Could have done with a bit more happening

Rating: 6/10 (23 October 2010)

Upon its release, The Happening received many negative reviews and was nominated for four Razzie awards including worst film but having viewed the film for the first time, I discovered that while it was far from being a great film, it was certainly not as bad as people say.
Made with the intention of being like a B-Movie, the story focuses on a married couple who discover that America has gone under some sort of attack where people are killing themselves. While not perfectly executed, the story does sink the viewer into what is happening and the plot does move at a swift pace for the majority of the film.
What really hinders the film from being good is the dialogue given to actors who can do so much more. Like the remake of The Wickerman, The Happening has now become a comedy in many people's eyes and if you search on the Internet, you will find spoofs and reedits. Some of the scenes are so bad, that you wonder what was going through the director's head. I would usually say that they could have been taken out and left on the cutting room floor but with a running time of 1hour and 20 minutes, they needed all the footage they could find.
On a technical level the film is good; the photography is good but there are some bad reaction shots which when up-close on an actors face, feel strange and out of place. The music by James Newton-Howard is very good and there are a few gruesome moments that will make the audience cringe. However there are not enough scenes that really emphasise how much danger they are in. We get the impression that the threat is deadly but as the audience, we need to see more as there are no scenes where we really doubt if the lead characters are in danger. This is after all a horror film.
While there are a few laughable scenes due to the dialogue or the acting, The Happening is not a terrible film but it is certainly not perfect. As a viewer, I never became bored or lost interest in the story. A good idea that could have been so much more.