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The Mist (2007)
Starring Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden & Laurie Holden
Directed by Frank Darabont
Written by Frank Darabont & Stephen King
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"As a species we're fundamentally insane. Put more than two of us in a room, we pick sides and start dreaming up ways to kill one another. Why do you think we invented politics and religion?"
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This is my apology to Frank Darabont. Mr. D is a director of some note, having put together the Shawshank Redemption and the Green Mile, two fantastic works recognized almost universally, as well as having written a draft of Indiana Jones 4 that was miles better than the final project. Both Green Mile and Shawshank were based on Stephen King stories. Much like Stuart Gordon and Lovecraft adaptations, it just seems to be his niche. Those two very authors got a little mix when Darabont elected to adapt The Mist, based on King's Lovecraft tribute story.
Now, I say this is my apology to Darabont, as back in the summer of '07, I was asked to cover for Wizard Magazine a press conference for Halloween by Rob Zombie and The Mist. When the article was turned in, only the coverage for Zombie's half was present. The Mist had an embarrassingly bad show of it, with the audience having no questions, Darabont having no stories to share, and star Tom Jane running around the room like he'd just downed a palm-full of speed. If I couldn't say anything nice, why say anything at all? So The Mist was denied any coverage from Wizard.
Little did I know that by October's end, Halloween would turn out a major disappointment, and The Mist would rock the balls off the world-at-large.
The Mist, as Stephen King is usually wont to do, tells two distinct and related stories. Its namesake comes from the creepy fog that rolls over this small Seattle suburb (and possibly the rest of the world) trapping its occupants inside of their various domiciles, waiting out the odd weather. Little do they expect the obfuscating clouds to produce swarms of strange, Lovecraftian monsters, giant spiders and carnivorous insectoids, as well as giant, tentacle-bearing beasts.
As the people, trapped in a supermarket together, attempt to fend off the foul creatures, two distinct factions arise between these survivors. The 'normal guys' rally behind Thomas Jane, seeking to find a means of escape before the grocery is overtaken by monsters; meanwhile a second group turn to God for help, and band behind Marcia Gay Harden (over-acting) as Mrs. Carmody, a religious zealot. Soon, the two groups are at each other's throats, whipped into bloodlust by Carmody's finger-pointing, and the revelation of a military plot behind the cosmic horror.
Both Darabont and King know that what makes a horror movie stand out is a philosophical focal point. Slashers and monsters can be scary, sure, but if the audience doesn't have one of their primal fears evoked, then they don't connect to the characters-soon-to-be-corpses on the screen, and it's just not scary. King's story is about more than just monsters, it's about what people do in a state of chaos, and the foul means of survival and warmongering we turn to when backed into a corner. The Mist stands out because no matter how horrid the mist monsters may be, the humans seem infinitely more disgusting by comparison, and we're forced to look at our own weakness and depravity.
King's original story ends with a cliffhanger, but Darabont felt the need to put a real cap on the story, and it's a doozy. Everything after the crew decides to leave the supermarket is pure Darabont, and it's what really sells the movie, not just for its tremendous ending, but for the sense of wonder and fantastic amid an alien landscape as the survivors explore a seaboard turned foreign by the altering effects of the mist.
So, I'm sorry Mr. Darabont. The Mist made a profit, but I know it underperformed at the box office, and I can't help but think that's my fault. Hopefully, a few BthroughZers will spend a few bucks checking out this gut-wrenching horror flick. It's fast, frenzied, and came together so much better than I ever had imagined. My favorite horror film of 2007; I'll never doubt you again.
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dustin