Knock At The Cabin Is M. Night Shyamalan's Chance To Flex One Of His Greatest Horror Movie Strengths
There are few directors with a more divisive reputation than M. Night Shyamalan. After the success of his breakout hit, "The Sixth Sense," Shyamalan was immediately placed atop a pedestal that has cast a shadow over his career ever since. Newsweek boldly declared him "The Next Spielberg" in 2002, thrusting him into an unattainable position he never asked for. M. Night Shyamalan catches a lot of heat from critics and audiences alike, some of it rightfully deserved, but it's a shame because, for the most part, it is so easy to love his films. When M. Night Shyamalan is on, he's on, and capable of providing some of the most thrilling, unique, and compelling stories on screen.
While horror was not the first genre Shyamalan directed, it's the one that has brought him the most success, and arguably, the best films in his oeuvre. His upcoming film, "The Knock at the Cabin,...
While horror was not the first genre Shyamalan directed, it's the one that has brought him the most success, and arguably, the best films in his oeuvre. His upcoming film, "The Knock at the Cabin,...
- 12/28/2022
- by BJ Colangelo
- Slash Film
When the pandemic hit it was Steven Soderberg’s Contagion rather than M Night Shyamalan’s The Happening that people wanted to revisit. Perhaps Mark Wahlberg running away from the wind wasn’t the vibe people were looking for. Revisiting this much maligned but secretly wonderful curio in light of where we are in the world now, though, throws up some interesting parallels. The big difference between the way the characters in The Happening dealt with their pandemic and what’s going on in the world now is lockdown. What the characters battling the airborne infection in The Happening should have done is self isolate….
M Night Shyamalan’s eco-horror was released in 2008 after his declining run of hits, which began with The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs (pretty well liked), The Village (opinion is divided) and The Lady in the Water (bad).
Perhaps because of Night’s rise and fall,...
M Night Shyamalan’s eco-horror was released in 2008 after his declining run of hits, which began with The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs (pretty well liked), The Village (opinion is divided) and The Lady in the Water (bad).
Perhaps because of Night’s rise and fall,...
- 2/15/2021
- by Rosie Fletcher
- Den of Geek
Cast: Mark Wahlberg as Elliot Moore, Zooey Deschanel as Alma Moore, John Leguizamo as Julian, Ashlyn Sanchez as Jess, Spencer Breslin as Josh, Betty Buckley as Mrs. Jones and Jeremy Strong as Private Auster. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan Scores: Technical:66 , Story:70 , Acting:59 , Overall Score: 65 Synopsis: The film opens in New York’s Central Park, when people suddenly fall into a strange trance and begin committing suicide. New York, construction workers throw themselves off buildings. Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square, a string [...]...
- 6/25/2008
- by Brian Corder
- ShockYa
Opens: June 13 (Fox)
M. Night Shyamalan's breakout hit, "The Sixth Sense", achieved just the right balance of creepiness, horror, supernatural thrills and pop psychology. The writer-director has been chasing those elusive qualities ever since, sometimes down intriguing sci-fi backstreets ("Signs") but more often down blind alleys ("Lady in the Water").
In "The Happening", he manages to recapture some of those elements, particularly the creepiness and supernatural thrills. But the central menace -- an airborne neurotoxin that causes mass suicides in the northeastern U.S. -- doesn't pan out as any kind of Friday night entertainment. The movie seems more like a '50s science fiction film of extreme paranoia or an episode of "The Twilight Zone" that even at a swiftly paced 90 minutes feels padded.
Look for "Happening" to land somewhere between the grosses of his most recent two films, the flop "Lady in the Water" ($42 million) and the reasonably successful "The Village" ($114 million). Much will depend on how younger audiences -- who with Shyamalan's first R rating will be more challenged to gain entry -- react to scenes of mass suicide: Will they gasp or chuckle?
Shyamalan generally likes to place a small nuclear family in jeopardy, and this film is no exception. High school science teacher Elliot (Mark Wahlberg) and wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel) have their problems, but these are swiftly overwhelmed by a mysterious plague rushing from New York's Central Park toward their Philadelphia home. It causes people to grow disoriented and confused, stop in their tracks, then do terrible things to themselves. Nature seems to be having one big freakout.
The couple takes to the road by train, then by car and on foot. A fellow math teacher, Julian (John Leguizamo), and his 8-year-old daughter, Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez), come along only for Julian to leave his child with them so he can search for his wife who took another route out of town.
Everyone winds up in the Pennsylvania countryside. The science teacher decides, on the basis of absolutely no evidence, that the toxins are generated by plants and trees and are airborne, so every breath of air, every flutter of tall grass or rush of wind causes hearts to stop. Even Elliot's mood ring -- yes, he has a mood ring -- is going bananas.
But the movie's own logic and logistics are never clear. If the toxins are in the wind, where is everyone rushing to? Why aren't our heroes taking shelter in airless buildings or breaking into pharmacies for an antidote to suicidal tendencies? We're told that the toxins attack people in large groups, but then an old kook (played with an odd stridency by stage and screen veteran Betty Buckley) kills herself with no one around.
The ecological idea of Planet Earth striking back at humankind might bring a smile to Al Gore, but in terms of cinematic intrigue and nail-biting tension, it's just not happening.
Production: 20th Century Fox, UTV Motion Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment, a Blinding Edge Pictures production. Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo, Ashlyn Sanchez, Betty Buckley; Screenwriter-director: M. Night Shyamalan; Producers: M. Night Shyamalan, Sam Mercer, Barry Mendel; Executive producers: Ronnie Screwvala, Zarina Screwvala, Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber; Director of photography: Tak Fujimoto. Music: James Newton Howard; Production designer: Jeannine Oppewall; Costume designer: Betsy Heimann; Editor: Conrad Buff.
M. Night Shyamalan's breakout hit, "The Sixth Sense", achieved just the right balance of creepiness, horror, supernatural thrills and pop psychology. The writer-director has been chasing those elusive qualities ever since, sometimes down intriguing sci-fi backstreets ("Signs") but more often down blind alleys ("Lady in the Water").
In "The Happening", he manages to recapture some of those elements, particularly the creepiness and supernatural thrills. But the central menace -- an airborne neurotoxin that causes mass suicides in the northeastern U.S. -- doesn't pan out as any kind of Friday night entertainment. The movie seems more like a '50s science fiction film of extreme paranoia or an episode of "The Twilight Zone" that even at a swiftly paced 90 minutes feels padded.
Look for "Happening" to land somewhere between the grosses of his most recent two films, the flop "Lady in the Water" ($42 million) and the reasonably successful "The Village" ($114 million). Much will depend on how younger audiences -- who with Shyamalan's first R rating will be more challenged to gain entry -- react to scenes of mass suicide: Will they gasp or chuckle?
Shyamalan generally likes to place a small nuclear family in jeopardy, and this film is no exception. High school science teacher Elliot (Mark Wahlberg) and wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel) have their problems, but these are swiftly overwhelmed by a mysterious plague rushing from New York's Central Park toward their Philadelphia home. It causes people to grow disoriented and confused, stop in their tracks, then do terrible things to themselves. Nature seems to be having one big freakout.
The couple takes to the road by train, then by car and on foot. A fellow math teacher, Julian (John Leguizamo), and his 8-year-old daughter, Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez), come along only for Julian to leave his child with them so he can search for his wife who took another route out of town.
Everyone winds up in the Pennsylvania countryside. The science teacher decides, on the basis of absolutely no evidence, that the toxins are generated by plants and trees and are airborne, so every breath of air, every flutter of tall grass or rush of wind causes hearts to stop. Even Elliot's mood ring -- yes, he has a mood ring -- is going bananas.
But the movie's own logic and logistics are never clear. If the toxins are in the wind, where is everyone rushing to? Why aren't our heroes taking shelter in airless buildings or breaking into pharmacies for an antidote to suicidal tendencies? We're told that the toxins attack people in large groups, but then an old kook (played with an odd stridency by stage and screen veteran Betty Buckley) kills herself with no one around.
The ecological idea of Planet Earth striking back at humankind might bring a smile to Al Gore, but in terms of cinematic intrigue and nail-biting tension, it's just not happening.
Production: 20th Century Fox, UTV Motion Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment, a Blinding Edge Pictures production. Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo, Ashlyn Sanchez, Betty Buckley; Screenwriter-director: M. Night Shyamalan; Producers: M. Night Shyamalan, Sam Mercer, Barry Mendel; Executive producers: Ronnie Screwvala, Zarina Screwvala, Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber; Director of photography: Tak Fujimoto. Music: James Newton Howard; Production designer: Jeannine Oppewall; Costume designer: Betsy Heimann; Editor: Conrad Buff.
- 6/10/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Today 20th Century Fox provided Bloody-Disgusting with several new stills from M. Night Shyamalan's (Signs, Sixth Sense, The Village) latest horror configuration, The Happening, which hits theaters everywhere Friday, June 13. Although once again the pictures don't reveal all that much, there are still a few cool ones mingling inside. The pic, which will mark Shyamalan's first R-rated effort, follows a couple who go on the run from an apocalyptic crisis that presents a large-scale threat to humanity. Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo, Ashlyn Sanchez, Betty Buckley, Robert Bailey Jr., Spencer Breslin, Jeremy Strong, Frank Collison and Victoria Clark all star.
- 5/30/2008
- bloody-disgusting.com
Today we received the first four official stills from M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening, which stars Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo, Ashlyn Sanchez, Betty Buckley, Robert Bailey Jr., Spencer Breslin, Jeremy Strong, Frank Collison and Victoria Clark. The pic, which will mark Shyamalan's first R-rated effort, follows a couple who go on the run from an apocalyptic crisis that presents a large-scale threat to humanity. Read on for the pics and see what's happening on June 13.
- 4/25/2008
- bloody-disgusting.com
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