So, this is my first real blog post. I thought I might create some way to enter with a bang, but I think I’m just going to get into this. And with a movie review no less, something I didn’t even think to optim*ze the site for, but boom: The Happening.

I saw this last night in the theater near my office. And this film was great. I expected to be disappointed because I read the reviews first, which by all accounts are terrible.

Really, people went out of their way to give this film a bad review, one said it was a turkey, the acting sucked, the interaction between the characters was childish and without point.

I went to see it because I’ll see anything from a single writer/director/producer, a rare thing in Hollywood filmmaking. The guy of course is M. Night Shyamalan of Sixth Sense fame.

Here is what I think of this guy. I dig the writer/director/producer thing. Second, I dig that he is an all-American guy of Indian decent who refuses to change his name to something that I can pronounce. Exactly the kind of filmmakers America needs (and more of).

This is what I don’t like. He made a killing off the Sixth Sense – which is a bad film. Everyone liked it but me. Every screenwriter was like “yeah, did you see that classic use of misdirection… ‘two years later’ genius.” 

Please do not put me in the same town as those people.

It terms of writing that was a common lie, and the classic pitfall of writing for the suspense genre. I concede that it gave him money to make other good films including The Happening.

Enough with my jealously.

The thing I liked about The Happening is that the suspension of disbelief was very low. I mean, it could happen (you know if plants started killing people and all that). But not since Unbreakable, has he set a film in the real world, I thought.

What I liked about Unbreakable is that it could be viewed two ways, the story could be about people with super hero powers, or about normal people in normal real life. But it’s the same story, and that is awesome and meaningful.

The storytelling in The Happening was consistent and true, you don’t have to believe in any religious dogma going into the film, and you don’t find out that it really takes place in the future. No cheap dates.

It references Night of the Living Dead, with which I’m a big fan. It feels very similar to that film.

Anyway no big budget, just good storytelling, it is well grounded in the long history of horror films, and I dug it. It was really the best story I had seen in a long time. I recommend it.

If I had any parting words for M. Night Shyamalan it would be: people really didn’t like this film, I saw people that for myself in the theater. Live by the Sixth Sense audience die by the Sixth Sense audience. And also, dude, M. Night Shyamalan, sir, please make another film because this one rocked.

I don’t know why an audience doesn’t always recognize a good story when they see one.

I rank The Happening as Shyamalan’s second best film under Unbreakable as number one. Go see it.

-J Roland Kelly

P.S. I think it was the Night of the Living Dead (1968) style pacing that the audience didn’t like.