Screamstress Review: "The Happening"

by Alexandra on June 16th, 2008

If you plan to see the movie, please do not read this review beforehand. On my journey to see The Happening, I resigned myself to accepting the fact that I probably wouldn’t like the ending since I didn’t like the endings of Lady In The Water, or The Village, although I enjoyed both movies. Also, when you lower the hype level, all sorts of magic happens.

From its ominous moving clouds and dark music, to the beginning of the disturbing park bench scene in Central Park, the mood of the movie was tense. Things started to get interesting when the happening began, and particularly when we got to Elliot’s (Mark Wahlberg) classroom in Pennsylvania, and he asked the students about the disappearance of honey bees during class discussion.

There were little things in the film that did in fact give off the B-movie feel, such as the shot of the nuclear power plant with the non-moving smoke.

I liked the sense of urgency portrayed by the school administrators in Philadelphia, as it reminded me a lot of what people were feeling on 9/11. For many, those feelings are still fresh.

The Happening - Character Interaction

The friendship between Elliot and his math teacher friend, Julian (John Leguizamo), was portrayed very well. For some reason, it seemed that Elliot and his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel) were horribly mismatched. Her emotions seemed a bit stilted when it came to Elliot, and she almost came off as being a bit nutty and weird. There were some very scary moments. However, the trailers are a bit deceiving if you try to draw conclusions from them.

The Happening - Suspense

Seeing the scenes with the character Ms. Jones (Betty Buckley) reminded me of Tom Cruise in War Of The Worlds, in which he and his daughter (Dakota Fanning) take refuge in a house of a man who had lost his mind. The suspense was extremely effective in The Happening in these scenes, as you had no idea of what Ms. Jones was capable.

Overall Impressions

As the film progressed and ended, I left feeling that I did enjoy it. The film was entertaining in that it made me think, not about how scary it was per se, but more about the unknown. Interestingly, what is said in the film about the honey bees is true, as well as how plants are able to protect themselves from insects.

As the world in the movie tried to make sense of what happened in this strange 24 hour period, just as in real life, talking TV heads tried to put their spin on things and at the same time managed to sound a bit crazy. Was that a statement? Wahlberg was totally adorable as a high school science teacher, and all the actors had some amazing moments.

In the end, there is no way to call this film a success if you compare it to other horror films. I think this one, along with M. Night, are in their own special category of weird and wonderful. Say what you want about it, but it was entirely more refreshing than some of the remake retreads we’ve been seeing.

Images via Morguefile

Tags: john leguizamo, mark wahlberg, movie review, the happening, zooey deschanel

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The Screamstress - Horror & Paranormal