Stephen King's The Mist

Reviewed by:
Pete Hammond

A deep fog rolls into a small town, bringing with it dread and terror to a group of citizens who band together in the local supermarket in order to escape the growing number of giant insects and reptilian creatures who slowly make their presence known in The Mist. Trapped together are an assortment of types, including a heroic artist (Thomas Jane), his son (Nathan Gamble), an angry man (Andre Braugher), and most notable of all, a religious zealot (Marcia Gay Harden) who repeatedly tries to tie the event to "the Apocalypse." This film, taken from a Stephen King short story, represents another teaming of King and director Frank Darabont, whose collaboration has already given us two previous Best Picture Oscar nominees, The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. They have created another winner here, a psychological masterpiece of pure horror. The story is given extra import as it echoes the post-9/11 fears of unknown assailants and chemical warfare that permeate much of society today. The film skillfully exploits contemporary paranoia about what could be "out there" and shows our helpless reaction when faced with the reality of such an event. Reminiscent in some ways of the Alfred Hitchcock classic The Birds, we watch as the numbers of winged invaders keep multiplying, spreading their brand of evil and scaring the holy crap out of people. It all leads to an ironic conclusion that represents one of the most shocking movie endings ever. It will send chills down your spine. The entire cast is superb. Harden gives a truly memorable performance, particularly when she has her own "spiritual" encounter with one of the visiting arachnids. Film adaptations of King's work tend to be hit and miss, but with last summer's 1408 and now this scary-as-hell flick, he's on a roll.