The Mist

Usually when everyone comes out of a movie hating it, I think that maybe I should avoid the movie at all costs, but that was not the case with this movie. I was intrigued as to what happened in the movie to make everyone come out with such wrath towards it. As I started to pay attention to what people were saying as the exited the theater it became clear that the ending is what led to such hate. That really piqued my interest because typically when everyone hates an ending that means it does not end happily and I like that. I enjoy when movies take a risk of alienating the masses. Unfortunately for me, listening to those conversations also led me to find out the ending, but I went in and watched it anyway. How did it far for me?

In a small unnamed town a freak storm comes through and knocks out the electricity, brings down many of the trees and brings with it a thick, foreboding mist. David Drayton(Thomas Jane) heads into town with his son and his neighbor, Brent Norton(Andre Braugher) to the local store to get supplies to make it through the storm. Once inside the store a man from town comes running and screaming about something being in the Mist; something that is killing people. No one believes it, but after 5 of them run into a large Tenticled creature in the stock room, it is understood that no one should leave. Mrs. Carmody(Marcia Gay Harden) is a religious nut who believes this is God's way of cleansing the Earth. It is a very stereotypical treatment of a religious person, but it works within the movie. After being trapped for a little while cabin fever starts to settle in and people choose sides between the crazy religious woman and the logical reason of Drayton. Drayton's side has less people and a lot of stuff erupts between the two sides and just general craziness happens for the rest of the movie.

This is not a perfect movie, but it is a very effective scary thriller. The performances are extremely one note, but it is a scary movie that is par for the course. The creatures all look very cool and are given regular bug qualities, which make it even scarier because the spider creatures essentially look and act like spiders but if touched by their web your skin will melt off and if they get too close to you they will go inside you and cause you to burst open allowing thousands of baby spider creatures to be born. The spider scene is probably one of the most effective moments because it is generally creepy, scary and loud all at the same time. The idea of cabin fever is portrayed perfectly as the townsfolk starts to turn on each other because they have no idea what really to do. No one knows if the mist is all over the planet just the town or what. Also, they are searching for something to believe in and the crazy religious woman gives them that. Also, I liked that the humans do just as many evil things as the creatures do. There are some side characters that do not serve much of a purpose, but I was surprised as to how many of them didn't die since usually stock characters serve only one purpose- to die.

What makes this movie more effective than many of its kind is the camera work. The movie is often times shot like a documentary really putting us in the moment. The angles give a very disjointed feel and the slow shaky close ups give the feeling that the cameraman is scared and therefore it makes us scared. The camera moves very well through the store during the two big attacks and we never lose a moment of the scary crazy creatures. Also, there is a huge creature that we never fully see. We see shadows of it and glimpses at parts of it, but they never show it in its full glory. It really lends another sense of creepiness to it, that our vision is never allowed to see it square on, again like the cameraman was just too afraid. Some times less really is more. That is not to say there aren't disgusting moments because gore hounds get a few nice body dismemberments and face explosions.

As for the ending of the movie, I can see why everyone hates it so much, but it really worked for me as a daring and different ending than one could imagine. Knowing the ending did not effect my enjoyment of the movie and actually when it got to that ending I was still a bit shocked by it. I know it is a departure from the book(I have not read it but many customers have) but I respect that the studio stood by the director, Frank Darabont. I guess since he brought Shawshank Redemption to the screen they trust him with Steven King material. I actually prefer this ending to the typical Steven King, indeterminate (read: lazy) ending. There are some plot holes and the explanation for the mist is never fully realized, but that doesn't take away from the scares, the camera work and a very interesting ending.