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The Mist 
Actors : Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden, Andre Braugher, Toby Jones
Director : Frank Darabont
Studio : Genius Products (TVN)
by Genius Products (TVN)
Brand : WELLSPRING/GENIUS
Release Date : 2008-03-25
Publisher : Genius Products (TVN)
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 0796019810586
UPC : 796019810586
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 314 reviews)
List Price : $29.95
Our Price : $11.07
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Description |
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A mysterious mist, thick with blood-thirsty creatures, descends on a small town, where a group of people holes up in a grocery store to fight for their lives. |
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Dvd-books.com |
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Writer-director Frank Darabont, who showcased the softer side of Stephen King in his film adaptations of The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, turns to darker material for The Mist, his latest King adaptation about a group of ordinary townspeople trapped in a supermarket by a mysterious fogbank. Thomas Jane is top-billed as a Maine illustrator who attempts to calm the frightened shoppers, but his job is cut out for him from the get-go, first by the discovery of malevolent creatures lurking in the mist, and then by the mad mutterings of Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden), a local eccentric who calls for Old Testament-style sacrifices to appease the supernatural forces. Darabont delivers monster movie thrills and understated social commentary with equal skill, and he's well supported by his cast (which includes Andre Braugher, Toby Jones, William Sadler and Jeffrey DeMunn) and the vivid special effects by KNB EFX, which effectively mix CGI with models and stop-motion animation (the terrific monsters were designed by legendary comic book artist Bernie Wrightson). And for those curious about how the novella's downbeat ending has translated to film, suffice it to say that Darabont's conclusion is at once different and more unsettling than King's. --Paul Gaita |
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Bad ending ruined the whole movie. |
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I thought this sounded like a good movie so I went and rented it. It was good up until the ending scene. It made me sad and pissed off all at the same time. I can't believe they would have an ending like this one. And as for the God preaching lady she made some of the movie just annoying. No offense to any church goers out there. If you plan to watch this movie please rent it before you spend the 20-30 bucks buying it. |
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Great movie Vivid Effects,and Great Writing |
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this movie is true to king's style he is truly the king when it come to writing horror, how the people reverted to their primative intstincts. the cgi effects of the bugs were incredible this film is a tapestry of great suspense. king reveals the creatures slowly weaving them with the mass hysteria and fear of the people trapped by their fear of the unknown. what really kept me gripped in suspense was watching the unraveling of the human phsyche. by the end of the movie I realized that the most frightening and grotesque monsters in the film were people. this is more that just a horror flick this is a warning to mankind that he is arrogant to assume that we are the only dominant life in our universe. if we were to think of the millions of micro organisms that can live in a single drop of water. then what is the earth compared to the infinte universe? great movie one of kings best |
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Who's the monster? |
Frank Darabont has given the "Night of the Living Dead" treatment to King's masterful story, and it's painful to watch the second half of the film. Yes, the monsters are scary (particularly the scene when the flying bugs break into the store), and the people are scary too, just not believable. I would hard-pressed to believe that such a watered-down version of Mrs. Carmody could convert a group of strangers into a bloodthirsty mob in 24 hours, but the characters in this film are so inept and violent (committing suicide at the drop of a hat, accidently setting themselves on fire, etc) that I guess in their world she makes perfect sense.
In the real world, the rescues of 9/11 show us that people are capable of heroic acts in a crisis. In the film, characters stand around in a parking lot wringing their hands while their companions get devoured, suggesting that maybe the giant bugs have attacked Mayberry and Barney Fife is unable to deal with them. At one point, the main character spends a full 15 seconds reaching for a gun that sits on the hood of his jeep, when he could have just stepped forward and grabbed it. Presumably he's waiting for the giant spider to get on stage. Maybe the creature missed its cue...
In an ending that's as depressing as it is unbelievable, director Darabont turns the tables on his main character by magically making the world right after the character's done everything wrong. The whole thing seems so unfair, to both the character and to viewers who've read King's story. I ended up wishing the character had saved a bullet for Darabont.
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Scared? |
Couldn't wait for the release in the UK, so ordered this & was not dissapointed. I'd read the book & enjoyed it, with the exception of the ending. This did the book justice with a cracking ending.
The tension builds fairly quickly for a Stephen King book turned movie.
Recommend this as a good 'scary' movie. |
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Thoughtfully nightmarish.... |
In the 1970s I saw a book on the shelf at the local drugstore. It had a fascinating black cover, embossed with the face of a child with fangs. I asked my mother to purchase it, and that evening started reading Stephen King's SALEM'S LOT. I was soon consuming each King book immediately after publication - "The Shining," "The Dead Zone," "The Stand."
If nothing else, King was prolific (the man loves to write). I fell behind his massive publications, branching off to new authors and genres, some inspired by King's fine nonfiction work Stephen King's Danse Macabre. Somewhere along the way, King wrote the novella "The Mist," which director Frank Darabont made into a film this past year. Television previews were horrible, resembling a low-budget variation of John Carpenter's near-classic horror tale The Fog (Special Edition) (1980), which had a notoriously poor remake itself in 2005.
I have been beaten down over the years by increasingly degenerate horror films, breeding a level of cynicism for the genre I love. I felt exploited by the remakes of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "The Hills Have Eyes. "Saw" was unusually offensive. Each film spawned sequels of decreasing quality.
I picked up the DVD case to "The Mist" at the rental store. I was surprised it was directed by Darabont, whose The Shawshank Redemption (Single Disc Edition) and "The Green Mile" were respectable, if not extraordinary, works. He was a talent with an established track record, unusual for today's horror offerings. Sold by his name (rather than King's), I rented the film with the hope of quality and cheap thrills.
Much to my shock, I discovered one of the great horror films of the modern era, complete with crisp dialogue, tense atmosphere and earnest peformances by recognizable character actors. Arguably, it's one of the great monster movies of all time, with the horror deriving from human characters turning on one another as the apocalyptic tension increases.
Several aspects of "The Mist" will remind viewers of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (Collector's Edition) (1963) and George Romero's Night of the Living Dead (Millennium Edition) (1968), or for those versed in "The Twilight Zone," the 1960 episode "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street." You have characters from different cultural backgrounds thrown together against an unknown menace. Birds, zombies or slithering creatures, no matter, the fascination of these films is how humans react to having their worlds permanently changed within a matter of minutes.
I suppose the key to any monster film is the monster. Steven Spielberg's Jaws (30th Anniversary Edition) (1975) set a standard by not showing the creature until more than one hour into the film. Curse of the Demon / Night of the Demon (1957) had the audacity to not reveal the monster until the final scene. But this is the modern world, and Darabont is forced to reveal pieces of his creatures as "The Mist" progresses. When they do make an appearance, they are not creatures we have seen before. They fly, bite, swarm and slither. Some are big. Once the monsters are shown, specifically one evening as they crash into the store windows, the suspense remains. Like cockroaches, these creatures move too fast for comfort, and so dangerous that there is little hope.
Following an especially violent thunderstorm, a mist pours into a small Maine town and a father and son find themselves trapped with 30-40 people at the local grocery store. Preceded by the terrifying wail of an emergency siren, the fog surrounds the store as a resident, covered in blood, rushes past the glass doors announcing "There's something in the mist!" Cell phones stop working, the electricity goes out and the trapped survivors, noshing on the store's potato chips and sports drinks, stare at the mist in frozen silence.
Thomas Jane plays the father David Drayton, a local artist hunk who attempts to keep the residents calm while caring for his terrified son. Drayton's not a native, plus he's fairly well-to-do, and as the hours grind on he uncomfortably realizes that the locals are rallying around Bible-thumper Mrs. Carmody (Oscar-winner Marcia Gay Harden, in grand saliva-spitting form). In Jim Jones tradition, she announces the apocalypse, and the need to appease the Gods with sacrifice. Drayton's son is blonde and innocent and, well, it doesn't take Einstein to figure out who might be the first offering.
Over the course of an agonizing hour, characters are established, tentacles slither through a loading dock, and an especially brave Hells Angels-type volunteers to walk into the mist with a rope around his waist. While I will not reveal his outcome, the screams of the store's inhabitants are traumatic and real. Multiple times I found myself imagining what I would do if trapped in the same situation. The brilliance of "The Mist," and I believe this was intentional strategy by Darabont (who also wrote the screenplay), is the choices made were exactly what I considered.
There's multiple American analogies one can apply to "The Mist," as it dabbles in race and religious prejudices and lynch mob mentality. The Lovecraftian creepy crawlies throw everyone into a state of rabid panic and there's a genuine feeling of doom pervading the drama as it takes on Lord of the Flies (50th Anniversary Edition) dynamics.
As the final action unfolds, Drayton is forced to make a unimaginably difficult decision. Viewers will find themselves wondering if they could have committed the same act, a choice that will provoke conversation long after the haunting final credits.
Mr. King's imagination has once again captured mine, and I've been reminded of an old, childhood friend, as comfortable as a black and white Rod Serling. Welcome back Mr. King, and thank you Mr. Darabont for having the bravery to fulfill a thoughtfully nightmarish vision. |
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