M. Night Shyamalan’s much-maligned horror film is bizarre, but was it intentional?
He knew all along
That’s the only explanation for The Happening; M. Night Shyamalan knew what he was making all along. Upon its release, the movie was ridiculed and poorly reviewed, and although it’s been re-evaluated in recent years, any casual movie-enjoyer who happens to give the film a Google will be met with a dismal 18% on Rotten Tomatoes.
I think this is unfair, if only because I think so much of The Happening defies the metrics on which most critics and audiences would judge a movie. To me, this movie is impossible to score, but that doesn’t mean I’m blind to the reason behind that Rotten Tomatoes number.
General audiences who were expecting an ‘end-of-the-world’ thriller probably didn’t appreciate the bizarre performances or the unusual reason behind the events of the film. It’s a movie that’s begging to be laughed at, but if you can’t get on that extremely narrow wavelength, it’s a movie that will have you rolling your eyes and scoffing at how anybody thought you might enjoy this.
Happenstance
When an unknown neurotoxin released in New York City causes people en masse to die by suicide, high school science teacher Elliot (Mark Wahlberg) flees to Pennsylvania with his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel), his friend Julian (John Leguizamo), and Julian’s daughter, Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez). Together they try to keep one step ahead of the spreading neurotoxin, but when they start to suspect the source of the toxin, there might not be anywhere left to hide…
Some of the best moments in The Happening occur in the opening moments. Watching mobs of people succumb to mass suicide is horrific. There’s a real sense of being unsafe. The mystery behind why this is happening combined with the victims’ eerie stillness and strange verbal tics pre-death is unnerving. At this point, the film is forcing you to live in the terror and the violence of this event, but even here there are some peculiar line readings and odd turns of phrase that threaten immersion.
Then we cut to Mark Wahlberg’s status quo as a science teacher, and if you thought the dialogue and performances in the opening scenes were laughable, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Every line out of Wahlberg’s mouth sounds petulant and baffled. He is not a character that any audience can take seriously, and the whiplash from the mass deaths to this performance is stark.
What Happens in Philly, Stays in Philly
I think that whiplash is the point, though. The Happening oscillates wildly between horror and comedy. It’s not a comedy-horror film, though; It’s a horror and it’s a comedy. For some, the term 'comedy' being applied to this film is pushing things. There aren’t any jokes; the comedy is mostly in the performances—usually Mark Wahlberg spouting absurd lines of dialogue with far too much earnestness.
The Happening came to be mocked in part because this kind of humour is so easily interpreted as unintentional. I’m not saying M. Night has a flawless output—he clearly doesn’t—but the outlandish performances and sequences in The Happening feel purposeful. M. Night's choices and direction is simply too specific to be tossed off with a "He didn't know what he was doing". If that’s the case, then how do you judge a movie like this?
I’m not saying that this is some perfect, unimpeachable movie because it was “trying to be bad” or anything. Apart from that being an over-simplification of things, The Happening does suffer from pretty egregious narrative issues. There is very little tension in the movie and the characters flit from place to place with no grand plan. There’s no plot, no pacing, no arcs. There’s a half-hearted attempt at mending a rift between Elliot and Alma’s relationship, but ultimately, we don’t care about them in the slightest.
Well, That Just Happened
Maybe part of the ‘B movie’ appeal of The Happening is that some of these elements are poorly realised, but I feel like Shyamalan could’ve pinned his concept to a better structure and it would’ve retained its most important aspect: that blend of horror and comedy. It takes a while to adapt to such a strange tone, but ultimately, it works.
For me, it all came together in one scene where the gang are outside a stranger’s house, asking him for food. It’s ridiculous how they persist in nagging the poor, terrified resident despite being asked to leave repeatedly—and when the homeowner is pushed to defend himself and breaks out a shotgun, I found myself cackling at the bloody carnage that ensued. Nothing about what was happening was in any way objectively funny, but in the space that M. Night created, I couldn’t stop laughing.
I couldn’t in good conscience ever recommend a writer to create characters that needlessly, and repeatedly, put themselves in harm’s way like the cast of The Happening. Nobody should be ever encouraged to write dialogue this patently absurd, or a script so aimless. Despite all this, there’s a uniqueness to this rambling film that feels impossible to replicate.
Not that anyone would really want to.
***
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