The Happening (R, 2008)

common sense media says

Horror film is long on peril, but thin on plot.


parents & educators say

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this tense horror film is the first one from writer-director M. Night Shyamalan to earn an R rating -- and for good reason. It's loaded with violent, bloody images and is much more graphic than the PG-13 movies that have earned him a following among teens. It revolves around people falling victim to an airborne toxin that induces suicidal behavior -- consequently, there's a constant stream of self-inflicted deaths throughout the film, many of them quite graphic (falling from heights, gunshots, car crashes, heads going through windows, etc.).

Positive messages: The main characters have a somewhat troubled marriage; extensive discussion of "terror attacks" as the events in the film begin. One supporting character leaves his child with the main characters, a process that involves extensive discussion of human behavior in a crisis and responsibility. Many suicides.
Violence: Extensive violence throughout, primarily self-inflicted suicides through a variety of methods -- including a hairpin through the neck, leaping from heights, self-inflicted gunshot wounds, submitting to animal mutilation, self-inflicted car crashes, lying down in front of industrial gardening equipment, heads driven through windows, and much, much more. Two characters are blasted with shotguns on screen. Many of the violent sequences are quite bloody, and many dead bodies are seen on screen, from hanging victims to falling victims to bloody bodies in the distance.
Sex: Not applicable.
Language: Sporadic, including "a--hole" and "p---y."
Consumerism: Only one brand is visible, on an Avatar: The Last Airbender back pack (director Shyamalan is making a big-screen version of the title, so it's likely a coy plug).
Drinking, drugs, & smoking: Not applicable.

More on The Happening

What to talk about

Talk to your kids
Families can talk about what makes a movie R-rated versus PG-13. Parents, ask your kids' opinion on the difference in the two ratings. Do kids think they're ready to see R movies? Why? Explain why you want them to see things that are age-appropriate, and ask them why they think the studio made Shyamalan's "first R rating" such a big selling point. Families can also discuss what makes a movie scarier -- seeing horrible things happen or anticipating them? Why? Why do people seem so eager to embrace visions of terror and devastation?

What's the story?

What's the story?
In New York, Philadelphia, and other East Coast cities, mass outbreaks of suicidal behavior and mania result in chaos and panic. THE HAPPENING follows Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg) and his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel) as their flight from the unknown becomes more and more desperate. Science teacher Elliot tries to figure out what, exactly, is going on, even as he and Alma take on responsibility for Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez), the daughter of their friend Julian (John Leguizamo).

Is it any good?

Is it any good?
 
The Happening, the first R-rated film from writer-director M. Night Shyamalan, feels like a throwback to '70s cautionary disaster B-movies like Day of the Animals or Invasion of the Body Snatchers, with nature itself seeming to turn against humanity. The mood of many individual scenes -- spooky, scary, and grim -- works. But when you move past the bodies and blood, the structure of the movie itself feels curiously slack, with Elliot and Alma running for safety as things go from bad to worse. There's no real underlying plot arc to the film, and the critical event is set along a completely arbitrary timeline that the lead characters have no power to affect.

So, while The Happening meanders from horrible vision to grim vignette, it doesn't really cohere as a story -- there's a lot of running, a lot of worrying, and plenty of bad things happening to good people, but it never quite engages the viewer. (Wahlberg also doesn't quite have the chops as a leading man to make us believe in his character; many of his scenes feel more accidentally amusing than deliberately dramatic.) The Happening revolves around an intriguing idea and features a few striking images, but ideas and images aren't a substitute for storytelling and screenwriting. The Happening may have a few chills and scares, but it doesn't have the plot structure or sense of real tension that would tighten its loose collections of scenes into an iron chokehold of horror and dread.

Movie themes & details

Movie Details
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Cast: John Leguizamo, Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel
Genre: Horror
Run time: 90 minutes
Theatrical release: June 13, 2008
DVD release: October 6, 2008
MPAA Rating: R
MPAA explanation: violent and disturbing images
Watch our review

This review was written by James Rocchi
 
 

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What parents & educators say

15

Most useful reviews by all members

Softballgirl31
teen, 13 years old
 
Ok...
Not too violent or graphic for a horror movie. Most of the killings are not graphic and most scenes are cut short when someone kills themselves. The most graphic part of the film is when an old lady becomes infected and and sticks her head through 2 windows. Also two boys (about 14) are shot and you see the blood splatters. The violence is nothing a 12 year old can't handle. Also I didn't think it was that great of a movie over all...pretty confusing.

sugagirl23
kid, 13 years old
 
I thought this was funny
Lol I laughed at some parts of this movie more funny and not a lot of violence.

 
tis movie was ok. not the best. Not horror not drama not thriller not anything just a trying to be good movie that had its moments.

twilightfan2459
teen, 14 years old
 
It was realy good, i watched jaws 3 before and got bored so i turned this on, it was amazing lol ok a lot of people commited suicide but it looked completely fake =D 3 people shot themselves with the same gun lol it ended too quick they walked outside and the wind was blowing but they didnt kill themselves they just stood there alot of deaths by plants cool movie though!

tennytiger724
kid, 12 years old
 
???
this really sucked- just a lot of scary stuff put together.

Athena2264
teen, 14 years old
 
.DON"T. WATCH. IT. period.
Oh my god. I saw this when I was eleven and flat-out HATED IT! Come on, M.Night Shamaylan. The Sixth Sense was AWESOME, Unbreakable was the bomb, and The Village was sweet! Then, there was Signs. That was the first hint that his career was going downhill. The special effects were ok, the script needed improvements, and the actors were not my top choices. But, The Happening! Oh, it was AWFUL. Now,I'll give M.Night some slack:He had a kernel of a good idea here-but he was so caught up in the gore that it left us with a bad script and actors who seemed to wish they weren't there.

 
2 hours of every form of suicide you can imagine
This was an extremely disturbing movie. It is all about suicides. People are motivated to kill themselves in a variety of very upsetting ways. One includes a man feeding his arm to a lion in the zoo, as he's entered the cage. Another man lies down and allows the riding lawn mower to run over him. People hang themselves in trees. Then, there's the good old fashioned wrist slitting. I got nothing out of this movie other than disturbia. Absolutely not for kids of any age.

Brandon4News
teen, 15 years old
 
Gleefully silly horror flick has some infrequent graphic violence.
Violence- 8/10 Language- 6/10 Overall Quality- 5.5/10

Jadenp
teen, 15 years old
 
I am a huge M Night fan. He makes reallllly good movies most of the time, such as The Sixth Sense, The Village, and Signs, however he does have his bad movies. Lady in the Water was terrible, Devil was pretty good, but not that good, and there's The Happening. Now, this movie would have been great if he changed a couple things. First off, there was no ending. This movie was only 1 hour and 20 minutes. It ended horribly. Also, Mark Wahlberg kind of sucked in this movie, (as usual ;)) This movie definitely is his most gruesome movie, however, it's not strong enough for an R rating. It's too strong to be PG-13, but it's not bad enough to be rated R. I'd say PG-15, if america had that rating. Suggested MPAA Rating: PG-15 for some graphic violence, and disturbing images. This movie's plot is that there is an airborne virus that makes people kill themselves.

mikeisawesome123
parent of 11 year old
 
Not too child friendly!
Good movie. This is definitely not for kids under 14 or 15. Disturbing images, blood (minimal), and INTENSE violence!!!!!

fangningsheng
teen, 14 years old
 
Stupid
I am extremely disappointed in M. Night Shyamalan. The Sixth Sense and Signs were great movies. What's up with this garbage? The plot was thin and cheesy, the acting was atrocious, and the whole movie was just flat out terrible. This film was just an excuse to show a bunch of people gruesomely killing themselves. Suggested MPAA rating: R for bloody violent and disturbing content,and for some language.

iheartchocolate198
teen, 16 years old
 
Should not be rated R
I was throghfully dissapointed when I saw the movie. I did not think it was that violent, the disturbing part was where the woman stuck a hairpin through her neck, but it was not very realistic, it was just close up. I think the movie had good role models. The characters try very hard to protect each other from the "plague". Overall, the movie was bad, but maybe that was because it was short. Or maybe that's just me. I really do not think the movie deserves an R rating because the violence, although there was a lot throughout the movie, was not very realistic. I didn't even know it was a horror movie until I read this article.

loverrr
teen, 16 years old
 
Horror Movie??
It should not be passed off as a horror flick or even as rated R. a little language ( that could be said in a PG - 13 movie) blood and suidcidal behavior - all because of grass. and overall it was dumb - worth seeing, but not the greatest movie and kinda dumb if you think about it.

YBNormal
parent of 8 and 10 year old
 

christian-movi ...
teen, 17 years old
 
If you don't mind violence and some language you will love this movie. Although the language is not that bad.
This movie was a very weird movie. Although I must say I loved it. It is very violent. The violence is not constantly like most war movies but this movie is not a war movie and has short scenes of graphic violence. A lady stabs a hair pin into her head, a man jumps off a building, a man runs a large hay cutter over himself, a lady smashes her head into a glass window twice. And a few other less graphic scenes. The language is very mild for an R rating. 1 use of g**d*mn, and a few milder such as p*ss*, h*ll, *ssh*l* and a few slang words. No sexual content what-so-ever. I did love this movie, although I think the like and hate ratio will be 50-50.

Fridaythe13th
teen, 16 years old
 
NOT SCARY for YOUNGER VIEWERS!
This movie wasn't scary at all. It is not scary, a 10 year old would be able to watch this. It just shows dead bodies and a man gets his arm ate of by a lion. It should be rated PG-13 not R!

tjstar
teen, 14 years old
 
IT'S SUCH A GREAT HORROR MOVIE
Ever since I saw this movie, my new favourite genre of movies is horror. I found this movie unbelievable awesome! Even though lots of people kill themselves. But I don't care. It was soooo cool! I liked the part where this one guy turned this HUGE lawnmower thing on (like it was HUGE) and then he lied on the ground a the huge lawnmower ran over him and it was really weird and it gave me a tingly feeling inside! But I think people who don't mind watching people get killed would enjoy this movie. It was a nice midnight movie to watch! (Even though there is a LOT of screaming in it!)

avitarfan1
teen, 14 years old
 
scary and grusome
this was the scaryest movie i have ever seen! it was awsome tho. it was really good! very scary tho 16 and up. do NOT let little kids see it!!!!! the plants cause people to kill them selfs. very graphic!!! when you see this you will know why it is rated R!! no one under 13 at all unless can handle scary movies like chucky!!! more scary then i am legend!!! they kill them self from stabbings to lawn mowers they hang them selfs all of it!

whaleoh4060
teen, 14 years old
 
Pretty freaky!
This movie is quite gross out at the start. Not for the faint of heart. A pretty scary movie for a non horror. At one scene I couldn't watch through it without my parents. The ending was awesome! The whole movie is very scary. Younger children will not sit through it. Not that believable afterwards if that's what you want. A very sad movie. It nearly made me cry.

gabbywabby212
teen, 15 years old
 
i saw it when i was 12 and it wasn't even that scary! man, some people don't know how to rate movies anymore, i mean, 16 and up? are you kidding me? 12 and up has more sense!

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