Director: Frank Darabont
Writer: Frank Darabont (Screenplay) Stephen King (Novel)
Starring: Thomas Janes, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden, Andre Braugher, Toby Jones, Williams Sadler, Jeffrey DeMunn
Plot: A freak storm unleashes a species of bloodthirsty creatures on a small town, where a small band of citizens hole up in a supermarket and fight for their lives.
Runtime: 2 Hour 6 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Creature Feature Delight
Story: The Mist starts when a storm hits the small town, with poster illustrator David Drayton (Jane) need to repair his home, taking his son Billy (Gamble) to the local shop, he notices a mist coming towards the town, with everyone screaming from within it, David along with many of the residents of the town take shelter in the department store, with everyone outside being consumed with creatures from within the mist.
As the tension rise within the department store, David tries to bring the people together to work as one to survive, while Mrs Carmody (Harden) leads another group within the department store, ones who believe this is the end of days, become dangerous with their religious beliefs within the event.
Thoughts on The Mist
Characters – David Drayton is a movie poster illustrator, a mild-mannered man still believing in the art. He needs to head into town to fix up his house after a storm with his son, where he finds himself trapped in the department store, trying to hold everything together, looking to get the highest number of people out alive. He is one of the few people that remains calm through the situation, always looking for the smartest solution to the unknown enemies. Mrs Carmody has a reputation around the town for making more of any incidents, she turns the event into an end of days prophecy, which sees her slowly turn the heads of the people other survivors. She fast becomes the villain of the story, as her own religious speeches will create a bigger divide within the store. Amanda Dunfrey is the new teacher in the town, most people only meet her for the first time on this day, but she isn’t willing to follow any groups through the problems, looking at things in a more logical way. We do have a large number of different people inside the store, some will be followers, some will do the right thing to survive, all will want to find the best way to survive.
Performances – Thomas Jane in the leading role is great to see, he fills the reluctant hero well through the film. Marcia Gay Harden is amazing in this film, bringing to life a religious leader that does something so terrifying, getting people to follow her. We do get an excellent supporting cast too, that help make the movie stand out for decision making.
Story – The story here follows a group of people that find themselves trapped in a department store after a mysterious mist engulfs the town, the mist is filled with blood thirsty creatures, with the survivors needing to figure out how to survive with enemies building from within. Where this story shines isn’t just with the creature creation story, it is delivering a story that is dealing with the ideas that religion could see the growth of bigger problems in the world. We see how the growing pain in the film comes from seeing how the survivors are facing enemies from both sides of the door and just need to figure out the quickest way to survive the horrors waiting for them.
Horror – The horror has a wonderful balance in this film, first the creatures, all designed to bring a new striking horror idea to life, while the other side of the horror comes from seeing how the religious follows grow so quickly.
Settings – The film keeps most of the location within the department store, here we see how they could survive for a time, but would struggle with enemies trying to get inside.
Special Effects – The effects in the film are great, with the creature creations needing to look terrifying, which they do as well as dealing with the wounds they can inflict.
Scene of the Movie – The spiders.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The speed in which people turn to religion is quick.
Final Thoughts – This is one of the greatest horrors of the century, the creature creations are wonderful, with brilliant characters and performances.
Overall: Excellent Horror.
