The Happening Trailer

John Campea 42 Comments

M. Night Shyamalan is a director I have very mixed feelings about. I loved Sixth Sense. I loved Signs. I only liked Unbreakable… I didn’t like The Village… and The Lady In The Water was one of the worst pieces of crap I’ve seen in a long time.

But still, when latest M. Night Shyamalan is putting out a new movie, it gets my attention, and “The Happening” is a flick I’ve been keeping my eye on for a while now. A new trailer has come out and iKlipz brings it our way (thanks to Alex at FS for the heads up)

Personally, I think this looks bad ass! What do you think?

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42 thoughts on “The Happening Trailer”

  1. Personally, I liked Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, and loved Signs…but there has definitely been a downward trend since then. So I’m not expecting much from this, although I do love the eeriness in all of M. Night’s movies – it gives me the chills I used to get as a kid. This trailer however, brings to mind something out of Goosebumps, so we’ll have to see..

  2. I loved the sixth sense, and Signs was brilliant, though sometimes I think Nightie takes such gratuitous delight in his ability to wrap up loose ends that he succumbs to having a “look how clever I am” scene at the end of all his movies. Sometimes it’s so obvious that he might as well put on a bunny costume and hop through the scene saying it out loud so we don’t miss it.

    I’m an aspiring writer, and I think I can appreciate why “the Village” was mis-billed as a horror. Nightie is trying to do something original. You can debate about whether or not he’s being successful, but a true visionary doesn’t like to be constrained by boxes within boxes like what must or must not happen in a particular genre. Some works defy classification, which presents problems for marketing but gives you the potential (and only potential) of truly surprising someone. And the fact that some people’s minds work in such a way that they “figure things out” before the ending doesn’t diminish the work; remember that in every good mystery, all the clues are supposed to be there in plain sight all along.

    I respect Nightie, I really do. Sometimes he just tries to hard and has too much fun at our expense.

  3. Sorry, but not only has this fella jumped the shark, but he’s pogoing over the rest of aquatic life too.

    science will come up with some reason to put in the books, but in the end it’ll be just a theory

    and

    we will fail to acknowledge that there are forces at work beyond our understanding

    This is just lazy cashing in on the new age mysticism and general dumbing down in recent years.

    Coincidentally, there was a related book mentioned on Leo Laporte/ Paul Thurrott’s Windows Weekly podcast. The Age of American Unreason. Not that this thing is a purely American phenomenon. Things are getting pretty bad this side of the pond too ;(

  4. No worries man. To clarify, I may have worded “great” wrong. I was generalizing in my head, and not really referring to him, but like you said, trying to convey a tone, or in my case a point, can come across wrong. BUt no, he’s not great. Point taken.

  6. sorry, i didnt mean to to come across as harsh as it sounded. Sometimes it’s hard to get a tone across on a message board. i was just shocked shocked you would use the term “great” to describe M. Knight, when i think he is anything but yet. but you’re right,that is only my opinion.

    i do, however, have high hopes for the happening.

  7. So far, Shyamalan’s major fault was leading people to think there is more to the Village than it actually was. I was a bit disappointed but I still enjoyed that movie and liked the message. Also, Lady in the Water was a little sweet movie that most people just didn’t seem to get. While quite different, Shyamalan’s work starts to resemble somehow early Tim Burton’s movies, which some people (like me) absolutely love, while people like Campea think they’re overrated and weak. Shyamalan is a very talented filmmaker but it takes a certain sensibility and understanding to appreciate some of his movies and ignore their flaws.

  11. I’ll go see this movie… as a director he’s put out three films I’ve really loved (the first 3) and two I haven’t. Remember Spielberg had 1941… so let’s give this guy a break. He has talent and I hope rediscovers the magic he once captured.

    As as someone said above, give me a sequel to Unbreakable.

  12. I find M. Night Shyamalan’s work formulaic and very predictable. It took me about 20 minutes to figure out that Bruce Willis’ character was dead in the Sixth Sense and had figured out the “twist” in the Village just from watching the trailers. I only had mild interest in Unbreakable.

    So unless the Happening diverges greatly from his past works, count me out.

  13. Dean, I just laughed when I read your post. Good luck with that in your future debates. If I disagree with something you say, I’m not gonna call it stupid. I came on this board to offer my opinion, not to have it bashed. If you disagree with something someone says, maybe you should word it different the next time, not just simply say it’s stupid. People like you are what makes message boards uninviting. And thanks to spagett for the support.

  14. spagett,

    i said “In my opinion, his films have gradually gotten worse and worse”. we obviously have differing opinions as i thought lady in the water was his best film since the sixth sense. tell me, how many “great directors” have made that many shit films in a row? And before you start, i think if we took a poll of how many people think this guy is “great”, i think you and 4 legs would be in the vast minority.

  18. @Dean

    no sir, what you just wrote is the stupidest thing not 4LeggedPiper’s comment. Many directors have hit and misses. Just cuz you can name a few that have had great runs doesn’t negate that. M. Night’s run hasn’t been awful by any respect. Just because you don’t personally like his movies doesn’t mean he has had nothing but shit. Lady in the Water is his worst film to date and many didn’t like the twist of the Village. 2 movies out of what…6 or so. Not bad.

    And btw, The Village is one of his best movies IMO. It was marketed completely wrong however, so no wonder everyone was disappointed. It was a love story first and foremost. Unbreakable was also very good. Lady in the Water was a convoluted piece of crap however.

  21. “4LeggedPiper replies at 4th February 2008, 5:40 pm :

    yada yada yada. So the guy didn’t live up to people’s expectations with his last few films. Many great directors have more bad movies than good ones anyway.”

    This is one of most stupid things i have ever read.

    Tell that to Christopher Nolan, David Lynch and Martin Scorsese. M. Knight is a one trick pony that is living off the back of the sixth sense. You could say this if he was 60 and had a huge body of work, but he doesn’t. In my opinion, his films have gradually gotten worse and worse. I hope this won’t be the case with this film as it genuinely looks creepy and interesting. But then again, so did the village.

    To be fair to the guy though, i was pleasantly surprised with “Lady in the Water”.

  22. My first thought when I viewed this trailer was that this is a Horror film.
    While I liked all his other movies (the exception being Lady in the Water), I think I’ll skip this one – watching mass suicide is not how I want to spend two hours.

  23. Looks interesting, but I’ll reserve judgment for when I see it. Personally, I’m a HUGE fan of Shyamalan (and even thought that Lady in the Water was all right, if a bit lame).

    However, look at the Village. The trailers I saw for it led me to believe that it was a horror movie. Not being a fan of horror flicks, (nothing against them, I just don’t like ’em), I didn’t see it in theaters. But then I saw it on DVD and it wasn’t even CLOSE to being a horror movie. Like it or not, it was so incredibly mismarketed that it beggars description.

    So maybe this movie will rock and maybe Lady in the Water was an indication of Shyamalan being past his sell-by date. Only time will tell.

  27. When I first saw the posters and POPs in theatre last month, I didn’t really give it a lot of thought, and I didn’t think that I would go and watch it. But after seeing the trailer I will definitely watch it when it releases! I think M. Night Shyamalan had done something different this time, it still has his style, but in a fresh way! I can’t wait to see it and to see what is in store for us! (plus Mark Wahlberg is in it!!!!)

  28. yada yada yada. So the guy didn’t live up to people’s expectations with his last few films. Many great directors have more bad movies than good ones anyway. I live in the present and this movie looks great, at least in the trailer.

  30. Sixth Sense was a great story. But there is no way that movie is as successful as it was without Haley Joel Osment. M. Night got damn lucky that kid can act so well. Oh, and yes this movie looks great, but we’ll see…

  32. Can’t say I’m really excited about this film, the teaser looks good, but I’m getting really tired of all those 911-parables.

    HOWEVER I can’t let all this moaning about UNBREAKABLE slide. It is without a doubt Shyamalamadingdong’s best film.
    Besides BATMAN BEGINS, it is the best movie about superheroes ever made. Watch it again people, it’s not about the twist, a device all other Shy<malimuddonging’s films are based upon. It is brilliant and I pray to god that M.N. Shymaling gets his shit together and makes a sequel to that film. That’s all I want to see.

  34. MKFreak2 – give LITW a chance. Its my second favourite MNS movie after Unbreakable. Still don’t understand the hate against the movie. Paul Giamatti rocks in it.

    As to The Happening it definitely looks very cool. Kind of has a Stephen King Cell vibe to it.

  35. I think his directing has been fine (ok, maybe not on Lady In The Water). It’s his scripts and plots that need work. Signs and The Village were filled with great tension and suspense until their respective endings ruined it all.

    Anyway, this looks interesting. It kind of seems like what Eli Roth might be doing with Stephen King’s Cell.

  36. Sixth Sense- very obvious twist
    Signs and Unbreakable- didn’t really have traditional twists. They are the best of his movies.
    Village- horrible twist
    Lady in the Water- Thanks to John, I didn’t see it

  38. I was one of the many who loved the Sixth Sense when it was first released…the movie was fresh, new and really quite innovative.

    But Night’s subsequent movies were really poorly conceived. I figured out Unbreakable and it proved to be no fun. Signs was a mess with a aliens who died from water visiting a world where the earth is 2/3 water..stupid! The village I figured out again and it seemed like a big overblown Twilight Zone episode…very disappointing (But there was a wonderful performance by Ron Howard’s daughter though). As for the Lady in The Water…a waste of time and I love Paul Giametti and Bryce Howard.

    Night’s movies seem to be getting worse and worse…so my hopes for this movie are not to high. But I love action, mystery, suspense movies and this could fill the bill. So I will go see it. I do think Night is a talented director, but I wonder where that talented director went the last 10 years since he made his auspicious debut. His movies have just been terrible!

  39. lol….yea seeing people just kill themselves for no reason is pretty odd….it was a pretty cool trailer not giving away anything….

    but knowin m. night they are prolly already dead or they are all in a coma and in killing themselves they awake from the coma, or this is all a dream….of a mental patient….who is blind…writing a book called….the happening

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