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By Robert Scucci | Published
In 2008, M. Night Shyamalan wrote, directed and produced what many consider the worst film of his career. The eventwhich currently boasts a horrible 17 percent critics score versus a 24 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, reached the consensus that it “starts with promise, but unfortunately descends into an incoherent and unconvincing trifle.” However, what most viewers didn’t know at the time is that this was completely intentional.
Shyamalan wanted to make a big-budget B-movie that playfully evoked the panic films of the ’60s, like Alfred Hitchcock’s. The birds. He even hinted at this before the release, calling it a “fantastic, fun B-movie” while doing press.
Some filmmakers like to back off when their work doesn’t work. In this case, after proper review, there is no explanation other than that it did exactly what it set out to do with The event.
Deliberately horrible in the best way
The greatest gift that The event was intentionally intended to be a B movie is the talent involved. Say what you want about Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel; They are competent actors when they stay in their lanes. Just look 500 days of summer and The deceased and tell me they didn’t deliver exactly what those movies asked for. Here, too, they did exactly what they were told, and their deliberately stiff performance is part of the brief.
Wahlberg flat out saying, “Plastic. I’m talking to a plastic plant. I’m still doing it,” while spewing as much pseudoscience as possible about toxins, “caused by people destroying plants,” is part of the joke. The talent here isn’t just in the writing, but in Wahlberg’s ability to keep a straight face while Elliot Moore earnestly tries to figure out why everyone around him is committing suicide.
The same goes for Zooey Deschanel, who brilliantly shouts things like “We can’t stand here as uninvolved observers!” and “We’re not going to be one of those morons on the news who watch a crime and do nothing! We’re not morons!” It’s so bad it’s almost poetic and Shyamalan knew exactly what he was doing when he wrote the script. We’re talking about a wind-borne, plant-borne pathogen that forces people to take their own lives in the most gruesome ways imaginable. And the reaction of the talent involved in most cases is: “Oh, nooooo!”
A victim of its own marketing that deserves cult status
I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t see The event until years after its theatrical release. The main reason was that my friends and family came expecting another sixth sense, Unbreakable, Signseither the townand he told me it was horrible when those expectations weren’t met.. Marketing for The event I sold it as a pure thriller and I can only imagine the confusion when viewers bought tickets expecting the same thing. They all told me the same thing: the story doesn’t make sense, the acting is terrible, and it falls apart in the third act.
Years later, curiosity got the best of me and I finally sat down with her. I loved it. But I also grew up digging through bins of two-dollar DVDs at Walmart and watching B movies all the time. Looking The event I felt exactly like I was looking Sharknado either Birdemia: shock and terror.
The most revealing thing for me was how the story was framed. Told primarily through informational ads explaining what’s happening in affected communities, it’s only a matter of time before that setup becomes ridiculous. There’s even a scene where Elliot, desperate for answers his mood ring can’t provide, conveniently finds a radio tied to a fence post in the middle of nowhere so he can get an update before sloppily exploring the premise again.
The Happening is a fantastic big-budget B-movie
Retroactive reviews now celebrate The event for its big-budget B-movie charm. But it’s easy to see why it was bombarded with criticism. The $60 million budget made it look too good to be a B movie. The cinematography and sound design were too clean and polished. If it had been marketed as a panic movie with creepy lyrics, bright colors, and a gritty aesthetic, audiences would have known what they were in for. Instead, the marketing team acted clearly and the subversion went unnoticed by the general public.
If you are willing to give The event A second chance, watch it with exaggerated B-movie expectations and you’ll have a great time. At first glance, it’s a terrible movie. But once you consider Shyamalan’s intent and Wahlberg and Deschanel’s commitment to the part, it becomes something much more enjoyable.
At the time of writing this article, you can transmit The event It’s Hulu.
