The Happening

[zapped13]

I'm not going to go on record as saying that there are time freezes in this movie, and I'm not going to say that I thought it was particularly good as a horror fan. But I rented it recently and there are some parts that may be of interest.

When the "invisable virus" moves, it's shown as the wind: blowing through trees, bushes, tall weeds, the grass etc. The cool part was, when the virus strikes, people freeze in place. There is an opening scene where the virus strikes central park and joggers, business folk on their way to work, etc all stop in place. This is a live freeze, as you can see the breeze blowing hair, a woman's business skirt presses against her backside, etc. There is a sidewalk in New York city that freezes with a young asian girl.(@ 16:00) In the same sequence, a short skirt with very sexy legs and high heels is seen standing still (@17:00) In a later scene, the group of survivors are hiking it across a field outside of the town when the wind blows across them. There are 8 or 9 victims that are suddenly over taken and stop in place: their hands go slack and they drop their belongings and stare through each other.(starts at43:00) There is one brunette with a particularly nice body seen in side profile with the group that's frozen. (If you rewind the dvd by a few seconds, you can see this group up close from the front as they walk past the camera men just prior to the virus attacks). There is a scene where a dozen people are desperately running across a front yard to escape the virus, by seeking refuge in a house. Six are pretty women, three of which looked like young teenagers. One-by-one they over taken and all six eventually stop in place. (@54:00) Unfortunately, this scene was shot from in the air and almost too far away to make out any good detail, but you clearly see them freeze. (Watch for the young blonde girl's hand wobbling slowly to a stop, while a chesty brunette side steps the tall blonde victim ahead of her, only to get overtaken herself within a few steps! There is also an African American woman stilled that has her arm reached out in stride). This could have been an incredible scene if it were shot up close. At the very end, the virus has traveled to Europe, and park goers there stop in place, but I don't recall any female victims.

I should warn, that when these people freeze in place, it is usually before they are about to die from the virus or even kill themselves. In a few instances, they start walking backwards. Although the freezes are live, they are brief - lasting only seconds at a time. They are shots of a crowd, not individuals and you may have to work the DVD back and forth and hit pause to pick out the women. I would turn the sound off, as occassionally people scream out in shock in the background and it ruins it!

As a freeze fan: if I had my dual VHS/DVD burner out of storage, I would have recorded the freeze portions just because I have a tendency to be complete, and because they were done live. I wouldn't get online and buy it, or smoke your tires down to the local blockbuster just to see it. But if your out renting videos over the holidays and have nothing better to rent, then you can check this one out and use your imagination...