Review of The Mist (2007) by Robertc. — 24 Nov 2007

Whoa. The Mist, Frank Darabont's newest film version of a Stephen King tale, is a kick in the gut. Adapted from a nearly flawless novella originally published in the Kirby McCauley edited 1983 anthology DARK FORCES, The Mist recalls George A.

Romero's Night of the Living Dead for sheer apocalyptic dread. Moreover, like Romero's film, The Mist owns an ending brutal in its anguish. Whereas King's novella ends with ambiguity concerning the survival of the characters and the world, Darabont's film serves a clear denoument that leaves the viewer emotionally exhausted, helpless, and weirdly satisfied.

I left the theater satisfied that I'd seen a nearly perfect horror film whose intact and intelligent subtext and resonance is difficult to find at today's multiplex. I also left the theater satisfied that the filmmakers respected me as a member of the audience.

Like Night and James Gunn's Slither, The Mist is bright, intellectual popcorn horror steeped deeply in the human condition. Darabont utilises the "desert island" trope as creatively as Romero did in 1968.

This trope strands several people in a place where there is little or no chance of escape and allows the human part of them to take over. Greed, cowardice, need for order, all these things rise to the surface and the people trapped in the island become dangerous.

In the case of Romero's and Darabont's films, the people trapped in the farmhouse and grocery store become more dangerous than the ghouls and creepy other-dimensional crawlies who wish to consume them.

More importantly, like Romero, Darabont doesn't flinch in presenting an ending that belongs more in the European ouvre of Austria's Michael Haneke than in a Hollywood film. Perhaps the Weinstein brothers, who produced, understand that The Mist is material in need of a resonant and stunning denoument to respect every action and death occurring throughout the story.

Regardless, go and see this movie! You will not regret it.