M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening is terrible, but the perfect Christmas movie

Let’s be clear: The Happening isn’t one of those “Well, it’s set during Christmas!” movies that smart-ass cinema fans keep trying to sneak into the Christmas canon, like Die Hard or Batman Returns. It isn’t even a cozy winter-wonderland movie: It’s a sunny summertime story. And it isn’t a “lost gem” that was unfairly derided in its day, then rediscovered as a cult classic. The Happening is a terrible movie. But it’s hilariously terrible — one of the best “I can’t believe they thought this was a good idea” viewing experiences of the modern era. And it’s a movie tailor-made for collective watching, for a lot of reasons.