This eco-thriller is more of the same, only less so.

The opening scenes depict a mysterious cataclysm affecting the east coast of America.

People in New York’s Central Park begin talking funny before killing themselves, construction workers start falling like raindrops from a Manhattan skyscraper.

Science teacher Elliott (Mark Wahlberg) is swept up in the mass evacuation of the city along with his fragile, secretive wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel) and his best friend Julian (John Leguizamo).

Their odyssey to escape the “event” fills up the rest of the film’s running time.

Theories about the source of the disaster range from an escaped CIA chemical weapon to revenge of the plantlife on pesky humans via a lethal hayfever as the slowly diminishing cast drive, lurch and trudge from one unlikely sequence to another.

A mysterious cataclysm affects the east coast of America

Trapped in a sub-Lynchian performing style, the actors deliver dialogue that suggests Shyamalan should get out more and talk to some real people.

Clearly, he is attempting to resurrect the themes of alien/ political paranoia and social breakdown from earlier movies like Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers, Panic In The Year Zero and Night Of The Living Dead and remodel them for the age of environmental awareness.

The result is a bad Night at the pictures.

Verdict: 2/5

(Cert 15; 91 mins)