I have to admit that I was once taken in by M. Night. I loved watching the dead people, the crop circles, and even gave the amish village a chance. I now actually dislike M. Night after watching this film, and I am surprised anyone in Hollywood would fund or produce something directed by him again.
Shyamalan has become a one trick pony. For all of this movies desperate attempts to round out a character and all of its inexplicably spooky atmosphere, it's still about the twist. AND what a lame twist. (please excuse the use of an incomplete sentence. I may have went to M. Night's school of painfully awkward dialogue.)
The actors (and I do LOVE one- Zooey Dashcanel) are phoning it in. I don't think that they have a clue as to what is going on, or even what their next line is. They may have been completely sickened by what could only be described as complete black hole of futility while making this movie (and I use the term -movie- loosely here). Nothing they could have done would have improved the end product.
Bad Special effects bad acting bad dialouge and flimsy characters definitely impact the film, but none of those can equal the dismal lack of tension. When the Happening is not blundering it is completely boring, and definitely not happening.
-----and as a side note---- was there a reason this movie had an R rating?? I certainly couldn't find one. I have seen more adult themes on episodes of The Waltons.
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Her guilty affair is a cup of coffee with some guy from work??? Its all very 7th Heaven.