The movie begins well enough, introducing a rather frightful premise that is immediately intriguing. Shyamalan takes us into the heart of New York and Philadelphia where we see that for some reason, all the humans who live in those cities begin to act violently against themselves. From the tone that is established in the first 30 minutes of the film, one would hardly suspect that the script would 'evolve' into a B-movie of epic proportions. Especially when there are some effective and impacting visuals that depict the mass carnage that had taken place in the cities. These moments were genuinely disturbing and indeed, it's these shots that prevent "The Happening" from receiving a straight up "F" for a grade.

The first problem was casting Mark Wahlberg as the lead. While I don't know if his poor acting was a result of the director's instructions or his own lack of skills, all I can say is that this is probably the worst performance of his career. Portraying a science teacher in a Philadelphia school, he was utterly unconvincing in the role. His delivery was so out of place that many of his lines were greeted with laughter from the audience when humor was not being sought. So you see, once the movie dove into his storyline, it degraded itself into something of an odd pop phenomenon; a movie with disturbing visuals and equally disturbing acting. That's some feat.

Wahlberg's character, Eliot Moore, is the story's central focus, as he and his wife, with whom he has some marital doubts with, seek to escape the sinister urban settings to flee into the country side. When this proves to be futile, he is left to rely on his wits and survival instincts to save the day. "The Happening" becomes even more interesting (in a bad way) when this direction is set in motion.

In some ways, "The Happening" has a few things in common with "Apocalypse Now" except the journey into the hearts of darkness became an odyssey into the realm of idiocy. The second act of this movie is so bad that I became numb as I sat there watching it. I perhaps pondered walking out when Wahlberg's Moore came up with a plan to outrun the wind, which he and his troupe successfully did to stay ahead of the unnatural terror that pursued them. Had I left the theater at that point, though, I would have missed an entirely unusual set up at an old woman's house that perplexed me even further about this screenplay. I honestly could not comprehend what Shyamalan was doing with this thing! What I did know was that whatever his master plan was, the movie was too far off to be saved by it.

In the movie's concluding segment, Shyamalan stunned me even further in how he finished things up. There was literally no payoff to the madness, nothing to grasp hold of and nothing that redeemed what I had seen. You see, "The Happening" crossed two genres that had no business being mixed. One, a movie that is primed to terrify and the second, a film that parodies itself with silly humor and characters. Once these concepts were tied into the fabric, the movie became a stink bomb.

I would only recommend watching this movie on a night when you feel like sipping some ale and watching a bit of "Universal Soldier 2" or "Battlefield Earth." On that level, it's a hoot but as far as genuine theatrical entertainment, it's about as big a misfire you may ever see in your lifetime.