One of History’s Worst Horror Movies Is the Perfect Holiday Stream

Holiday movie preferences are deeply personal. Some viewers crave heartfelt stories that capture the quintessential spirit of the season. Others prefer their favorite genres with a festive twist, whether that involves a gruesome Santa slasher, a Hanukkah-themed romp, or a Kwanzaa-centered romance. However, for a specific subset of cinephiles, the ideal holiday film is simply a shared distraction—something so baffling that it forces the entire family to unite in collective wonder. This is why I believe M. Night Shyamalan’s 2008 catastrophe, The Happening, is the ultimate holiday unifier.

To be perfectly clear: The Happening isn’t a “secret Christmas movie” like Die Hard or Batman Returns. It lacks snowy landscapes and festive decor; instead, it’s a brightly lit summertime thriller. Nor is it a misunderstood masterpiece waiting for a critical re-evaluation. The Happening is objectively a disaster. Yet, it is a magnificent, unintentionally hilarious disaster—a “how did this get made?” spectacle that is practically engineered for a group viewing experience.

The story follows Elliot (Mark Wahlberg), a high school science teacher, and his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel), whose marriage is crumbling even before a wave of mass suicides strikes New York City. “There appears to be an event happening,” a colleague remarks, delivering one of the film’s many stiff, oddly phrased lines. Fearing a biological attack, the couple flees the city alongside Elliot’s friend Julian (John Leguizamo) and his young daughter Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez), navigating a countryside littered with increasingly bizarre deaths.

Admittedly, mass suicide doesn’t scream “holiday cheer,” and the graphic nature of some deaths means it’s best saved for the grown-ups. But the true entertainment value of Shyamalan’s film lies not in its plot, but in its breathtakingly clumsy execution.

As the survivors realize the “threat” targets large gatherings, they splinter into smaller groups. Along the way, they meet various strangers who react to the apocalypse in the most irrational ways possible—like the man who chooses a moment of extreme peril to deliver an unsolicited defense of hot dogs. “You know, hot dogs get a bad rap. They’ve got a cool shape, they’ve got protein,” he notes, before casually pivoting to the cause of the global extinction event. It is a moment of pure, unadulterated cinematic absurdity.

Virtually no character in The Happening behaves like a sentient human being. Amidst the chaos, Elliot and Alma engage in what might be the pettiest domestic dispute ever filmed. Wahlberg performs his role in a perpetual, strained stage-whisper, while Deschanel meets every catastrophe with a wide-eyed, unblinking stare that feels more robotic than emotional.

The “inciting incident” for their marital tension? Alma once had tiramisu with a co-worker. In retaliation, Elliot reveals he almost spent “like, six bucks” on a bottle of “superfluous” cough syrup because the pharmacist was pretty. It’s an exchange that aims for tension-breaking realism but lands squarely in the realm of the surreal.

Both leads have proven their talent in other projects, which suggests their bizarre performances were a deliberate choice by Shyamalan. While this hushed, eerie tone worked for Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense, here it just makes the cast sound physically exhausted, as if they spent the entire production sighing in disbelief between takes.

However, the script is the primary culprit. The core premise—nature striking back—is standard sci-fi fare, but the dialogue swings wildly from functional shouting (“Stop the vehicle!”) to ham-fisted philosophical musings about honeybees. Every other line feels like it was written by someone who has only ever heard human conversation described second-hand. From the legendary “Why you eyein’ my lemon drink?” to the frantic attempts to outrun a literal breeze, the film is a non-stop parade of bewilderment.

This is what makes The Happening such a compelling group watch. It demands your full attention because the creative choices are so consistently strange. It isn’t a film for solitary viewing; it requires a room full of people ready to trade looks of utter disbelief. Whether it’s Jeremy Strong screaming about his firearm or a group of people trying to hide from the wind, the film offers a unique brand of collective entertainment.

At a lean 90 minutes, it’s the perfect palate cleanser for the holiday season—a way to bond with family over a shared “what did we just see?” experience without the emotional weight of a traditional drama or the fatigue of a three-hour epic. It’s weird, it’s grim, and it’s deeply stupid. But if you’re looking for a way to avoid political arguments and festive burnout, The Happening is a bizarrely fun way to spend an afternoon. At the very least, you’ll have plenty to talk about once the credits roll.

The Happening is currently streaming on Hulu and available for purchase or rental on Amazon, Google Play, and other major digital retailers.

Source: Polygon