June
22
The Happening meets The Birds: Alfred Hitchcock + Barbie = Awesome
Many critics have compared writer-director M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening to Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. It's no secret that Shyamalan is a fan of the master of psychological horror.
What The Happening and The Birds have in common is also what made The Day After Tomorrow so effective: they tap into our fear that after messing with Mother Nature, she will turn on us. The idea behind The Happening, that trees and plants will revolt to protect themselves from humans, is chilling.
Given all the movie choices this freakily hot weekend, David, Nora and I agreed to see The Happening. My theory: we didn't know exactly what we'd be getting (which is good) but we figured it would be well-made, scary fun, and not dopey. Shyamalan is an original: he's not playing by studio formula rules, so his movies have a directorial stamp and personality.
In an ideal world, someone would tell him that Mark Wahlberg, while he is a likable everyman, can be stiffly unheroic, even whiney. And the scene when the grass comes whipping across the field in a line incites laughter (at least in me). But I screeched obediently during the Psycho-sequence with the deliciously over-the-top Betty Buckley.
In short, we got exactly what we expected. It's too bad that the right smart people didn't come together to make this movie even better. I suspect that's Shyamalan's fault; he doesn't seem open to other people's input. He's got to be the smartest man in the room.
Nora suggested that the stuff that didn't work was the R-rated material. I agree. Shyamalan seems uncomfortable with yucky spurting limbs. Interestingly, the director raised some funds from India on this picture, which was also produced by his long-time partners at Spyglass. (Asian investment in Hollywood is the wave of the future.)
Universal, Mandalay and Platinum Dunes, Michael Bay's company, are developing a remake of Hitchcock's The Birds; Martin Campbell and Naomi Watts are attached. I'm of two minds. It could go so wrong (they've already been through an impressive list of writers). On the other hand, with visual effects, it could be terrifying.
Here's Jodie Foster as The Birds' Tippi Hedron (who always resembled a Barbie doll) in Vanity Fair. And Mattel has created a new The Birds Barbie. Here's their sell:
Based on the classic movie! Includes real fake birds! High-quality head looks scared and has awesome hair!
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Love those variety photos.
And are the plants protecting themselves or protecting us from ourselves?
Posted by: Cinexcellence | June 22, 2008 at 05:05 PM
i do want it to work, but can't see how
the remake of psycho seemed pretty purposeless
Posted by: Alan | June 22, 2008 at 05:17 PM
Spookiest rustling leaves since "Blow Up."
Posted by: David C. | June 22, 2008 at 05:18 PM
The only good thing about a remake would be Jodie Foster. Still, why? It's not like the original is unavailable.
Posted by: mitkid | June 22, 2008 at 06:06 PM
Gus Van Sant's remake of Psycho was more of a shot-by-shot experiment.
I doubt (wish) that The Birds will take that approach.
Posted by: Cinexcellence | June 22, 2008 at 08:43 PM
How about M. Knight himself? As his first work for hire?
Posted by: David C. | June 22, 2008 at 10:03 PM
Cinexcellence
i imagine they would not try such a shot-by-shot approach twice, but still, don't see how it would work even if it wasn't shot-by-shot. the story is not sellable to a contemporary audience. a new script/approach would be called for. (problem is, even with a new script the idea just seems flat)
it may be necessary to admit that only hitch could direct his scripts, and that his scripts only worked at the time.
however, all that said, i still want it to work. there's an allure to remaking hitch's classics for today's audience
(like your site)
Posted by: Alan | June 23, 2008 at 07:53 AM