Former Punisher Thomas Jane stars as David Drayton, a work-at-home artist who’s busy slaving away on another movie poster commission when a violent thunderstorm blows into his small Maine town. He goes into the basement with his wife and young son, Billy, to ride it out--and it’s a good thing he did, because the storm sends a massive tree, the very same one his grandfather had planted in the front yard, smashing straight into the window of his studio. With the painting he had been working on a total loss, David writes off the work he’s done and now busies himself with the cleanup.
Deciding to head into town to get supplies, David brings along Billy, as well as
Brent Norton, his estranged neighbor (played by the always good Andre Braugher).
They stop off at the local supermarket to stock up on food.
But their little grocery run is disturbed by a thick layer of mist that descends
on the entire town. A blood-stained man comes running into the store in a panic,
running just ahead of the oncoming mist, claiming that something in the mist had
grabbed and killed his friend. The milky-white mist now enshrouds the entire
store, trapping the shoppers within, who can now only stare in horror at the
otherworldly creatures who dwell within the mist just beyond the plate glass
windows. Writer/director Frank Darabont, who gave us The Shawshank Redemption,
hits another one out of the ballpark with his adaptation of Stephen King’s
novella The Mist. An ominous sense of dread begins with the very first scene and
keeps building until the horror is unleashed in all of its full-bore glory on
the shoppers of the supermarket.
Darabont wisely keeps the central theme of King’s story, which is how the veneer
of civilization is easily stripped away once people are faced with a dire,
apocalyptic situation where all the rules of everyday life are removed. Yet he
doesn’t pull back on the creepy factor, either. Legendary horror author H.P.
Lovecraft would probably feel right at home in the Mist, since the design of its
denizens--many of whom can barely be seen in the murky shadows--echo Lovecraft’s
description of his fabled Old Ones. Despite the fact that it was shot on a low
budget, The Mist is masterfully done, and always with great reverence to King’s
story.
The cast that Darabont has assembled is marvelous. Oscar winner Marcia Gay
Harden shines as religious fanatic Mrs. Carmody, while Toby Jones scores as an
unassuming store clerk who rises to the occasion. Laurie Holden, last seen in
Silent Hill, is also very good here as Amanda. William Sadler, Jeffery DeMunn
and Frances Sternhagen all round out the superb cast, who are all very
believable. The two-disc DVD comes with plenty of special features, including a
second copy of the film presented in crisp black and white. Darabont originally w
anted to shoot the film in black and white, but when that was nixed by the
studio, this separate B&W version was created for the DVD. From the opening shot
right to its audacious ending, The Mist is a riveting horror movie from two
storytelling masters, Stephen King and Frank Darabont. --SF
