FILM REVIEW – THE
MIST (2008)
Movie adaptation of a terrific Stephen King horror novella, The Mist., which makes some serious, changes to the ending, with one of the darkest ‘final twist’ finales ever.
Plot wise, this is a basic Cthulhu monster invasion tale, with some of the strangest alien monsters on film, but the emphasise is very much on the human drama, as a cluster of survivors trapped in a supermarket cave in to panic, disbelief and political / religious fanaticism as hope runs out.
After a tornado wrecks a small US town, a strange Eire mist is seen approaching, and man takes his son, and a neighbour to the supermarket to find supplies, leaving the boy’s mother to look after their lakeside house. As they travel to the supermarket, they see various army vehicles moving towards The Mist.
At the store, the Mist closes in fast, and a man runs in to the shop in hysteria, claiming that there is something nasty in the fog. Initially thinking it is some kind of chemical cloud, the people of the town try to hold out, but patience wears thin, and a small band try to entire out. As they try, a Cthulhu octopus-like tentacle kills one, and the few witnesses try to convince everyone else of what they saw. Initially they are disbelieved, but a woman who is a religious fanatic begins to ant relentlessly about the events matching those in the Bible’s Book Of revelations. As more tragedies occur, many start to join her cult.
Some of the monsters are genuinely terrifying, especially the spider creatures that attack from the pharmacy, and the moth-like creatures that rip out people’s throats.
When the religious faction learn from a soldier that the army caused the creatures to break in through experiments in opening dimensional wormholes, the soldier is cast out as a sacrifice to the monsters. The main hero, and his son, along with a few others, decides to break out and drive away in the hope of getting beyond the Mist. Most don’t even get to the people transporter. The few who do drive through an Eire monster dominated landscape. As the car runs out of fuel, their hope evaporates, and they decide death is preferable to being devoured by the monsters. The hero uses the last four bullets in their gun on his companions, including his son, but finds that he has none left for himself. He gets out of the car to await his doom from the creatures, as the army tanks arrive bringing rescue that had been mere minutes away. They have already saved a woman who left early despite everyone warning her not to go, earlier in the film to find her children. The children are now with her. The fate of the people at the supermarket remains unknown, but it seems likely they will survive for not having gone outside.
Performances are fine, especially from Toby Jones as Ollie, the cynical store owner with zero faith in humanity, Marcia Gay Harden, as the superbly fanatical Mrs. Carmody and Thomas Jane as the main lead. A great touch is having a largely absent use of over-dramatic music to warn you when impending peril and death are going to happen next. Some moments make you jump out of your skin. It is the people behaviour that stays in the mind most of although. Director, Frank Darabont calls the film “The Lord of the Flies that happens to have some monsters in it.”
A bleak story, darker even than the book story that
spawned it, and a low-key horror story that deserved a better reception than it
received. There are some great lines, such as the store owner’s response
on seeing the cult developing. “Welcome to Sesame Street, kids. Today's word is 'expiation'.
LINKS –
The Mist On The International Movie Database http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0884328/
and on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mist_(film)
Arthur Chappell
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