The short version: The major plot device is not scary. The characters are boring, besides a minor sub-plot. Shyamalan may have intended the imagination to be the monster, instead of glorified CGI like most modern horror movies, but that ain't "happening"...

3 out of 10.

Click Read More for our thoughts.

You know those people who talk loudly during movies, making jokes and otherwise being a nuisance? You know what I'm talking about. Well, this movie drove the group I was with to become part of that obnoxious little band. We just could not help ourselves.

According to my wife the creepiest part was at the beginning where a woman takes a hair pin and stabs herself in the neck. No major "jump" scenes. Nothing. Just the director attempting to make wind rustling grass and trees seem scary. Considering the thinness of the plot and the lack of tension we inevitably turned to making loud jokes and discussing the movie.

I figured out the plot fairly early on. Nature is the enemy, counter-attacking humanity for polluting the earth. I started shouting, "It's the trees, the trees, the trees..." reminiscent of Hitchcock's The Birds. At one point the characters realize what is happening. They immediately pile into a car, back up off the road into some foliage, and tear it up while accelerating. "You morons, the flowers will get revenge for that!"

Before seeing the movie I had heard some people claim there was a connection to Intelligent Design. I really could not see it. If anything this is another Global Warming movie. Nature's plant life had supposedly evolved a stimulus-response mechanism targeted at combating humanity. There was no Design, foresighted or indirect or otherwise. Although I think it interesting that actor Mark Whalberg is supposedly a Christian:

"[Shyamalan] also claimed that [he cast] Mark Wahlberg because of his strong faith in Jesus. But Wahlberg's religious faith ended up causing a ton of reshoots. Whenever Shyamalan would ask Wahlberg what he was thinking about, and Wahlberg replied, "Jesus," Shyamalan would make him reshoot the scene in question. (Until he was no longer thinking about Jesus?)"

Now there was one semi-interesting sub-plot. The two main characters have been suffering marriage problems. The wife is on the edge of adultery, having gone out on a date with another man. The natural calamity leads them to forgive each other and strengthen their relationship. Some asshats somehow interpret this to mean that Shyamalan is saying that nature is striking back because of unfaithfulness in marriage. "Maybe the real horror movie is the one about a vibrant young woman who is slowly brainwashed by her husband" is the comment left at another review site. So the restoration of commitment in marriage is now brainwashing? That's just sad. Actually, that needs stronger language. That truly is screwed up. While the world does need to work at managing the world's resources in a better fashion I'm more concerned by the cultural trend showcased by that one comment.

But that was a theme separated from the main point of the film. And that point just was not scary or even that interesting. 3 out of 10.

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