CHICAGO – Trying to understand the thought process of writer and director M. Night Shyamalan is akin to analyzing Jell-O. What keeps it wiggling and what binds it together?

Rating: 3.5/5.0

“The Happening,” which is his latest creepy film, is a modern cautionary tale ripped from the collective sensibilities of life after Sept. 11, 2001 and the status of human beings in their interaction with today’s environment.

Read Patrick McDonald’s full review of “The Happening” in our reviews section. View our full “The Happening” image gallery.

Mark Wahlberg stars as Elliot Moore: a sensitive high school science teacher in Philadelphia. When an incident occurs in New York City, the whole northeastern part of the United States is put on alert.

Another teacher, Julian (John Leguizamo), manages to get train tickets for himself and his daughter to a more rural area. He invites Elliot and his emotionally distant wife, Alma (Zooey Deschanel), to travel with them in hopes of staying clear of the impending trouble.

The train is forced to stop because of communication problems and a paranoia of “every man for himself” creeps into the evacuees. Groups split up and start off by car – and then by foot – hoping to hide deeply into rural Pennsylvania.

Episodes of strange, chilling deaths that defy reason and boggle the mind in their shocking destructiveness erupt in major American cities in “The Happening”. Photo credit: Zade Rosenthal, 20th Century Fox

Elliot (Mark Wahlberg) and Alma (Zooey Deschanel) take a closer look at an encroaching and powerful threat in “The Happening”. Photo credit: Zade Rosenthal, 20th Century Fox

Read Patrick McDonald’s full “The Happening” review.

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