The Happening (2008)

The Happening (2008)

Recap/Summary Of "The Happening (2008)"

It’s a lovely morning in New York, and people are enjoying themselves in Central Park. Suddenly, the crowd starts behaving strangely: they repeat words, freeze still in the middle of the road, or begin walking backwards. At that moment, some people start screaming, and on a bench, a woman watches how her friend mumbles the same phrase a few times before grabbing her hairpin to self-destruct right there. Downtown, a group of construction workers are taking a break when suddenly a body falls next to them.

At first, the others think it was an accident, but soon another body falls, and when they look up, they discover all the workers on the upper floors are coming out to self-destruct too. One by one, they all fall to their deaths, their faces always blank with no emotion whatsoever. Meanwhile, science teacher Elliot is telling his class about the time millions of bees disappeared all over the country. A student says that there will always be events that science can’t explain and we will never fully understand, which Elliot agrees with.

The other students begin to enthusiastically discuss mysterious events, only to be interrupted when Elliot is called to an emergency staff meeting. On his way to the main hall, Elliot glances into other classrooms and sees students getting shocked by something on their phones. Once all the staff has arrived, the principal explains that the city is in an emergency state: apparently, some terrorists have released a weird gas in Central Park that makes people kill themselves. This has caused classes to be canceled in the whole city. Then the teachers return to their classrooms and tell the students they can leave for the day.

Elliot leaves with his best friend and fellow teacher Julian, whose mother is hysterical on the phone even though she is in Philadelphia, and tells Julian to bring his family over. Julian and his wife, Alma, are also invited, and Julian admits to Elliot that Alma has been distant lately. At home, Elliot’s wife, Alma, is nervous because she keeps getting a call from someone named Joey, who she doesn’t want to talk to. She ignores her phone and watches the news to learn about all the people who keep dying in the area and how New York is being evacuated. Soon, Elliot arrives, and together they do the packing to leave the city.

The couple makes it to the train station, where they find Julian with his daughter, Jess. His wife got stuck in traffic in Princeton, so she will take the next train. On the station’s TV, a reporter informs that autopsies revealed the toxin is a natural compound. Julian makes a comment referencing the couple’s marriage trouble, and this angers Alma, who doesn’t want their intimate details to be exposed like that. Meanwhile, in Rittenhouse Park in Philadelphia, a cop is trying his best to keep a traffic jam under control. As the wind blows through the park’s trees, most people suddenly freeze, and the cop uses his gun to kill himself.

Then the taxi driver gets out, picks up the gun, and does the same thing. Next, the gun is picked up by a woman, who also uses it to end her life. Back to Elliot’s group, they are on the train, and Alma finally picks up Joey’s call to tell him to stop calling her because they only shared a dessert and it didn’t mean anything. At that moment, Joey tells her that the event is also happening in Philadelphia, and soon most people start getting calls from friends and relatives telling them other cities like Boston were also hit. Eventually, the train stops at Pennsylvania, and the workers inform the passengers this is the last stop because all train services have been discontinued. 

They’ve also lost all contact, so there’s nothing they can do to help. There is a small rural town nearby, so the crowd ends up in a diner. A woman receives a video from the Philadelphia zoo, showing a man walking into the lion cage and getting killed by the animals. On TV, reporters announce that the government has retracted the idea of a terrorist attack. The event is happening in the Northeast area and spreading through small towns. At that moment, the power goes out, and people panic, so everyone rushes to escape in their cars. Elliot and Alma try asking for help, but everyone ignores them.

Thankfully, an older couple who runs a plant nursery invites them to come with them, so Elliot and Alma call Julian over. However, Julian lost contact with his wife and wants to find her, so he leaves Jess with Elliot and Alma and then goes away with a family that is heading to Princeton. Moments later, the couple stops by their home to gather supplies, and the husband tells Elliot he thinks it’s the plants who are spreading the chemicals killing people. Meanwhile, Julian’s group makes it to Princeton, only to discover this area has also been infected. 

There are lots of bodies hanging from the trees by the road, and the girl in the car starts panicking, so Julian makes her look at him and solve a math problem to keep her distracted. As he talks, he notices a hole in the car’s roof. Suddenly, the car stops, and after a pause, it crashes against a tree. Julian comes out of the car and uses some broken glass to kill himself. Back to Elliot’s group, they’re driving away and hearing on the radio that the latest theory is water contamination. When they get out of town and reach the countryside, they find the road blocked by a bunch of bodies, so they start driving backward. 

However, when they reach the intersection, they find cars coming from the other roads too, including an army truck. All the drivers report that those roads also lead to lots of bodies blocking the way, meaning they’re surrounded by the toxin in every direction. Elliot tries calling Julian, but he won’t answer. Then he notices that Alma has missed calls from Joey, so he asks her who he is, but Alma answers “nobody.” Hearing people in other cars share that the event always starts in parks, Elliot thinks the plant theory may be true after all.

At that moment, a woman manages to get in contact with her daughter in Princeton, who says everyone in town is dead. The call ends when the girl suddenly dies, and Elliot can hear the wind blowing into the girl’s room. Then Elliot realizes that Julian is most likely dead and has to give the news to Jess, comforting her through her breakdown. Afterward, an army private and Elliot agree that since the attacks are happening in highly populated areas, they need to get off the roads. The crowd is divided into two groups, and they start crossing the countryside to reach a small remote town nearby that may be safe because it’s still in development.

As they walk, Alma finally tells Elliot about Joey: he was a coworker she had dinner with when she was supposed to be working late. Nothing happened, but she felt guilty about lying, and that’s why she’s been distant. Suddenly, the wind starts blowing, and the larger group freezes. Then the soldier walks backwards and uses his gun to kill himself. Elliot’s small group can hear how the gun keeps shooting over and over, meaning the others, including the nursery couple, are using it to end their lives too. As the small group starts to panic, Elliot yells at them to shut up and uses a scientific deduction method to analyze the evidence he has so far and reach a conclusion.

He thinks the toxin is indeed being spread by the plants, but it’s only triggered by large groups of people, so they need to split into smaller groups. Three smaller groups result from this, and they all begin running in different directions. Elliot, Alma, and Jess run away with two teenage boys, but no matter how fast they move, the wind soon catches up to them. Their group stops running to protect their faces, and the wind blows around them, but luckily nothing happens. Elliot thinks this confirms the size of the group matters. After lots of running, the group finally finds the small town and hides inside a house where everything is fake because it’s for show.

There’s a plant in a room, and Elliot approaches it slowly, asking it to be good to them before he realizes it’s a plastic plant and he’s an idiot. After taking a break, they decide to leave before more people come to hide here and trigger the toxin. As they run up a hill, they see two groups arrive and make a larger crowd, instantly causing them to freeze. Only one man moves to start a commercial lawnmower, which kills him in seconds. Elliot’s group continues to walk for hours and finds a radio on a fence. An emergency broadcast informs that people should go to the west borders to be picked up by the police.

Eventually, the group is too tired and hungry to keep going, so when they find a boarded-up house, they decide to stop there. As they walk, Elliot makes up a story about a clerk he flirted with, and it makes Alma feel better even if it’s a lie. The group knocks on the house door, but nobody comes out. They consider entering by force, but at that moment, they see people moving inside. Elliot asks nicely for help, but when the owner turns them down, the teens get aggressive and use foul language as they shake the boards on the windows. The owner gets annoyed and ends up shooting through a hole in the window, instantly killing both teenage boys. Terrified, the trio starts running again.

Meanwhile, survivors are shown in various buildings in the area taking different options: some of them wear masks, while others are gathering as many guns as possible. On TV, a reporter interviews a scientist, who explains that the attacks are getting more intense by the hour and affecting smaller groups of people. Moments later, Elliot’s group finds a house with no power or a used road, so they think it’s abandoned. However, when they get closer, they meet Mrs. Jones, who chose many years ago to remain out of contact with the whole world.

She agrees to let them stay the night and share food, but she doesn't want to know about the event and asks them not to discuss it. Mrs. Jones is a very weird lady: one second she behaves sweetly, the next second she is smacking Jess’ hand for taking the cookies she offered herself. Later in the evening, Elliot and Alma are talking in whispers because Jess is sleeping. Mrs. Jones overhears them and accuses them of planning to kill her or rob her. In the morning, Elliot goes looking for Mrs. Jones to tell her something and is shocked to find a creepy doll on her bed instead.

When he comes closer, Mrs. Jones appears behind him and yells at him, calling him a thief and telling him to leave immediately. Then she goes to her garden, where suddenly the wind starts blowing and makes Mrs. Jones walk backward. Elliot sees this and immediately rushes to close all doors and windows, only for Mrs. Jones to start breaking the glass in a rather painful way until she dies. As the wind begins to come inside, Elliot runs through the house trying to find Alma and Jess. Somehow he can hear them, but can't locate them. He thinks he hears them in the cellar, but when he goes in, he is alone.

Alma and Jess are actually outside in an old stone spring house, and a speaking tube connects both buildings. Elliott uses this tube to tell them that now the toxin seems to be set off by even one person alone. After sharing a few nice words and memories, Elliot decides that he doesn't want to die alone and goes outside. Alma and Jess soon come out too, and everyone holds hands while the wind blows around them. However, nothing happens, and the trio returns to the house, realizing that the event has finally ended. Three months later, Alma and Elliot are happily living together while raising Jess. 

Alma also discovers she’s pregnant, and Elliot becomes delighted by this news. On TV, a scientist explains that the event was probably a message sent by the planet to warn humanity that they’re causing too much damage, so they should expect another attack soon. Meanwhile, in a park in France, people start freezing, and screams can be heard as the wind blows around them.

Full Video Recap Of 'The Happening (2008)'

CAST OF "THE HAPPENING (2008)

Mark Wahlberg as Elliot Moore

Zooey Deschanel as Alma Moore

John Leguizamo as Julian

Betty Buckley as Mrs. Jones

Ashlyn Sanchez as Jess

Frank Collison as nursery owner

Victoria Clark as nursery owner

Spencer Breslin as Josh

Robert Bailey, Jr. as Jared

Jeremy Strong as Private Auster

M. Night Shyamalan as Joey (voice only)

Alan Ruck as Principal

Alison Folland as Woman Reading on Bench with Hair Pin

Kristen Connolly as Woman Reading on Bench

Cornell Womack as Construction Foreman

Curtis McClarin as Construction Crew Member

Robert Lenzi as Jake

Derege Harding as Train Conductor

Other Info

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Writer: M. Night Shyamalan

Movie Genre: Adventure - Drama - Sci-FiThriller

Release date: June 13, 2008

Countries of origin: United States - India

Filming locations: USA

Production companies: Twentieth Century Fox - UTV Motion Pictures - Spyglass Entertainment - Blinding Edge Pictures - Dune Entertainment

Estimated Budget: $48,000,000

Runtime: 1 hour 31 minutes