The Happening (2 Disc edition with Bonus Digital Copy) [DVD] [2008]

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• This item: The Happening (2 Disc edition with Bonus Digital Copy) [DVD] [2008] DVD ~ Mark Wahlberg

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• Iron Man [DVD] [2008] DVD ~ Robert Downey Jr.

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• The Dark Knight (2 Discs) [DVD] [2008] DVD ~ Christian Bale

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Amazon.co.uk Review
You'd expect the end of the world to be no day in the park, but in M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening, a day in the park is where the end begins. One otherwise peaceful summer morning, New Yorkers strolling in Central Park come to a halt in unison, then begin killing themselves by any means at hand. At a high-rise construction site a few blocks over, it's raining bodies as workers step off girders into space. And all the while, the city is so quiet you can hear the gentle breeze in the trees. That breeze carries a neurotoxin, and what or who put it there (terrorists?) is a question raised periodically as the film unfolds. But the question that really matters is how and whether anybody in the Middle Atlantic states is going to stay alive.

The Happening is Shyamalan's best film since The Sixth Sense, partly because he avoids the kind of egregious misjudgment that derailed The Village and Lady in the Water, but mostly because the whole thing has been structured and imagined to keep faith with the point of view of regular, unheroic folks confronted with a mammoth crisis. Focal characters are a Philadelphia high-school science teacher (Mark Wahlberg, excellent), his wife (Zooey Deschanel) and math-teacher colleague (John Leguizamo), and the latter’s little girl (Ashlyn Sanchez). Instinct says get out of the cities and move west; most of the film takes place in the delicately picturesque Pennsylvania countryside, with menace hovering somewhere in the haze. There are no special effects (apart from a wind machine and some breakaway glass), but the movie manages to be deeply unsettling in the matter-of-factness of its storytelling. Especially effective is its feel for what we might call the surrealism of banality. One warning sign that someone has been infected by the neurotoxin is irrational or erratic speech and behavior, yet Shyamalan has a genius for dialogue that sounds normal and everyday as it's spoken, yet flies apart grenade-like a second later as its logic (or illogic) sinks in. Then there's Deschanel's eye-rolling dodginess about the messages some guy has been leaving on her cellphone. Or the fellow (Frank Collis) who addresses his greenhouse plants as though they were his children--has a stray toxic zephyr wafted his way, or is this just his idea of normal? --Richard T. Jameson, Amazon.com

Synopsis
In THE HAPPENING, M. Night Shyamalan serves up a slice of apocalyptic strangeness. The film opens onto New York City's Central Park with a crowd of people enjoying an idyllic summer day. The carefree scene soon takes a terrifying turn, when out of nowhere, hordes of people begin to commit suicide en masse. People scramble to make sense of the pandemonium, and many believe it is a terrorist attack. It appears that some sort of deadly toxin is being released into the air. Cut to Elliot (Mark Wahlberg), a science teacher in Philadelphia. When he learns of the attack on New York, he meets up with his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel), his friend Julian (John Leguizamo), and Julians's daughter, Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez). They make plans to get out of the city via train, but the train is evacuated in the middle of a small Pennsylvania town. When they learn that the mysterious toxin is spreading its way across the Northeast, they break up into groups, with Elliot, Alma, and Jess running through open farmland in search of safety. They are unsure of where to hide, or what exactly they are hiding from, until Elliot slowly forms a theory about the threat. He fights to keep Alma and Jess free from harm, and the film builds to a bizarre, unsettling climax.
Shyamalan's premise of escaping an unknown, unexplainable attack is a timely one, and is quite chilling in concept. THE HAPPENING succeeds in creating the frenzied scariness of THE BIRDS, combined with the outlandish death scenes and unusual plot line found in B-movie classics. For fans of campy horror in the vein of THE EVIL DEAD, it is truly something to behold.

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11 Reviews 5 star:  (4) 4 star:  (2) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:  (2) 1 star:  (3)           Average Customer Review 3.2 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   15 of 16 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Chilling and unusually effective..., 18 Sep 2008 By  D. Jackson "DJ" (UK) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    Just a little something before you read on: Remember this review is from the perspective of a committed Shyamalan fan! M. Night Shyamalan is the kind of film director you really have to have patience with. As proved with nearly all of his previous films, he manages to produce the most terrifying of shocks from the most simple of situations. What is good about The Happening however, is that Shyamalan finally reveals his 'dark side'; it nearly came out in his 1999 chiller The Sixth Sense, but in this film, we're properly introduced to the bigger and better scares! The Happening is a very worthy mix of creepy, unnerving and terrifying horror, with added environmental disaster blockbuster, and a little sprinkle of love story! Strangely, the plot is quite simple: An evil gas is progressing over the globe, causing people to 'completely loose any sense of self preservation' and murder themselves. Multiple suicides in and around New York City make way for some effective shocks -only a director like Shyamalan can make people dropping like rain off of skyscrapers strangely beautiful- then about 20 minutes in, we join a number of different surviving groups being mysteriously thrown off a train into 'the middle of nowhere'. To mention any more of the plot would totally spoil it for you. Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel play the main couple as they pursue across the eerie countryside with Shyamalan's usual cast of unusual characters. The Happening relies a surprising amount on its characters to make its scares effective: There's a fantastic appearance from Betty Buckley playing a brilliantly creepy old Hichcockian crazy lady, who takes care of the best scare in the whole film. (The lady I was sat next to in the cinema sprayed half her bucket of popcorn over me when she jumped!) Other than straight-forward scares to keep his audience glued, Shyamalan -as always- concentrates heavily on creating an extremely creepy atmosphere. The scenes in a totally motionless New York are pretty frightening, but when the cast have fled to the hills, the eeriness of all that wide-open, abandoned space makes you feel weirdly vulnerable and edgy. (Even though it's hard not to laugh at Mark Wahlberg having a conversation with a plastic plant!) Unfortunately, though -ignoring the good stuff for a moment- M. Night has attached The Happening to a cheesy and sometimes even slightly off-putting script- I lost count on how many times things like, "I can't believe this is happening!" were said! Also, having written The Happening too, Shyamalan's story doesn't flow like some of his previous films did (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, The Village, Lady In The Water etc), it seems to plod along at a rather uneven pace. And finally -which is what most other reviewers have picked up on- there's Mark Wahlberg's acting. I've never really been a fan of his, and as Shyamalan's scripts are normally extremely character-driven, Whalberg just hasn't quite got the acting abilities to carry the film and pull it off, the way in which Bruce Willis / Bryce Dallas Howard have done in Shyamalan's previous films. Anyway, Fans of M. Night Shyamalan's previous works are most likely to admire The Happening and see the obvious similarities to The Sixth Sense and The Village. However, the members of the audience who've not been treated beforehand are likely to be left scratching their heads, wondering whether they liked The Happening or they hated it! In my opinion though, this is fantastic stuff. Can't wait for the DVD! Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   3 of 3 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars The only sane review left in the world, 13 Oct 2008 By  J. S. Meins "fiftyfirstfloorfilms" (UK) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    The reviews of "The Happening" have been dreadful and seem to signify the end of M Night Shyamalan's once promising career. Happily the critics seem to have got this one wrong because I believe it could end up being a sleeper classic. True, the nature of story does sometimes cause some moments of hilarity and the acting is on occasion mouth-gapingly clunky...but...for me a lot of these supposed failures seemed to be absolutely intentional and totally suited to the B movie style material. Its also brilliantly directed and sometimes horribly creepy, certainly more so than many lame "horror" movies I have seen over the past few years. I suspect that many of those who drubbed it would be massive fans if it had been made in the 1970s and came with a readymade cool status. Suspend your belief, expect silliness and suspense in equal measure and you'll love it. Comment Comments (2) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   3 of 4 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Just the dvd i am waiting for!!!, 25 Sep 2008 By  M. A. Yates "BigFoot" (England) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    The other person who has given this 5 stars has pretty much summed up on most things that i would like to say about this movie, i loved it also. i thought the thing about Mark Walhbergs acting and other cast members is true but i felt as the film went on you could really start to see these characters properly. my favorite Shyamalan films are still Unbreakable and Lady in the Water but this is another true to form M.Night Shyamalan film that all dedicatedfans should love. I am really glad that this film is coming out the way i had hoped it to be,extended with all the scenes not featured at uk cinemas, 2 disc aswel. i wish lady in the water was like it. but it bombed atthe box office. dont care still one of my fav's. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review › See all 11 customer reviews...		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 4.0 out of 5 stars Creepy Horror Movie With Chills. Isn't a nice thing that this movie dosen't have a lot of the following: blood-thirst, over the top gore, bad swearing coming out of their mouths and 15 rated sex? Read more Published 6 months ago by Ms. J. F. Gilby 1.0 out of 5 stars Great idea, poor movie The idea behind this movie was excellent, and for the first 15 minutes I thought this would be a great movie. However, the film actually gets boring. Read more Published 7 months ago by A. Railton 5.0 out of 5 stars Makes you think I dont usually review movies, but I've just finished watching this and I must say I loved it. I love Shyamalan's films. Read more Published 7 months ago by Julie Macarthur 5.0 out of 5 stars Quietly creepy What I hate, is people who criticize a film because it doesn't have any really bloodthirsty scenes or really scarey shocks. Read more Published 8 months ago by Ms. Denise Higgs 1.0 out of 5 stars Give it a Miss If you love horror flicks and respect M. Night Shyamalan, DON'T watch this movie! It was such a let down. The movie didn't flow at all. Read more Published 8 months ago by Mr. Steven J. Williams 2.0 out of 5 stars (It's) Happening (Again) I've WANTED to like Shymalan's films all along. But ALWAYS left the cinema with that empty feeling. 'Shymalan' has had some of the best ideas in cinema, but has no... Read more Published 9 months ago by Jon Shipton 1.0 out of 5 stars The Happening With global warming overtaking terrorism as the greatest threat to mankind's survival, it was inevitable that a film would be made "Where Mother Nature Fights Back" (best said... Read more Published 9 months ago by C. MacLellan 2.0 out of 5 stars Mark Walhberg cannot work out whats happening! Ever since The Sixth Sense, director M.Night Shyamalan has presented us with a series of interesting films featuring a very unusual idea often punctuated with subtle, brilliant... Read more Published 9 months ago by Mr. P. I. Muller Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews › See all 11 customer reviews...

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