Review: The Mist (2007)

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The Mist is based on a short story by Stephen King. It's a monster movie at its core, but people turn out to be far more dangerous than the creatures in the mist. The Mist has an old school set up and is character driven, but with current effects and gore. The DVD/Blu Ray version has a black and white option, which should be viewed for an entirely different type of experience.

The Mist starts out to be about David Drayton (played by Thomas Jane a.k.a. The Punisher). David takes his son to the store after a massive storm damaged his and his neighbor's house. David and his neighbor have butted heads in the past, but David offers a olive branch and drives everyone to the store to buy supplies to fix their respective properties.

Soon a fog engulfs the outside of the store, trapping everyone inside. They soon figure out that there are monsters in the mist and they cannot leave to escape or look for help without being eaten. The monsters are only part of the problem. One of the patrons of the store is an extremely religious woman who says that this is the rapture and all sinners will be punished. At first no one cares what she has to say, but as more and more people fall prey to the creatures, the other survivors start to believe her. Not only that, but they start to follow her commands. This creates a frenzied spiral into an amazing conclusion and a heart wrenching ending.

The ending wasn't in the original short story, but Stephen King was quoted that if he had thought of it, he would have put it into the story. That's how good the ending is. There won't be any spoilers here, but you won't be disappointed.

The movie's creatures are mostly CG, but well done. The black and white version hides a lot of the off textures when compared to the actors, but the color version doesn't look bad. The gore is done extremely well. The attacks are shocking, but in many instances sad, because you've grown to know the characters that are meeting their grisly fate.



The acting makes this movie. There are a lot of horror movies that fall back on gore, death, and cheap scares, but never have decent acting or character development. The Mist never falls short in this department. Thomas Jane is one of the highlights. Marcia Gay Harden plays Mrs. Carmody, the religious fanatic, who you love to hate. She may start out wanting to please her god, but ends up taking advantage of scared people and making them do horrible things. Chris Owen best known for his role as The Shermanator in American Pie makes an appearance. Sam Witmer (Star Killer in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 1 & 2, Doomsday in Smallville, and Aidan in Being Human) is part of a military unit that knows the secrets of The Mist.

The Mist is a perfect Halloween movie, especially the black and white version. It should be watched in the dark. You may find yourself wondering what lurks outside the door, but this movie teaches us that what resides inside can be just as dangerous and frightening.