15 Horror Films That Prove Hollywood Hates You
6. The Happening
Early on in The Happening, a reporter states that a mysterious airborne chemical has begun blocking the neurotransmitters of those it affects, causing them to leap from buildings or feed themselves to lawnmowers. “It’s the plants!” shrieks a helpful onlooker. “They can release chemicals!”
Another in a string of anti-masterpieces that make The Sixth Sense look like a fluke, The Happening is bad enough to convince you that M Night Shyamalan must be sending himself up. An early sequence where an entire construction crew leaps to their collective doom is funny enough, but it’s nothing compared to a scene where Mark Wahlberg attempts to brainstorm a solution but can’t concentrate because his colleagues keep shooting themselves.
Trapped in the midst of this, and looking like Bambi in headlights, is poor Zooey Deschanel. Hopelessly miscast, and called upon to deliver lines like “Just when you thought there wasn’t any more evil that could be invented!” her ‘stoned goldfish’ acting is the icing on the cake. We can only assume that Shyamalan’s rotten script caused her neurotransmitters to shut down for the duration of the production.