Funny, Scary and Entertaining

Rating: 7/10 (13 June 2008)

The Happening is a great departure from Shyamalan's previous films. Many have talked about this film getting an R rating but I found the most noticeable difference to be the black humor in it. I have always been a Shyamalan fan but must admit that his films often seem to be taking themselves too seriously. Not so in this film! There is plenty of comic relief between the scares (Elliot talking to a plant, a man who brings a load of hot dogs with him in the evacuation) as well as humor in the violence itself. Let's face it: It's hard to take a movie seriously when a man feeds his own arms to a lion or a woman stabs herself with a knitting needle. You have to laugh at that, but that is intentional. The point of this movie to be an entertaining B movie and I'd say it succeeds. The concept is original and generally the film is fun to watch.