Review: (Stephen King’s) The Mist

I haven’t read the original, not being a huge fan of Mr King’s stuff, but supposedly the movie adaptation departs from it in the way it ends. Word is I’m not meant to spoil that for anyone on pain of death by hanging, so I won’t despite it being the part that probably bears more discussion.

I will, however reference my feelings on the ending and if this sort of obtuse discussion is going to spoil it for you then don’t read past the click through.

I do recommend going to see the film, it’s a fairly intelligent horror picture that avoids being too heavy handed with the metaphors it contains. Thomas Jane does well as the gruff protagonist but go see it for Marcia Gay Harden, who is fantastic as the human villian of the film. If you don’t want anything that might be considered a spoiler don’t read on, just go see it.

The setup is that a storm brings a mist down from the hills, settling over a storm ravaged small town. A large section of the townspeople are in the local supermarket stocking up on supplies when it hits, and as it does a local man comes running into the store warning them all that there’s something out there in the mist. Despite the fact that they quickly get confirmation of this, there remains those that doubt which creates early tension. Eventually with the passage of time the belivers themselves divide into two groups, those who see the mist as a danger that needs to be faced and those that see it as punishment from god himself.

The best part of the film is that, for the most part the true nature of the mist is never revealed. Is it the end of times? Is it death? Is it just the dark world outside the safety of the supermarket? (There is one point where a soldier mentions that it might be from some half-life style demensional meddling which I felt should have been left out. Not knowing always scarier in this sort of situation. Once that explaination had been offered it put everything else in a slightly silly light. But this is only a minor gripe.)

So, in the second half of the film the secular face off against the religeous in the middle of a supermarket as abject fear of the unknown leads many to turn to the ramblings of a woman many belived at the start of the film to be crazy, accepting her message as she bays for the blood of those in the store that disagree with her. It’s hard to miss what the film is trying to say. And yet it does it without ever sitting you down and telling you.

So with this setup, what I’ve heard of the original Stephen King ending would have been much more effective. In fact, cutting off the story where they finally get free would have left some mystery about the situation without shaking the horrible suspicion that there wouldn’t be an end to it. What we got was interesting. I wouldn’t call it cheap horror, but I did feel cheated for a simple psychological kick. And yet it was in some ways foreshadowed in the rhetoric of Mrs Carmody, particularly the story of Abraham, and yet for the protagonist that’s not how it works. I’m left puzzled as to the meaning of the ending. But I’ve proabably already said too much. I’d love to have a discussion about it though so I guess Frank Darabont has succeeded. Go see it.

By Lance Roger.