amount of hokum.

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Kristen E

@kswizzy Dec 29

If I could give this movie zero stars I quite honestly would. If I could get it negative stars I would but that still would not be enough to describe just how awful this movie was. This movie made me think Mark Walhburg has never acted a day in his life and you would have thought Zooey Deschanel was being held at gunpoint to be part of this movie. I have seen and loved so many of m knight Shyamalan’s movies but this ? This you would have thought he was on a 37$ budget and wrote and produced this in 48 hours tops. I’ve seen better acting from a middle school musical.

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Reece F

@ReznPez1991 Dec 15

I only give 5 or 1 star reviews. This was a zero. This was just a terrible film all through. I mean the idea of the planet fighting back was good but it was executed horribly. Thanks to this trainwreck of a film I can never watch anything with joey deschannel again. Won't even attempt it. As for the rest nobody's acting was even slightly good. The director should have been slapped silly too. Give me a choice between getting graped by a cactus or watching this then its spikey arse time.

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John N

@RT98985290 Nov 29

This is by far the greatest movie I have ever seen. The comedy is top tier and Marky Mark’s performance is beautiful.

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BDL B.

@SteelCheeze69 Nov 18

Awesome make you think concept. Definitely a watch. Love Mahky Mahk

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Paul S

@RT91988760 Nov 15

I've heard how bad this movie is, and boy were the legends true. How anyone who worked on this and saw the finished project thought it would be a good idea to release it in theaters is beyond me. There was not a single redeemable performance in this movie, and the script was just plain terrible. Even though it was terrible, the line deliveries in the movie made me laugh (even though they shouldn't have), and the concept was definitely intriguing. This movie is better off skipped.

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Leaburn O

@RT35452347 Oct 31

A pretty average thriller made better by its brevity. Similar to The Leftovers TV series but not as good. There was a good build up of tension and very little pay off. Watched on DVD.

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M. Night Shyamalan

Director

Mark Wahlberg

Elliot Moore

Zooey Deschanel

Alma Moore

John Leguizamo

Julian

Betty Buckley

Mrs. Jones

Ashlyn Sanchez

Jess

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Synopsis

An apocalyptic threat to humanity arrives out of the clear blue sky with a series of violent, inexplicable deaths spreading across the country. The cause of the terrifying phenomenon remains unknown, prompting science teacher Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg), his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel) and his colleague Julian (John Leguizamo) to try to elude the invisible killer in Pennsylvania's farmland. Soon it becomes clear that no one is safe.

Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Producer: M. Night Shyamalan, Sam Mercer, Barry Mendel
Screenwriter: M. Night Shyamalan
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Co: Blinding Edge Pictures
Rating: R (Violent and Disturbing Images)
Genre: Sci-Fi, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 13, 2008, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 25, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $64.5M
Runtime: 1h 31m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital, DTS, SDDS
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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