# The Happening (SPOILERS!) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 14, 2008, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-happening-spoilers/452896 "2008-06-14T05:15:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Orual](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orual](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orual)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-happening-spoilers/452896/41 "2008-06-16T14:32:07Z")
In case anyone’s interested, someone’s written a funny [send-up](http://community.livejournal.com/m15m/18593.html?style=mine#cutid1). ---
**Author:** ![OatmealB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc79bd/32.png) [@OatmealB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OatmealB)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-happening-spoilers/452896/42 "2008-06-16T15:13:46Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] The girl in the first scene who was slow to react evenually did succumb. It was subtle, but if you watch her face at the moment her friend is jamming the needle into her throat, you can see that her expression has now gone blank and she is showing no response or surprise to the sight of her friend killing herself. [/QUOTE] Ah, I missed that. Objection on that point withdrawn, then, although I will keep my objection to the movie in general. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-happening-spoilers/452896/43 "2008-06-16T15:35:53Z")
Orual - that send up was hilarious. omg, was that funny. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-happening-spoilers/452896/44 "2008-06-16T15:52:41Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] If Shyamalan wants to save his career at this point, I think he needs to get that _Sixth Sense_ kid out of the mothballs and conjur up some more dead people for a sequel. [/QUOTE] I haven’t seen the movie yet, but my general impression of Shyamalan is that he’s a good director, but a lousy writer. (_The Sixth Sense_ appears to be an exception rather than the rule in this regard.) Maybe he should try directing someone else’s script. ETA: I see **Alessan** has beaten me to that point. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-happening-spoilers/452896/45 "2008-06-16T17:12:46Z")
My wife wanted to go…She Owes Me! ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-happening-spoilers/452896/46 "2008-06-16T21:07:04Z")
(whoops wrong thread) ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-happening-spoilers/452896/47 "2008-06-17T04:59:56Z")
[QUOTE=Cuckoorex] What a TWIST! [/QUOTE] I’ve been hearing that phrase in my mind now for 15 minutes, but I can’t figure out what cartoon character or whatever it is. Does someone remember a non-human character saying this in a sort of sarcastic way? I know that’s not much information. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-happening-spoilers/452896/48 "2008-06-17T05:08:19Z")
[QUOTE=Cardinal] I’ve been hearing that phrase in my mind now for 15 minutes, but I can’t figure out what cartoon character or whatever it is. Does someone remember a non-human character saying this in a sort of sarcastic way? I know that’s not much information. [/QUOTE] It’s from _Robot Chicken’s_ ripping of M. Night. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2008, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-happening-spoilers/452896/49 "2008-06-19T00:08:44Z")
[QUOTE=Orual] In case anyone’s interested, someone’s written a funny [send-up](http://community.livejournal.com/m15m/18593.html?style=mine#cutid1). [/QUOTE] And I though I found [the funniest write-up](http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=75893f9a-3391-4ab5-88c8-cf7e74bcd835) on this movie. 😉 That was awesome, Orual. Thanks. 😃🆒🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2008, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-happening-spoilers/452896/50 "2008-06-19T02:01:55Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] I saw this thing today. It should have been called “The Crappening.” [/QUOTE] Laugh of the day, thank you. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rachael\_Rage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Rachael\_Rage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachael_Rage)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2008, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-happening-spoilers/452896/51 "2008-06-19T02:51:46Z")
[QUOTE=Orual] In case anyone’s interested, someone’s written a funny [send-up](http://community.livejournal.com/m15m/18593.html?style=mine#cutid1). [/QUOTE] I got FAR more entertainment value out of that than I would have seeing the movie. You just saved me twelve bucks and two hours of my valuable time. Thanks a million, **Orual**! Aside: here is the weird thing. Although I pretty much knew from the get-go that this was going to be terrible, even up to the opening day or two I was still sort of wanting to see it, I guess for **DtC** ’s reasons, the potential for so-bad-it’s-good laffs. I felt exactly the same way about **The Ruins** , which I managed to resist seeing, despite being sucked in by the trailers and posters. I guess I just have a thing for evil plants. I loves me the _homicidal foliage_! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-happening-spoilers/452896/52 "2008-06-21T02:27:57Z")
I saw this today, against my own wishes (again, getting dragged there by my better half), and we spent the entire movie making riffs at it, which somewhat improved things. I can’t WAIT until [rifftrax.com](http://rifftrax.com) gets their hands on it! I’ll say it for the 20th time. Save your money and do ANYTHING else. I can’t believe they never even acknowledged that the “it only attacks big groups” thing was total bullshit, seeing as House of Buggin’ and his 2 other people crashed their jeep right before that scene. Okay, so was the doll on the bed only there to try to be scary? My girl & I were also, as far as I could tell, the only two white people in the audience. The scene where the redneck shoots the black kid trying to break into his house did NOT sit well, especially since (as one person pointed out widely) he was the only black character in the movie who played a significant role) Lastly, what is all this hype about Night’s movies having huge twists? The Sixth Sense (which got ruined for me thanks to Craig Kilborn), Unbreakable (I went into blindly, and was surprised) and The Village (I didn’t know, but I guessed correctly as soon as I heard the basic plot description) are the only ones that has any resemblance of a twist… ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-happening-spoilers/452896/53 "2008-06-21T02:51:16Z")
[QUOTE=fusoya] [spoiler]My girl & I were also, as far as I could tell, the only two white people in the audience. The scene where the redneck shoots the black kid trying to break into his house did NOT sit well, especially since (as one person pointed out widely) he was the only black character in the movie who played a significant role) Lastly, what is all this hype about Night’s movies having huge twists? The Sixth Sense (which got ruined for me thanks to Craig Kilborn), Unbreakable (I went into blindly, and was surprised) and The Village (I didn’t know, but I guessed correctly as soon as I heard the basic plot description) are the only ones that has any resemblance of a twist… [/spoiler] [/QUOTE] [spoiler]Admittedly the guys in the house did shoot the white teen too, but still, I can see the issue with that. Well those were his first major films. Other than that he’s only got Lady in the Water and Signs, and a couple early films that didn’t get him a lot of notice. Some people think the discovery of the huge weakness of the aliens in Signs may count as a twist, because whoa, that’s their weakness and they invaded Earth? Plus it’s kind of a meme via Robot Chicken’s parody sketch.[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-happening-spoilers/452896/54 "2008-06-21T03:40:56Z")
Roger Ebert gave it 3 stars. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-happening-spoilers/452896/55 "2008-06-21T03:48:04Z")
[QUOTE=fusoya] I saw this today, against my own wishes (again, getting dragged there by my better half), and we spent the entire movie making riffs at it… [/QUOTE] Does that mean you were talking during the whole movie? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-happening-spoilers/452896/56 "2008-06-21T05:25:49Z")
Yes, and believe me, nobody minded (or even noticed compared to all the OTHER talking/riffing/"WHO STOLE MY CELL PHONE?"ing) And “the aliens are allergic to water” is NOT a twist - it’s both a stupid sense of logic on behalf of the writer, and the key point to an action movie - discovering how to defeat your enemy. I’ve read on other message boards, the kind where you need to take everything with a grain of salt, that the big twist is that the happening happens again in Paris. It wasn’t a twist when I knew the moment I saw the annoying woman get pregnant that it was gonna come back! Plus it’s generally expected of horror movies that the villain is never done for good. Argh…I wouldn’t care if there was a twist or not if it wasn’t being hyped up as HAVING a twist, cuz I kept expecting that the ending would actually make everything I just saw more worthwhile ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-happening-spoilers/452896/57 "2008-06-21T07:10:16Z")
[QUOTE=Frostillicus] Roger Ebert gave it 3 stars. Go figure. [/QUOTE] I’d say that was about right. That’s his minimum stars for something he thinks is okay to see (2 1/2 is a no.) I usually agree with him and do in this case. ---
**Author:** ![Euthanasiast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Euthanasiast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euthanasiast)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-happening-spoilers/452896/58 "2008-06-21T12:18:06Z")
[QUOTE=Alessan] What he needs to do is sell his services as a director for hire. He’s actually pretty skilled at directing, but he needs a producer to keep him in line and someone else to write his scripts. Not everyone is meant to be an auteur. [/QUOTE] Exactly. Not everyone can be James Cameron. FWIW, I thought _Unbreakable_ was his best movie, and I’m no comic book fan. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-happening-spoilers/452896/59 "2008-06-30T20:57:12Z")
Do we still have to spoiler spoilers? Considering that there’s a spoiler warning in the title. Were the two boys going crazy who got shot, affected, or were they just stressed from the situation? Also, when Betty Buckley is acting all cranky and weird…is she getting affected, or is she just a persnickety old lady? Also didn’t buy that she would go crazy from being outside but Zooey and kid were safe because they shut the door in time? And Marky Mark is safe just because he manages to close a door–I mean…the hell? Are these people just immune because they’re “the good ones”? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-happening-spoilers/452896/60 "2008-06-30T21:46:32Z")
[QUOTE=blondebear] Does that mean you were talking during the whole movie? 😕 [/QUOTE] Yeah, that would bug me even in a shitty movie. I’m hoping the MST3King mentioned up-thread will take place in the privacy of a home. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-happening-spoilers/452896.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-happening-spoilers/452896.md?page=4)