Review of The Mist (2007) by The_Shed — 01 Nov 2010

I disagree with many critics and evidently many viewers in that I think this film was an excellent character drama, and a very good film overall. The characters were solid, the acting was great in most cases, it built up a lot of suspense and character development, and it avoided a lot of tropes and cliche's, with a pretty brutal ultimatum.

It wasn't a typical horror movie, or even a very good horror movie, by any means. The enemies are rarely seen, in several cases passive, and scare moments don't last very long. However, in almost every other respect I'd say the film is a great success. Most characters actually have interesting opinions and beliefs, and don't follow genre cliche's (when they do, it's with depth and subtlety). A small example is the seeming jobsworth store department manager, I forget his name, who has a goofy appearance, is stumpy, and has glasses. In EVERY other horror movie he would be comic/ sicko relief, and would be killed by the main character or somesuch after he pervs on the love interest or some crap. However, he turns out to be a good guy, one of the best in the film, and is likeable and has a lot of story/plot input. The generic psycho antagonist seems one-dimensional and cliche, but is acted with extreme finesse- when she finally starts driving people to violence (which is inevitable), you can actually see that she is shocked at what is going on, but keeps at it out of fear and wavering momentum. The whole thing is about why people do these things- basically fear and how people deal with it.

The story is basic and doesn't reveal much about what is going on, but that's not necessary, as it's mostly about the characters' survival and relationships, yet it still does a good job of setting up an ecology and background for the strange creatures the players encounter. The film's not much of a horror, but as a thriller and a character piece- I'd say hit it up like a whack-a-mole.