Based on a novella by Stephen King, The Mist centres on a
small group of people in a small town, trapped in their local supermarket by a
supernatural mist which descends on their town. Whilst monsters may lurk in the
shadowy depths of The Mist, the true
horror lies in the minds of the desperate and frightened survivors.
Frank Darabont can create tension so thick, it almost feels claustrophobic;
a considerable skill considering the majority of the film is set in a fairly spacious
space. This is thanks mostly to Darabont’s fairly solid adaptation, although
not without its problems, with a particularly cruel ending which improves on
the novella. Darabont keeps the scenes tightly framed for the most part, but
Rohn Schmidt’s cinematography never becomes stale, as he uses fluid motions to
capture multiple moments within the same shot. The camera only retreats back to
reveal the full scale of the monstrous creatures or to convey the vastness of
the unnatural mist.
The Mist does not
have the same level of depth in terms of the psychological horror King is
famous for. It is not concerned with outrageous gore, although it has more than
its fair share of icky scenes, it is a modern monster B movie. As a result, most
of the characters in The Mist are
fairly on-the-nose, you have your small-town folks, arrogant gung-ho young men,
the fundamentalist fire-and-brimstone Christian and so forth. Also, the
monsters’ CGI is fairly low budget - the infested pharmacy scene has the best execution
of CGI in the film – which might distract some viewers.
Thomas Jane brings a level-headiness to the main protagonist
David Drayton, who is not immune from making mistakes or being overwhelmed. Toby
Jones is earnestly sincere as the assistant store manager Ollie, keen to help
but not afraid to stand his ground. Nathan Gamble gives a fine performance as David’s
son Billy, finding the balance of being frightened but not insufferable for it.
Laurie Holden has to make do with Amanda, a role which boils down to basically babysitting
Billy, although Holden manages to bring warmth to the role. As Mrs Carmody, the
doomsayer baying for blood, Marcia Gay Holden is sanctimonious and spiteful, fervently
quoting apocalyptic passages from the Bible.
Taken as the B movie that it is, The Mist is a fun and tense ride.
N.B.: This review concerns the colour version of the The Mist, which is also available in a black and white version on DVD.
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