The Mist

Hm... the blonde was terribly unappealing... come to think of it, I didn’t actually like anyone in this... The best part was stirring up the mob, how easy it is, right? And that ending? I kind of expected it, exactly like that. Mr. King always tries to end with that bit of a shock, but this one seemed transparent to me; oh well, it's dawn now and the mist is rolling over the tree tops. And I'm not scared at all. Such a pity. (11/04/2009)

Darabont combines a classical survival thriller with expertly crafted psychological character development in an incredible way. The dense atmosphere is created not only through the mist, but also through the brilliantly portrayed characters, and the balance between both elements is excellent. At the beginning, there is a lot of mystery (excellent camera work and editing), then the monsters appear (survival), and for the rest of the film, we have a devout fanatic, foolish villagers, a cunning lawyer (a clash of interests, opinions, and beliefs), and several gruesome scenes with monsters that are truly worth it. I am willing to overlook the occasional light inspiration from Alien, because, overall, it is an excellent genre mix that delivers anything but what you expect. Thumbs up for the ending! (16/01/2009)

If there is one horror movie this year that deserves a full score, it’s this one. It has an awesome atmosphere, especially in the second half, and I also liked the diversity of the monsters. But it’s not only about monsters, the story has a very strong dramatic line, too. The ending is amazing! More movies like this! Darabont has another successful King adaptation under his belt. (26/11/2007)

I like that King's unpredictability and uncompromising nature can be felt every second in the story, that the common (outdoor) enemy is sufficiently straightforward and "evil," and that it is clear from the beginning that no nonsense can emerge from the events outside. But what took the breath away from me in the worst way was that in the crucial passages the story always relies on the aggressively-religious motive of punishment for sins. Instead of carefully measured fear, Darabont tries to crawl under the skin with mass psychoses and hits a wall. If such a gallery of bloodthirsty monsters is lurking outside, I really have no desire to listen to a threatening fanatic. Moreover, the whole film is somewhat undermined by the ending in the style of brutal finishes that change the original tone. Despair thus clashes with an unexpected twist, and the desperate mood is tainted by a sense of futility. (16/05/2008)

I wouldn't compare Darabont's film to a cheap horror flick, or, heaven forbid, measure it through the lens of 1950s monster movies. I think The Mist works equally well as gritty horror, and as a kind of psychological drama where rationality vs. bigotry clashes within a small circle of people. Anyway, even the rather ridiculous tentacles at the beginning didn't spoil my overall very good impression. Scary, at times decently suspenseful and with a very powerful twist at the end. And Thomas Jane finally gave a believable performance (Punisher is forgiven). I wonder what the leaders (if they saw it) of the increasingly growing creationist movement in the United States, where their pseudo-scientific doctrine is already on school curricula and whose luminaries use much the same rhetoric as the deranged, had to say about the figure of the religious fanatic Mrs. Carmody. If Darabont wanted to symbolically smack them with it, I won't hesitate to give it the maximum rating :) I'm tempted to compare it with King's novel. (12/03/2008)