The best film adaptation of a Stephen King horror novel since the 1980s, The Shining, is not classics like Misery, Cujo, Pet Sematary, 1408, Christine, Firestarter, Thinner, or even IT (who seemingly everyone not named me seemed to love). Instead, it is the 2007 Frank Darabont’s (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile) The Mist, a creepy dark tale that haunts your mind as much after its viewing that it does during it. King’s adaptations are hit, or miss and all of the ones mentioned above (except for IT) are ones that I enjoyed and would watch on multiple occasions. But there is both a plot and a suspense factor with The Mist that is like nothing I’ve seen before. I will also say that The Mist is the best Stephen King book I’ve ever read (granted, I’ve only read five or six), and it is one of the best adaptations of a film made from a book that I’ve read before (again, granted there had not been many of those). Recently, I started watching the Netflix show based on the book/movie. While not nearly as good as the book or the movie, Netflix did the show right. I don’t know if there was a need for the show, but I’m glad that they did it right since they went that route. Basically, everything about The Mist is fantastic. I wish I could say the same about a movie like The Fog, one of the worst horror films I’ve ever seen. But I digress.
Like many Stephen King novels/films, The Mist is set in a small, nameless town in northern Maine. After a storm sends a tree through a family room window and knocks out the power of the whole neighborhood, David Drayton (Thomas Jane – Dark Country, 61*), his son Billy, and his neighbor Brent (Andre Braugher – television’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine, television’s The Practice) drive to the town’s supermarket to get some emergency supplies. It is there where a dark fog rolls in. Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden – Mystic River, Pollock), the town’s religious zealot, wastes little time in prophesying that it’s the end of the world and that anyone who wants to go to heaven better start to repent. So, of course, she assembles a small flock of frightened followers. The supermarket they are stranded in is not your Harris Teeter or Wegman’s. This supermarket was maybe 10-15 aisles, each maybe 60 feet in length. The front wall of the store is all glass and goes a good 30 feet in the air. There is a single entrance. And a garage bay door for deliveries in the back. So we get it…this group of somewhere between 30-50 people is confined in the confines of this small store.
But why? Well, there are many terrors in the mist and the slowly and methodically infuse terror on this group of terrified individuals. Other key players in the story include assistant store manager Ollie Weeks (Toby Jones – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Frost/Nixon), a guy who immediately follows the lead of David and becomes his most faithful ally, and Jim Grondin (William Sadler – The Shawshank Redemption, Trespass), who is similar to Ollie beat a little more apprehensive. In addition, there are a couple of The Walking Dead alumni in the form of Amanda Dunfrey (Laurie Holden – The Majestic, Silent Hill), who emerges as the voice of reason and David’s confident and an unnamed mother who just ran to the store to pick up some quick supplies, leaving her long children at home (Melissa McBride) who early in the movie leaves the store and enters the mist never to return.
And then there is a group of three soldiers, who are just passing through towns dressed fully in their military uniforms who seem to be more alarmed than anyone else. But shouldn’t the military guys be the bravest? What do they know that the other characters don’t know? What do they know that we don’t know? What exactly is in the mist? What potential dangers does it have? And how long will it last? Well, the unknown is what makes this movie so absolutely unpredictable, so gripping, and so awesome. We know that all things mist are not good, and our characters learn that early and often. They are forced to make drastic decisions. I mean, could they stay in that grocery store assuming the mist cannot get in? Well, if you are going to be stranded anywhere, it might as well be a grocery store…as long as the power stays on…hmm…
The horror is creepy. Each time we learn more about what’s out in the mist, the more frightened we are, making the tension as thick as brooding mist circulating the store. The acting is believable. We don’t expect Oscar nominations for acting from a movie like that, and we don’t get them. But, if we can escape and have it feel like we are trapped with these characters and this unpredictable foreign haze (which has evil intents) all around us, then I consider that a good time at a horror/suspense movie.
This is a movie that King fans don’t want to miss. And you certainly don’t want to miss the twisted ending. Darabont is a resounding three-for-three with King adaptations. He should direct all King novels to screen selections. No matter what the movie is, I would see the next collaboration. Each of the first three has resonated with me on so many levels that I owe the man to give his fourth one a chance.
Plot 9/10
Character Development 7.5/10
Character Chemistry 8/10
Acting 7/10
Screenplay 9/10
Directing 10/10
Cinematography 10/10
Sound 10/10
Hook and Reel 10/10
Universal Relevance 8/10 (it’s the unknown that frightens us the most)
88.5%