The Mist (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

I thought 90% of the movie was excellent and hewed very closely to Stephen King's novella about a military experiment gone bad. I was all set to give it four stars. And then...there was that ending. I was very disappointed by the disturbing final scene of the movie, which, I believe, was gratuitously unnecessary. It changed a story that had an open-ended yet hopeful ending to a big screen episode of the Twilight Zone. While Rod Serling is one of my favorite writers, this film's ending did not jibe with what came before it. What was the rush? There were no monsters near by and, had they waited, the soldiers may have appeared and saved them all. It seems to make the film a vindication of Mrs. Carmody and gives credence to her religious rants. Should Frank Darabont decide to re-release this film at some future time with an ending more in tune with the novella, I believe it I would rate it a four star film.

My vote is actually negative 1 star.

That this movie was made by the same guy who made Shawshank Redemption is absolutely astounding. I hope that knowing this will not influence my high opinion of Shawshank. Hopefully I'll forget.

I've seen Scooby Doo episodes that were scarier. Heck I've seen Scooby Doo episodes that were more dramatic. That this movie currently stands at 3 1/2 stars leaves me dumbfounded. Are they talking about the book?

I have been a Christian for nearly 20 years and know full well where Hollywood stands. I have sat under some very hard, strict and "fundamental" preaching with fellow believers of a strict "fundamental" faith. I guess you expect me to be "offended" and "outraged" by this portrayal. Guess again. I am too busy feeling pity and embarrassment for the director to be upset.

As far as the technical aspects of the movie - pathetic. There was no drama or tension and the special effects were early 1980's, which is forgivable if there are other redeeming qualities. There weren't. The horrifying creatures resembled halloween props purchased at your local Walmart.

The characters were dumb and uninteresting, and the "Christian" was so stereotyped and unreal, that by her third scene she was unwatchable. This character, and her rather large role in the movie, actually wiped out what little excitement or tension or drama the movie had been able to develop. When her character was speaking, it was so annoying we were rolling our eyes and fast-forwarding through her scenes. Don't get me wrong, it's not just her, without this character the movie is still bad, but not as stupid and annoying.

Yes I realize this is horror fiction and is therefore unbelievable, but that does not mean it has to be stupid. There have been plenty of good horror movies that had unrealistic subjects. For example, the Tom Cruise version of War of the Worlds is obviously not realistic, and it wasn't perfect, but it wasn't stupid. I never felt the overwhelming need to fast-forward.

The ending - salt in the wound.

Watch it if you want to, but do not expect to be scared, amused, or entertained in any way - just annoyed. Keep the DVD remote nearby - you'll need it.

Ironically filmmaker George A. Romero, and not the Stephen King source material, would be a good first-point reference for the film, "The Mist;" a film simply about a food store being besieged by monsters lurking in the enshrouded mist. As Romero, director of the 1968 indie-masterpiece, "Night of the Living Dead," of which this film basically re-imagines, often has a cynical, even pessimistic outlook on humanity in his films. Yet, this tone never seems to be from what you could call a bitter old-liberal; rather it's extremely realist, when looked in context to the themes, social critiques, and other allegorical statements that the films make. As "The Mist" is never a happy-go-lucky tearjerker, much alike the rest of the output from its director, Frank Darabont of "The Shawshank Redemption" and "The Green Mile." You could call those other movies, "cock-and-ball heartbreakers," making a reference to the way that those films were molded for their audience of typically white-collar, suburban males with their optimistic view of prison life making them pretty conservative in their logic. "The Mist," however, is the counterbalance of his repertoire, as it is heavily tilted to the liberal side through its depiction of the religious characters as both self-serving and self-righteous, brainwashed zealots.

In "Night of the Living Dead" alike "The Mist" the main theme was simply people cracking under pressure, and how the means to achieve fulfillment is blurred with right and wrong, or basically, "civilized values." There is a scene in "The Mist" in which a character defends the values of humanity by saying that people know the difference between good and evil, sanity and hysteria. The rest of the characters point out in a number of ways that this is, "When the machines work and you can still dial 911." While the racial tensions of "Night of the Living Dead," however apparent in the satirical way, were still subtle when speaking of thematic development and dialogue-- as Romero has went on record numerous times and said that he cast African-American actor Duane Jones not to give his material a social significance, rather Jones was just the best actor that tried for the part. Romero would go on to add a copious amount of subtext in his following films, but has also stated that the intention of his first film was simply to scare people, while the audience saw something much deeper and gave the film its own social critique, meaning that sometimes the best movies are those that are made with a greater concern on character development, story, and the overall emitted feeling. Therefore, with those done right, your audience will begin to look beyond your film, to create something more inside it, and these themes almost always correspond to the present world that the film is made in, and especially with horror films, it usually contains the fears, repercussions, and anxieties of society- as again, "Night..." was made in the 1960's in which racial tensions were extremely prevalent, no small coincidence for the "racial subtext."

That said, the religious sacrifice in "The Mist" is particularly disturbing, due to not the murderers' cold-bloodiness, but their desperation, that is, they want to find answers and conspiracy in anything, not thinking of the world in realist terms, wanting to fix the problem in a way that is within their control, and by doing so, it hurts others, not creating a better world for anyone. As desperation creates an apathetic world of distraction, a smokescreen if you will, to come to a true peace. This is also the main problem in the film-- the subtext is just not so subtle, especially in the aforementioned scene in which the characters literally talk about the self-serving, distrust, and self-destruction of the human race; as if the audience would be too dumb to get it.

Moreover, Marcia Gay Harden's sacrificial-preacher character is nothing more than a cold-hearted b****, that may be quite creepy, but its obvious she's nothing more than a shallow plot mechanic, that both gives the movie its "people suck' subtext and to create sympathy for the main characters -- her evilness is simply so extreme that no one will be on her side, and even if some, like myself, often think that many of the religious right people are self-righteous, brainwashed bigots; well then honestly, the film does not tell us anymore than we already believe, does it.

Yet, despite many of its `deeper' ideologies getting garbled, "The Mist" is a good frightmare: the horror scenes, whether they be human, or empyreal are often effective-- and are a true achievement in both visual and directing, as Frank Darabont indeed does know how to create a setup for a scare scene, milk an F/X shot, and as important with a horror picture, he knows that no character is sacred, anyone can die at any given time, which is an ideology of a true realist.

Finally, the ending may be out of Twilight Zone, but is more akin to that series' better episodes, in that it does not feel gimmicky, and actually becomes one of the more startling film endings ever. So in the end, "The Mist" is alike a Romero film, just with more gloss and arch-- although it may be flawed immensely in some of its artier elements, it is indeed one of the funnest horror films that Hollywood has put out for quite a while.


**** (Out of 5)

If you can overlook the usual bone-headed caricatures of people reacting to an invasion of mist-shrouded monsters, then this is a fun, exciting treat. And that ending alone elevates this flick way above the usual genre movies that parade under the guise of 'horror.' When customers at a general store discover that there are some terrifying monsters on the loose, then they all react in different ways.

Probably the most hysterical character is the black man, portrayed by Andre Braugher, who, for no reason at all, goes into a major hissy fit about racism when hero Thomas Jane, and others, try to persuade him to go with them to the rear of the store, to see for himself that there are evil creatures out there in the mist. He has been the major doubter that there is anything supernatural about the mist, although he has seen for himself the deaths of several customers.

He bulges his eyes, stomps his feet and thunders out a lecture about hwo they're treating him like a moran because of his race. You keep wondering: what planet is this creep on? Everyone in the store is in danger of being slaughtered by the creepy monsters and here's this guy shrieking about being treated as a lower-grade of human. Strangely, when he and some others go out into the mist to seek safety, we're never told of their fates. Were they eaten alive?

Another approach that highly irritated me was the oozing love and affection and protection shown to Thomas Jane's son. The kid is treated like this rare and delicate blossom who must never be left alone. Thomas Jane, by the way, was perfectly cast. He's strong, convincing and sympathetic.

The ending is one of the most unforgettable in sci-fi/horror film history. I won't divulge anything about it but when you see it, your heart just drops. When I saw this in a theater, everyone in the audience filed out, discussing the ending and several people saying, "Oh, my God, I can't believe it!"

Brillantly made film - glad the director refused to change the ending - it really is a shocker and you really feel it.

The effects work well, the lady playing the religious woman plays the part to perfection - never doing anything just telling and the people around react to it...

Worth watching time after time to see the parts you missed.