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The Happening

Play trailer Poster for The Happening R Released Jun 13, 2008 1h 31m Sci-Fi Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
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17% Tomatometer 185 Reviews 24% Popcornmeter 250,000+ Ratings
An apocalyptic threat to humanity arrives out of the clear blue sky with a series of violent, inexplicable deaths spreading across the country. The cause of the terrifying phenomenon remains unknown, prompting science teacher Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg), his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel) and his colleague Julian (John Leguizamo) to try to elude the invisible killer in Pennsylvania's farmland. Soon it becomes clear that no one is safe.
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The Happening

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Critics Consensus

The Happening begins with promise, but unfortunately descends into an incoherent and unconvincing trifle.

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Critics Reviews

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Jason Bailey Flavorwire For reasons still unknown, Shyamalan wrote the dialogue this stiffly, and instructed his performers to act like they'd never said words or interacted with each other before. Jan 30, 2017 Full Review Chris Stuckmann ChrisStuckmann.com The Happening is his first hilariously awful film. Rated: C Apr 17, 2015 Full Review Nigel Floyd Time Out At first, a great deal happens, then nothing much happens for quite some time, then something so underwhelming happens that one is left wondering, 'Did that really just happen?' Rated: 2/5 Nov 16, 2011 Full Review Patrick Cavanaugh The Wolfman Cometh The handful of visually unsettling sequences fail to make up for the complete absurdity of the premise and performances. Rated: 1/5 Sep 20, 2023 Full Review Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review The result is a promising idea realized with a laughable amount of hokum. Rated: 1.5/4 Sep 6, 2023 Full Review Sean Price The Spool But suppose you squint your eyes and pretend it’s a satirical comedy. In that case, it turns from an all-time debacle to one of the most unintentionally funny (and prescient) horror comedies of the 21st century. Feb 24, 2023 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Emma F The Happening starts off intriguing but quickly loses its way and becomes a bit of a head-scratcher. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 04/11/25 Full Review Cynthia W THE worst movie I’ve ever seen. I’m still trying to figure out if it was supposed to be satirical like the Scary Movie movies. I mean, they couldn’t have been serious about this as horror, right? Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 04/04/25 Full Review Audience Member This movie makes me laugh like a comedy. It’s so funny because it’s terribly cheesy. Not its intention but…it tries hard to be very serious but has terrible music, and awkward conversations and deaths. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/23/25 Full Review Edward T The worst acting and dialog in Cinema. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/23/25 Full Review Mark M The movie intrigues you with its quite promising beginning but as it progresses you begin to question what you're actually watching and what could be the resolution to such a unintentionally convoluted film Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/04/25 Full Review Jeremy H I've always thought it was a pretty good movie, never understood the bad reviews. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 12/26/24 Full Review Read all reviews
The Happening

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Movie Info

Synopsis An apocalyptic threat to humanity arrives out of the clear blue sky with a series of violent, inexplicable deaths spreading across the country. The cause of the terrifying phenomenon remains unknown, prompting science teacher Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg), his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel) and his colleague Julian (John Leguizamo) to try to elude the invisible killer in Pennsylvania's farmland. Soon it becomes clear that no one is safe.
Director
M. Night Shyamalan
Producer
M. Night Shyamalan, Sam Mercer, Barry Mendel
Screenwriter
M. Night Shyamalan
Distributor
20th Century Fox
Production Co
Blinding Edge Pictures
Rating
R (Violent and Disturbing Images)
Genre
Sci-Fi, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jun 13, 2008, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 25, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA)
$64.5M
Runtime
1h 31m
Sound Mix
Dolby Digital, DTS, SDDS
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.85:1)
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