REVIEWED BY: Dawnrazor
Based on one of Stephen King's best works, “The Mist” is a gripping and scary tale of people trapped in a supermarket
by monsters of unknown origin, they are also threatened from within by monsters of the two legged kind.
After a violent thunderstorm, a dense mist rolls into to town, police cars and ambulances speed by, then somebody
runs into the store screaming about “Something in the mist”. Things go downhill for our heroes from there as indeed
there is something, several something’s in fact; and they aren't friendly. Creatures outside and a charismatic nutcase
preaching fire, brimstone and the end of days inside, hang on, it's gonna get ugly.
Director Frank Darabont is best known for adapting King's “The Green Mile” and “The Shawshank Redemption” but his
credits reach back to the screenplays for “Dream Warriors” and the remake of “The Blob”. He keeps the action rolling
along, and the tension tight. He's aided in this by a solid cast, especially Thomas Jane as David Drayton the artist
forced to become a hero and Marcia Gay Harden
as Mrs. Carmody, the hate filled bible thumper whose faith calls for atonement and sacrifice… of the human variety.
The monsters and gore effects deliver with well realized and very Lovecraftian beasties and plenty of messy, nasty
deaths. It may not be as vicious as say Hostel, but it's certainly one of the goriest and brutal recent films with a largish
budget, people are ripped into, shot, set on fire, ripped in half, explode in a shower of baby critters....you get the idea.
And speaking of brutal, the original story's non-ending has been replaced with one that is at once hopeful and a nasty,
full-on kick in the teeth followed by one to the balls. Or maybe it's all a hallucination in a madman's mind...
Those who've read King's novella will be pleased to find that Darabont's script stays very close to it. The timeframe is
condensed, cutting out some of the tension and conflict between the groups of survivors and toning down Mrs.
Carmody's madness and there's a few changes in who lives and who dies but it stays very close...until the ending. The
original story's non-ending has been replaced with one that is at once hopeful and a nasty, full-on kick in the teeth
followed by one to the balls. Or maybe it's all a hallucination in a madman's mind...It's been said Darabont's insistence
on this ending is why it took so long to get the film made, and I can see why. It packs a punch, and love it or hate it, it will
stay with you.
DIRECTED BY: Frank Darabont
WRITTEN BY: Frank Darabont
CAST: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden, Frances Sternhagen,Toby Jones
STUDIO: MGM and Dimension Films
OFFICIAL WEBSITE: www.themist-movie.com
(2007)
Based on one of Stephen King's best works, “The Mist” is a gripping and scary tale of people trapped in a supermarket
by monsters of unknown origin, they are also threatened from within by monsters of the two legged kind.
After a violent thunderstorm, a dense mist rolls into to town, police cars and ambulances speed by, then somebody
runs into the store screaming about “Something in the mist”. Things go downhill for our heroes from there as indeed
there is something, several something’s in fact; and they aren't friendly. Creatures outside and a charismatic nutcase
preaching fire, brimstone and the end of days inside, hang on, it's gonna get ugly.
Director Frank Darabont is best known for adapting King's “The Green Mile” and “The Shawshank Redemption” but his
credits reach back to the screenplays for “Dream Warriors” and the remake of “The Blob”. He keeps the action rolling
along, and the tension tight. He's aided in this by a solid cast, especially Thomas Jane as David Drayton the artist
forced to become a hero and Marcia Gay Harden
as Mrs. Carmody, the hate filled bible thumper whose faith calls for atonement and sacrifice… of the human variety.
The monsters and gore effects deliver with well realized and very Lovecraftian beasties and plenty of messy, nasty
deaths. It may not be as vicious as say Hostel, but it's certainly one of the goriest and brutal recent films with a largish
budget, people are ripped into, shot, set on fire, ripped in half, explode in a shower of baby critters....you get the idea.
And speaking of brutal, the original story's non-ending has been replaced with one that is at once hopeful and a nasty,
full-on kick in the teeth followed by one to the balls. Or maybe it's all a hallucination in a madman's mind...
Those who've read King's novella will be pleased to find that Darabont's script stays very close to it. The timeframe is
condensed, cutting out some of the tension and conflict between the groups of survivors and toning down Mrs.
Carmody's madness and there's a few changes in who lives and who dies but it stays very close...until the ending. The
original story's non-ending has been replaced with one that is at once hopeful and a nasty, full-on kick in the teeth
followed by one to the balls. Or maybe it's all a hallucination in a madman's mind...It's been said Darabont's insistence
on this ending is why it took so long to get the film made, and I can see why. It packs a punch, and love it or hate it, it will
stay with you.
DIRECTED BY: Frank Darabont
WRITTEN BY: Frank Darabont
CAST: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden, Frances Sternhagen,Toby Jones
STUDIO: MGM and Dimension Films
OFFICIAL WEBSITE: www.themist-movie.com
(2007)
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