Why The Happening is a disaster of a movie

Rating: 3/10 (14 June 2008)

First off, the concept is mildly interesting. An apocalypse as a result of a defense mechanism by plants as a response to global warming. Mark Wahlberg is decent in the lead role, the score is appropriate if not special and the direction produces some fairly effective moments of genuine tension. However the script is an absolute embarrassment, and the premise is lazily thought through and clumsily introduced. It is strongly reminiscent of The Birds, but the reason The Birds is possibly the greatest horror film ever made is that the descent from banality into nightmare is slowly and carefully judged and subtly allows the viewer to make their own connection between the bird attacks and the sexual awakening of the lead female character. The Happening comes out as being completely depth-less, Cloverfield seems almost meaningful in comparison, and that has a tremendous thrill factor that The Happening lacks completely. Ultimately it is the ineffective and amateurish script that really lets the film down and makes it almost impossible to recommend to anyone but those people interested in how to construct unnerving park scenes. The worst film I've seen this year, a post previously occupied by Jumper.