Friday, May 16, 2008

M. Night Tries to Redeem Himself with The Happening

A new R-rated trailer for M. Night Shyamalan's first R-rated thriller, The Happening, has hit the internet. And it's pretty damn chilling:



I've been a big Shyamalan supporter/defender since day one, and although I have my problems with Signs, I always enjoyed his films very much. That is, until a little picture called Lady in the Water was excreted into the world last year, promptly taking its place on the same list as movies like Howard the Duck, Ishtar, Showgirls and Waterworld.

That last disaster was a film of nearly career-threatening proportions for the relatively new director. But now he has the chance to win back the faith of moviegoers with this new harder-edged tale of an epidemic of mass suicide. But there's a lot riding on it. If it's another filmic catastophe, it will certainly peg Shyamalan as a one-trick pony hack, rather than the truly great filmmaker he once seemed to have the potential to be.