Love a good scare

Review

The Happening
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo, Betty Buckley

Pitched as the first R-rated film from Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs, director M. Night Shyamalan, The Happening was timed to release on Friday the 13th to add to the movie's horror and suspenseful intrigue. Given the hype, the film does not disappoint. If anything, it achieves what it set out to do — scare you to the point of swearing off the genre.

While the idea of being caught in a dark cinema for two hours pushed to the edge of your seat in foreboding anticipation is a fun evening out for many, it just doesn't work for all.

To give Shyamalan his due The Happening keeps you absorbed in a scarier way than previous hits Sixth Sense and Sighs. The plot is intelligent, the characters well cast and the suspense-filled action impeccable.

But why would you put yourself through an evening of scary effects, stygian imagery and apocalyptic, albeit emotional music (even if it has been composed by Oscar winning composer James Newton Howard) when happier alternatives are available?

With the human race facing extinction at the hands of plant-released neurotoxins in a film Shyamalan has compared to paranoia greats The Birds (1963) and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), I dare not review this film.
If horror is your thing… go ahead. To each their own, I say. Here's wishing your health holds through the film!

60-second Profile:

MARK WALBERG

June 5th, 1971

- Background: Born in Boston, Massachusetts he is the youngest of nine children and is of Swedish, Irish and French Canadian descent. As a young teenager Wahlberg described himself as a troubled child who often participated in acts of violence and vandalism.
- First seen: Wahlberg first came to fame as the younger brother of Donnie Wahlberg of the successful 1980s and 1990s boy band New Kids on the Block. Known for his impressive physique, Walberg first displayed it in the Good Vibrations music video and most prominently in a series of underwear ads for Calvin Klein.
- Real claim to fame: Wahlberg made his acting debut in the 1993 TV movie The Substitute. His big screen debut came the next year, with the Danny DeVito feature Renaissance Man. He has earned positive reviews after successful movies like Boogie Nights, Three Kings, The Perfect Storm, The Italian Job and Four Brothers. He recently appeared as a Massachusetts State Police detective in Martin Scorsese's critically acclaimed thriller, The Departed .
- Moments: The Departed won Walberg an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture and an National Society of Film Critics Best Supporting Actor award.