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The Happening | 2008 | R | - 2.8.4

There seems to be no escape from a deadly epidemic that has humans in its grip: One man, his wife and their friend's daughter must figure out why these horrors are happening and find a way to survive. With Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo, Ashlyn Sanchez and Betty Buckley. Directed by M. Night Shymalan. [1:31]

SEX/NUDITY 2 - A woman talks about being "horny." A child asks a man if he has any kids and when the man replies "No," the child asks if he had a problem (it is implied that the child meant a "sexual" problem). A man and woman talk about how much they love each other.
 A man and woman hug and kiss. A man and woman hold hands.
 A woman finds out she is pregnant by taking a pregnancy test.
 A woman wears a low-cut top that reveals cleavage. A woman jogs through a park wearing a sports bra.

VIOLENCE/GORE 8 - A man allows his arms to be ripped from his body by animals (we see his detached limbs, the animals eating the limbs, and we see bloody stumps and hear people screaming). A man allows a lawnmower to run over him, killing him (we see blood spraying out from around the large mower).
 A man is shown falling off a building, we hear and see him hit the ground (his breathing is labored, and there is a close-up of his body and we see limbs broken and bent at odd angles, and we see blood); more men are seen hitting the ground after walking off a roof (we hear their bodies strike the ground, we see blood, and 11 men in total die this way). We hear a girl jump out of a window (nothing is shown).
 A woman stabs herself in the neck with a hair accessory (we see her puncture her skin and see blood ooze out the hole). A woman stabs herself with her keys and we see bloodied keys. A man slits his wrists.
 A boy is shot in the head by a shotgun (we see his bloodied head and what appears to be brain matter). A boy is shot with a shotgun by a man (the boy is lifted off the ground and we see blood and bullet holes). A man shoots himself in the head: we hear the gun go off, we see the bullet hole, and we see blood ooze out of the wound; another man shoots himself in the head, we see the bullet wound and blood and a woman also shoots herself in the head. A man shoots himself, we then we hear multiple gunshots and it is implied that others are killing themselves as well -- we hear nine shots and people talk about children being in the group where the shots are coming from.
 We see groups of people who have hung themselves (we see the bodies hanging with ropes around their necks).
 A man drives his car into a tree, we see his body ejected through the windshield, and it is implied that he and all of the passengers are dead. We see dead bodies on a road and there is some blood.
 A woman smashes her head into a wall, a window and glass (we see bruises, blood and glass in the woman's eye).
 One man describes seeing bodies wrapped in barbed wire. People talk about seeing dead bodies in different towns and areas. A woman asks if something she sees is blood. People suspect and discuss the possibility of a biological terrorist attack. There are many discussions of suicide.
 A woman smacks a child's hand.

LANGUAGE 4 - 2 scatological terms, 2 anatomical terms, 3 mild obscenities, 1 religious profanity.

SUBSTANCE USE - A man holds a fake glass of wine in his hands.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Marital relationships, global warming, divorce, adultery, parental death, mass death, suicide, environmental awareness, terrorism (including bio-terrorism), love, anger, media violence, religion, hysteria, abandonment, grief, death, government bio weapons, conspiracy theories, pregnancy, adoption, family, pollution, nuclear energy.

MESSAGE - Humans are responsible for their actions and how those actions affect people and the world around them.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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