"The Happening" teaser trailer releases

M. Night Shyamalan (Director of Sixth Sense, The Village, and Lady in the Water) seeks to resurrect his floundering career from the giant critical and box office failure (never a good combination) that was "Lady in the Water" with his environmental thriller "The Happening." Slated to be Shyamalan's first R-rated film, "The Happening" tells the story of people who suddenly commit violent suicides because of persuasive toxins which certain plants are releasing into the air. The film was originally titled "The Green Effect" before M. Night reworked the script and changed the title, and will be released on June 13 along with one other major release: "The Incredible Hulk."

The teaser trailer debuted online a couple days ago, but was quickly taken down by most websites at the request of FOX. However, in this day of viral web distribution one only has to query youtube for the video solution. Go there for the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRWudvuFQq8

After the aforementioned "Lady in the Water" blunder, "The Happening" is a no-question 'make or break' for M. Night. The once hottest young Director in Hollywood who made it big with his critical and commercial accomplishment "The Sixth Sense," has struggled with his past couple of movies; not achieving a true box office success since 2002's alien thriller "Signs" which abducted (sorry, couldn't resist) over $400 million worldwide. Some have cited the Director's unmitigated arrogance (recently evidenced by his casting himself in an egotistical role in "Lady in the Water") as an underlying catalyst for his sudden downfall. I believe M. Night is a brilliant Director who has proven himself on several occasions, only to have it all go to his head and get too far beyond the realm of what tickles the average movie-goer's senses. In other words, at the expense of losing touch with the folks who watch movies, M Night. has gotten more into himself, pridefully thinking people will watch an "M Night Shyamalan movie" before they would watch any other movie. As the Director who famously showed Haley Joel Osment "dead people," Shyamalan needs to (and hopefully will with the eco-aware "The Happening") bring his own career out of the graveyard with a film that does not try to be preachy, but lets the story work its own magic. This is the sign of a truly effective Director, and a lesson Mr. Shyamalan would do well to learn.