The Happening

Wednesday, June 18th, 2008 | Doyle Reviews | No Comments

Well, I finally managed to catch up with two of my good mates last night. It’s always great to see Miss C and D-Man, so last night we all dragged our sorry arses to the cinema to catch a flick.

Now, I’m not a scary movie type of girl. My definition of fun doesn’t involve being scared out of my wits. In fact, you could almost call me a Disney Girl. Disney never make scary, gory movies. They’re always “Sunshine and Lollypops” with cutesy little talking animals who learn important moral lessons throughout the film. I want to walk out of the cinema feeling uplifted and happy!

So, “The Happening” wasn’t produced by Disney. It was directed and produced by M. Night Shyamalan. He’s the guy who gave us “The Sixth Sense” and “The Lady in the Water”, so you can really predict what kind of film “The Happening” was going to be.

The IMDB Plot Summary simply states:
“A paranoid thriller about a family on the run from a natural crisis that presents a large-scale threat to humanity.”

This ‘natural crisis’ isn’t particularly scary - the earth decides that Humans are a plague and releases toxins into the air that make humans self-destruct. It’s the wide-scale self-destruction that’s a bit freaky. Seeing hundreds of people top themselves in all manners of gruesome and creative ways was not an experience I was really prepared for.

At one stage, a gent decides to top himself by starting a combine harvester looking contraption, then lying down in front of it. I dont actually know what happens after that, because I covered my ears and buried my head in my jumper. The Turtle Response.

The movie itself was a bit of a splatterfest, rather than a psychological scarefest. I actually walked out of the cinema without any serious phobias or nightmares - result!

I cant begin to fathom the quantity of fake blood that was consumed on such a gruesome film.

In any case, I can recommend going to see this film if you get your kicks from being scared. If you’re like me, and you’re likely to pull your jumper up over the top of your head, then perhaps wait until it comes to DVD. At least you can then jump up and run to the kitchen to grab a “coffee” and retain some dignity.