Shyamalan's best in a while, but movie-miracles still ain't happening

Rating: 6/10 (16 June 2008)

Please note the reviews also contains slight spoilers for "The Sixth Sense" and "Unbreakable".
Pretty much like the rest of our cinema-loving universe, I anticipated the release of "The Happening" with quite an unhealthy dose of skepticism. I never even bothered to watch "Lady in the Water", but I severely disliked both "Signs" and "The Village" and I even think his supposedly greatest accomplishments "Unbreakable" and "The Sixth Sense" are vastly overrated. Still, the formula of "The Happening" strangely appealed to me and  unlike any of the aforementioned titles  I felt to urge to go and see it on the big screen as soon as it got released. The trailer is downright fantastic and, even though you just know it already features all the film's major highlights, it literally oozes with suspense and morbidity. And also, for me personally, the opening of the film took away a massive load of skepticism and negative premonitions. Shyamalan doesn't dawdle for once and comes straight to the point after the atmospheric and moody opening credits. Strange, inexplicable and unspeakably tragic phenomena overcome the East coast of the United States. Starting within and around large national parks, people suddenly become emotionally and physically paralyzed and subsequently commit suicide as if they're instructed to do so by some sort of higher power. A large posse of petrified people, amongst them a science teacher with his emotionally troubled wife and one of his colleagues' young daughter, attempt to flee towards Philadelphia by train, but the unidentifiable menace spreads out as well. The occurrences are too complex and precise to be terrorist actions and an alien attack is entirely out of the question, so the only remaining explanation would involve a spontaneous revolt of nature. The undeniable strong-point of "The Happening" is that M. Night Shyamalan emphasizes the mystery-aspect a lot less than in any of his previous screenplays. At first there are several wild speculations regarding the origin of the events, but once nature's involvement is established, the focus purely lies on survival of the characters and at least the film doesn't build up towards the infamous  but often disappointing  twist in the end. The concept is pretty good, however the elaboration still too often feels incoherent and unconvincing. "The Happening" contains multiple isolated moments of sheer brilliance and  also unusual in the director's repertoire  pure horror, but as a wholesome it still isn't as powerful as it should be. The sequences in which construction workers throw themselves off rooftops, people stand in line to shoot themselves through the head with the same gun or even lie themselves down in front of a moving lawnmower are highly unsettling pieces of intense horror and probably the most shocking images M. Night Shyamalan will ever capture on film. They're especially disturbing since they're illustrated with a great sense of elegance and style, like the supernatural suicide is some work of art. In between all the menace coming from higher and incontrollable forces, the director also grabs the opportunity to depict ordinary human beings as the ultimate monsters. In their quest for survival, common people become egocentric and dangerous aggressors. It's an ancient and overused theme in Sci-Fi movies, but still very efficient and appropriate. A final and equally typical trademark in Shymalan's films is that the cast of characters doesn't feature any heroic or implausibly witty types. Taking all this and more (good acting, stunning photography, beautiful locations) into account, I'm tempted to describe "The Happening" as a good film and a personal triumph for the writer/director, but there's something that really upsets me. M. Night Shyamalan still is an imitator! Admittedly a very subtle and discrete one, but an imitator nevertheless. The rudimentary concepts for his most acclaimed movies may come across as original and unique, but they're always somewhat borrowed from less conspicuous older films. Genuine horror fanatics will have thought about "Carnival of Souls" and "Dead & Buried" whilst watching "The Sixth Sense"; "Unbreakable" had oddly many ideas in common with two obscure 80's movies called "Sole Survivor" and "The Survivor" and, if you contemplate about it a little, "The Happening" is a subtle re-working of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds". If you've seen this classic piece of 60's eco-horror, please take a few moments to think about the similarities.