History Film / TheHappening

* ImprobableInfantSurvival: [[spoiler:The minute Julian gives his eight-year-old daughter Jess to Alma and Elliot, you know Julian's doomed. ]]

* GreenAesop

* MurderBySuicide: People are committing suicide in vast numbers under mysterious circumstances. The audience never gets to know the actual cause of the mass suicides, but speculation about it is sprinkled throughout the film (radiation fallout, a plague, etc.) and some have even spread their own WildMassGuessing entries.

* AvoidTheDreadedGRating: For some reason, the film's R rating was a huge marketing point, with the "R" on the advertising’s rating blocks being highlighted in bright red (not that it overindulges in many of the things on which the MPAA tends to crack down).

* ThisIsForEmphasisBitch: Creator/SpencerBreslin’s character’s line, "Open this door, bitch!"

At first, the movie takes a [[Creator/AlfredHitchcock Hitchcockian]] approach to the horror — the suicides merely happen without explanation — [[ItWasHisSled until somebody]] ''[[ItWasHisSled does]]'' [[ItWasHisSled explain it]]; [[spoiler:plants, in response to human overpopulation, are emitting a neurotoxin that makes a person's survival instinct kick into reverse]]. The film's marketing also emphasized it being Shyamalan's first R-rated film.

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Mrs. Jones is (supposed to be) a non-comedic example. She has obviously lived in isolation for many years, and displays misanthropic behavior and [[NotGoodWithPeople truly terrible social skills]] (she even accuses Elliot of planning to murder her in her sleep for no reason at all). She even flips out at Elliot trying to examine the doll on her bed (which presumably represents her younger self, given she alleges it's her face, and she was apparently hiding nearby to see if Elliot approached it) and [[GetOut orders him to leave at once]]. Clearly she has some serious mental problems.

->''"Hello? My name is Elliot Moore. Just want to talk in a very positive manner, giving off good vibes. We're just here to use the bathroom, and then we're just going to leave. I hope that's OK. ... Plastic. I'm talking to a plastic plant. I'm still doing it."''
-->-- '''Elliot Moore'''

->''"Plastic. I'm talking to a plastic plant. I'm still doing it."''

Something big is going down; people all over the East Coast of the United States start to kill themselves for no reason, and nobody can explain the mass suicides. High school teacher Elliot Moore (Creator/MarkWahlberg) tries to escape UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}} with his wife Alma (Creator/ZooeyDeschanel), his colleague and friend Julian (Creator/JohnLeguizamo), and Julian’s daughter Jess (Creator/AshlynSanchez).

At first, the movie takes a [[Creator/AlfredHitchcock Hitchcockian]] approach to the horror — the suicides merely happen without explanation — [[ItWasHisSled until somebody]] ''[[ItWasHisSled does]]'' [[ItWasHisSled explain it]]; plants, in response to human overpopulation, are emitting a neurotoxin that makes a person's survival instinct kick into reverse.

* Cloudcuckoolander: Mrs. Jones is (supposed to be) a non-comedic example. She has obviously lived in isolation for many years, and displays misanthropic behavior and [[NotGoodWithPeople truly terrible social skills]] (she even accuses Elliot of planning to murder her in her sleep for no reason at all). She even flips out at Elliot trying to examine the doll on her bed (which presumably represents her younger self, given she alleges it's her face, and she was apparently hiding nearby to see if Elliot approached it) and [[GetOut orders him to leave at once]]. Clearly she has some serious mental problems.

* CloudCuckoolander: Mrs. Jones is (supposed to be) a non-comedic example. She has obviously lived in isolation for many years, and displays misanthropic behavior and [[NotGoodWithPeople truly terrible social skills]] (she even accuses Elliot of planning to murder her in her sleep for no reason at all). She even flips out at Elliot trying to examine the doll on her bed (which presumably represents her younger self, given she alleges it's her face, and she was apparently hiding nearby to see if Elliot approached it) and [[GetOut orders him to leave at once]]. Clearly she has some serious mental problems.

-->'''Construction worker''': …and the little guy says, "You have a girlfriend named Wendy, too? Well, I saw your thing and it says 'WY'." And the big guy says, "''No'', man. Mine says '[[BiggusDickus Welcome to Jamaica, have a nice day.]]'"[[note]]The missing part of the joke is "Two men are standing at adjacent urinals, and they both notice the other has the letters 'WY' tattooed on his penis."[[/note]]

* AvoidTheDreadedGRating: For some reason, the film's R rating was a huge marketing point (not that it overindulges in many of the things on which the MPAA tends to crack down).

* NothingIsScarier: This movie is practically the poster child for why it's better to leave some things unexplained. ''Before'' TheReveal, when people are killing themselves and no one knows why, the movie is (mostly) a genuinely effective suspense thriller. ''After'' the reveal, the whole thing becomes [[{{Narm}} a complete joke.]]

** A man boards up his rural house to protect himself and his family from the toxin. Elliot tries to reason with them, but Josh and Jared's behaviour undermines his attempt [[spoiler:and they're shot dead for their trouble]].

* ThisIsForEmphasisBitch: Spencer Breslin’s character’s line, "Open this door, bitch!"