M. Night Shyamalan is really hoping that The Happening can renew those out there that think he’s about run out of ideas and ways to surprise us.
But count me in the camp that prays The Happening kicks serious butt. After Lady in the Water, I’ve wished and hoped for another Sixth Sense, or Unbreakable or Signs from M. Night.
From the moment I saw it and showed you guys the first poster for this film, I’ve been excited. M. Night’s movies tend to parallel the kind of stuff I really enjoy.
Any plot or idea that starts off in one way and then ends in a surprising twist that you didn’t see coming, I just eat up.
The new teaser for The Happening is below. It’s awesome, creepy and looks seriously cool.
I do have one concern though, and it’s not really a worry but more of a strange similarity that struck me. Last year I read Cell by Stephen King, which told the story of a basic act of terrorism in which a pulse was sent out over cell phones that essentially turned people into zombies.
The results are probably a lot different than The Happening, but it did pop into my head regardless. In the book, when it first started, people were killing themselves, others and losing their minds in the process.
Since this teaser also starts off with what looks to be a woman stabbing herself in the neck with a hair pin after some unknown event “happens”…it’s hard not to draw the comparisons.
Regardless, check out the teaser below and tell me what you think. (Thanks to Jason Clark for the embed code)
The movie hits theaters on June 13th, 2008.
UPDATE:
Amazingly, FOX actually contacted me to take the trailer down, stating it was Unauthorized Use of FOX Properties.
So, I guess those of you who saw it already got lucky!
I see the similarities to Cell. According to Wikipedia, though, (I won’t say it here cuz it might be spoiler-ish!) luckily it doesn’t have anything to do with cell phones but something a little more natural.
I’m really looking forward to it!
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Yeah, I’ve read some about it as well and I know it’s not like Cell, but it definitely seems that way in the preview. I’m not sure if the real thing will be better or worse…
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Either way, I can’t wait
Nice!
I don’t know how the hell this guy keeps getting money to make movies. He is a complete and utter hack and deserves to be relegated to the Direct-to-DVD camp. The Village and Lady In The Water were 2 of the worst big-budget movies to be released in the past 5 years.
Wow. Do I sense some anger Michael? I’m not sure I would call the guy a hack. He has some skills for sure. The Village and Lady In The Water weren’t everything they could have been and should have been, but I would hardly say that everything he did on them was poor. I’ve seen a lot of movies by a LOT of hack directors and I don’t think Shyamalan fits into that category.
A hack……..
I think a guy who makes The Sixth Sense, Signs and Unbreakable, isn’t a hack. There are plenty of worse movies out there made by people than M. Night Shyamalan…
Just because his last two weren’t amazing (I personally enjoyed The Village), I don’t see how he’s a hack.
He actually writes some pretty cool stories I think.
I enjoyed both The Village and Lady in the Aqua (along with everything else he has done).
[...] About “Gonna go home. Get my beer on. Get my “Lost” on. What are you doing later, wanna hang out?” – Andy Bernard, The Office « M. Night’s “The Happening” teaser [...]
Case settled. He’s not a hack.
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How anyone can find anything of redeeming value in The Village is beyond me. I’m in the movie industry and I NEVER walk out of movies, regardless of how bad they were, but I was VERY close during The Village. Thank God I didn’t see Lady in the Water in the theater.
Signs was just ok, while Sixth Sense was great and Unbreakable underrated. But Unbreakable was from 2000 and Signs from 2002. They guy hasn’t even done anything average for 6 years. I hope he finally does something worthy of being compared with Sixth Sense, but if you think he will, I think you’re setting yourselves up for disappointment.
I agree his movies haven’t been as good as they used to. It seems from interviews and such that I’ve read that M. Night is getting a super huge ego and thinks he’s basically a movie god. I hope this one redeems his career!
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I enjoyed his movies right up until Lady in the Water. The Village was controversial, but I thought it was nicely done, a story about the lengths parents will go to protect their children, even doing something as insane as tricking them into thinking they’re living 100 years in the past. Lady in the Water just made no sense to me, and I remember reading articles about how the producers were trying to tell him that. I don’t know how it was made, but I think it knocked his ego back a little bit, so maybe The Happening will be a return to great storytelling.
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I actually think Unbreakable was his best film and highly underrated. The Sixth Sense was really good but I think people got so caught up in the surprise ending that they thought it was better than it really was. I thought Signs was also quite good.
The Village had a lot of problems. I won’t pretend that it didn’t. I didn’t enjoy it like I did his other films. I did, however, see what he was trying to do and I guess that helped make it better for me than it did for others who were just watching for entertainment value.
I didn’t care for Lady In The Water much at all when I first saw it. I later read a book (the name of which escapes me now) which detailed the making of the film and it gave a lot of insight into the movie that I didn’t have prior to reading the book. That insight actually helped me see the vision he had for the movie which was far greater than what actually turned up on screen.
I think Shyamalan’s a good filmmaker and a good screenwriter who could be great if he’d think outside of his own box and not get caught up in his own hype. I’m not one of those people who only wants him to make movies like the ones he made before. I’d love to see him do something completely different. Having said that, however, I’m still looking forward to seeing what he gives us with The Happening.
Jason A Clark’s last blog post..Josh Brolin – The New Terminator?
Nicky – I think he’s had that ego for awhile
Adam – I just liked the story of The Village like you did and while it came off slow or whatever, it was still decent for me.
Jason – I totally agree on Unbreakable…I think it’s so very underrated and truly is one of the best “superhero” movies of our time…
I didn’t see “Lady in the Water”. I’ll have to umm acquire it so that I can see if it’s as bad as everyone says.