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[Stoney Mason]

Opens: Nov 21st, 2007

Not sure if I'll see it yet (most likely will unless the reviews really go into the toilet) but it was my favorite Stephen King book as a kid along with The Stand and reunites Frank Darabont and a Stephen King work. That collaboration also produced The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption. The Mist is more a pure horror/fantasy work than those two. The producers of the television show Lost have stated that Stephen King is an influence on their show and The Mist is a pretty obvious example of that. Came from the collection of short stories originally in the Skeleton Crew so it's a good read even if you don't check out the movie.


Trailer:http://www.apple.com/trailers/weinstein/themist/trailer2/
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mist/

Reviews Counted: 50
Fresh: 36 Rotten: 14
Average Rating: 6.7/10
Rotten Score:72%

===============================================


Review quotes:

The bugs and such are gross enough -- and yet so very handsome -- in Frank Darabont's nifty, unusually spry, and almost shockingly pessimistic low-budget adaptation of [Stephen] King's 1980 extended short story.

Entertainment Weekly

The film can't sustain this momentum en route to a highly calculated ending that departs from King's more ambiguous denouement to mostly shrug-worthy effect.

Variety

If there’s any flaw in the film, it’s in some of the specifics of the Darabont’s script which at times, leans towards the predictable. But like everything Darabont does The Mist connects with its audience on such a deeply emotional level that those trifling problems are easily overcome. The film’s monster movie elements are there only to serve as a catalyst for a much deeper, brutally emotive, thought-provoking story. This is a brilliantly smart, character-driven horror film; and it’ll rock you to the core.

Cinema Blend

 

[Prospero]

Does anyone else remember the audio-book cassette of this story? "The Mist! In 3-D Sound!" You were supposed to listen to it with headphones, and sound effects were added in that were meant to make you think there were evil flying things swooping down at you from above, and so on. It was actually pretty scary, at least to me as a kid.

EDIT: like every mass media product ever, it's available at Amazon.

Book Description
Sound so visual you're literally engulfed by its bonechilling terror!

 

[Stoney Mason]

Does anyone else remember the audio-book cassette of this story? "The Mist! In 3-D Sound!" You were supposed to listen to it with headphones, and sound effects were added in that were meant to make you think there were evil flying things swooping down at you from above, and so on. It was actually pretty scary, at least to me as a kid.

Never heard of it although it sounds interesting. There was also a game

http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=1065

 

[mr_nexus]

Silent Hill was inspired by Stephen King's The Mist. That is enough to make want to watch it.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

Does anyone else remember the audio-book cassette of this story? "The Mist! In 3-D Sound!" You were supposed to listen to it with headphones, and sound effects were added in that were meant to make you think there were evil flying things swooping down at you from above, and so on. It was actually pretty scary, at least to me as a kid.

EDIT: like every mass media product ever, it's available at Amazon.

my brother, sister, and I use to pass this around and listen to it on very long road trips.

awesome stuff. I recommend everyone check it out!

 

[Gattsu25]

Good story, though I can easily see how people might feel cheated by the

Spoiler

ending, considering it didn't close on a movie-like note

...granted this only applies if it wasn't changed from the book

edit: well...shit. :lol I had my spoiler tags marked as highlight tags

 

[TheJollyCorner]

personally I loved the ending to the book, so I hope Darabont stays faithful and doesn't add some "boss battle".

 

[teiresias]

personally I loved the ending to the book, so I hope Darabont stays faithful and doesn't add some "boss battle".

Apparently the ending is "extended" or something. I read a description of it elsewhere, but not having read the original story I can't judge whether it's good, bad, indifferent, or stupid to do so though.

 

[Draft]

Silent Hill was inspired by Stephen King's The Mist. That is enough to make want to watch it.

So was Half-Life.

The movie's ending is both more dour and more "happy" than the book's, if that makes any sense. I much prefer the book's ending.

 

[Exis]

Does anyone else remember the audio-book cassette of this story? "The Mist! In 3-D Sound!" You were supposed to listen to it with headphones, and sound effects were added in that were meant to make you think there were evil flying things swooping down at you from above, and so on. It was actually pretty scary, at least to me as a kid.

When I was a kid I would get this from the library all the time, it scared the piss out of me, due to that the Mist has a special place for me.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

So was Half-Life.

The movie's ending is both more dour and more "happy" than the book's, if that makes any sense. I much prefer the book's ending.

good plan! since the general audience simply can't take

Spoiler

sombre, interpretational endings!!!

...son of a fucking bitch...

 

[The Elite]

Saw this last night. Great movie! Weird, twisted and fun. Just what you would expect from a movie based on a King book. Fucked up ending too.

 

[Draft]

good plan! since the general audience simply can't take

Spoiler

sombre, interpretational endings!!!

...son of a fucking bitch...

I mean, when I say happy... I don't want to spoil anything, but IMO the movie's ending is quite a bit meaner and harder to stomach than the book's.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

eh?

oh... well that should be interesting to see.

 

[Stoney Mason]

Up to a 69% so not bad especially for a horror movie which tends to drive down these scores.

 

[VistraNorrez]

It's at 70. It sounds like a real downer of a film, but so is the story. King 100% approved of Darabont's ending and said he wished he thought of it.

 

[Daigoro]

they changed the ending. automatic fail.

i love this novella.

ill see the movie one day for the hell of it. hopefully its worth a look.

 

[Daigoro]

i just saw the commercial actually.

it looks suprisingly faithfull to the book, and really pretty much looks like i pictured it. from what the trailer shows anyways...

pretty neat. as long as it stays mostly faithful it should be good.

It's at 70. It sounds like a real downer of a film, but so is the story. King 100% approved of Darabont's ending and said he wished he thought of it.

the combination of your avatar and what you posted have made me rethink my original post.

thanks to you.

 

[Chiggs]

Just got done seeing the film. I feel quite letdown. The production values are quite bad, and the

Spoiler

double-downer

ending seems forced and isn't as unsettling as the original.

There are a couple of cool moments, but overall...ugh.

 

[Escape Goat]

Anyone able to spoil the movie? I have zero interest in this. At least not enough to invest 9 bucks and 2 hours of my time.

 

[NewLib]

So was Half-Life.

The movie's ending is both more dour and more "happy" than the book's, if that makes any sense. I much prefer the book's ending.

I swear when I saw the preview for this movie I thought, "This looks like a mix between Silent Hill and Half-Life."

 

[Chiggs]

Anyone able to spoil the movie? I have zero interest in this. At least not enough to invest 9 bucks and 2 hours of my time.

Here's a rough synopsis of the movie, plus ending spoilers.

Spoiler

A storm hits. Ominous mist is seen. A man and his son and a lawyer and a lot of other people barricade themselves in a supermarket and defend it against all sorts of, IMO, poorly-designed creepy crawlies. Things are learned, character development is attempted, giant tentacles and bugs attack, people die.

Thomas Jane and his son, along with a couple others flee the supermarket because the people inside are being manipulated by an evil Christian woman who insists that God himself has sent the mist as a punishment, and that in order to get rid of the mist once and for all, they must make blood sacrifices. An army guy is repeatedly stabbed in the stomach by the woman's followers after he reveals that the Arrowhead Project is the source of the mist. The Arrowhead Project was a military experiment to open a window to other dimensions. It was successful. So succesful that monsters are pouring out of it.

Jane and his son, plus a few others dash through the mist in the parking lot to find his SUV. They battle giant spiders and a giant lobster/spider crab thing that you can't really see. They barely escape.

They drive back to Thomas Jane's house and find his dead, cocooned wife. They leave. Thomas Jane is sad.

They drive south until they run out of gas, but not before they see a 500 foot monstrosity cross the road in front of them (best part of the movie, btw). When the SUV runs out of gas, Thomas Jane takes out a gun and kills his son and the rest of the other people in the SUV to save them from being eaten alive... but doesn't have enough ammo to kill himself.

Thomas Jane screams maniacally realizing that he has just killed his young boy. He jumps out of the car and begs for the monsters to kill him. Something approaches. Out of the mist arrives an army brigade in bio-suits and flamethrowers. They are pushing the mist back somehow. Thomas Jane falls to his knees realizing that if only he had waited a few minutes more, his son and the rest of the people would be alive.

The ending really bothered me. Had Darabont just stopped at one point, it would have been excellent, but he had to go for one more kick in the pants, and I think that took away some of the impact of the

Spoiler

shooting.

I'm sure some will disagree.

 

[DeadTrees]

So...it looks like you're trying to tell us that they completely fucked up the entire story, correct?

 

[polyh3dron]

Saw this film a couple of weeks ago at the WGA of all places.. Having not read the book I fucking loved it. I think the ending was one of the best horror film endings I've ever seen.

 

[Eric P]

i haven't read the original book in like 15 years

can someone spoil the original ending for me?

 

[Chiggs]

Saw this film a couple of weeks ago at the WGA of all places.. Having not read the book I fucking loved it. I think the ending was one of the best horror film endings I've ever seen.

Spoiler

I wish Darabont ended the film with Jane screaming to the mist to kill him. That felt really tragic. Once that army brigade arrived, it felt, to me, a little forced...especially when he sees that one woman from the supermarket in the back of the army truck, the one who went on her own to get her child. I took that as some sort of lame good parent/bad parent parable by Darabont.

The ending did have some power, I just think Darabont hung around a little too long and ended up adding an unecessary "kick in the pants" which diminished the overall feel.

 

[Stoney Mason]

Legendary horror author Stephen King has had two of his stories adapted into feature films this year, the first being 1408 back in June and now The Mist, starring Thomas Jane, Toby Jones and Marcia Gay Harden, hitting theaters this week. Readers of the site should know that I definitely did not like 1408, despite its great reviews and generally positive feedback. Fortunately I've seen The Mist already and it's much better, much scarier, much more thrilling, and overall a better movie. It was not perfect, and there are some flaws or debatable parts, but that doesn't mean it's still good. The ending itself is so good that not only does Stephen King approve of it, but he says he'll kill me if I spoil it!

Just last week Stephen King was out promoting The Mist and at a press conference (via Cinema Blend) he went on record as publicly saying that he approved of and even "loved" the new ending. Here's King's official statement:

Frank wrote a new ending that I loved. It is the most shocking ending ever and there should be a law passed stating that anybody who reveals the last 5 minutes of this film should be hung from their neck until dead.

It's rare that authors really go out and state that they approve of a movie to begin with, but to say they approve of and even loved a massive change, especially to the ending, is pretty incredible. This means quite a damn bit for Frank Darabont and The Mist. Although a different genre, Alan Moore won't even acknowledge that his graphic novels (V for Vendetta or Watchmen) are adapted. And this statement coming from someone as well-known and powerful as Stephen King is definitely a good thing.

The Mist arrives in theaters this Wednesday, November 21st. If you've had your share of Thanksgiving turkey and your relatives and are looking for a good scare, this is a must see. It will scare the living crap out of you, make you think and debate, and still be an enjoyable experience.

Out today. I probably won't get a chance to check it out until next week though.

Rotten score at 72
Metacritic 61.

Pretty good scores for Horror.

 

[Chiggs]

Well, King also liked The Shining tv miniseries.

Edit: And shouldn't it be "hanged from their neck until dead?" :lol

 

[Gattsu25]

Well, King also liked The Shining tv miniseries.

Edit: And shouldn't it be "hanged from their neck?" :lol

both work and you better watch out!

 

[VistraNorrez]

Well, King also liked The Shining tv miniseries.

Edit: And shouldn't it be "hanged from their neck?" :lol

The most common term is hanged for executions, but hung is acceptable.

Look, we all have strange tastes here and there that seem to conflict with other things we like. I think King likes the mini-series because it is closer to his book, whereas Kubrick practically disregarded the book. I'm sure if pressed he'd admit it's limited by being a made for TV production.

 

[Chiggs]

The most common term is hanged for executions, but hung is acceptable.

Look, we all have strange tastes here and there that seem to conflict with other things we like. I think King likes the mini-series because it is closer to his book, whereas Kubrick practically disregarded the book. I'm sure if pressed he'd admit it's limited by being a made for TV production.

Fair enough, but I think King also liked Dreamcatcher.

 

[Stoney Mason]

Fair enough, but I think King also liked Dreamcatcher.

Stop your KING BASHING!!!

 

[Gattsu25]

Fair enough, but I think King also liked Dreamcatcher.

Unsurprising...considering that you actively shun liberty

 

[Chiggs]

Stop your KING BASHING!!!

I didn't mean to cross the Curtis/Kurtz line!

 

[Stoney Mason]

I didn't mean to cross the Curtis/Kurtz line!

To be fair, I've thought the trailers looked pretty bad. Made it look cheesy. I've often found that King's "realistic" work translates very well to the screen (Stand by Me being the ultimate expression of that) but the horror stuff surprisingly doesn't a lot of times.

 

[beelzebozo]

Look, we all have strange tastes here and there that seem to conflict with other things we like. I think King likes the mini-series because it is closer to his book, whereas Kubrick practically disregarded the book. I'm sure if pressed he'd admit it's limited by being a made for TV production.

i watched the mini-series when it was on tv, and it was just fantastically enjoyable to watch. as far as the stories that are told between kubrick's version and the tv version, i still personally feel that the mini-series told the more interesting and dynamic story, even if it was told in a more obvious, less interesting way. kubrick's version obviously excels at memorable imagery, but the fact that jack in that version is already creepy and suspect when they arrive at the hotel hurts it a little for me.

 

[BobJustBob]

Since this thread is derailed already, I don't feel bad for posting this pic here. (It should be in the Hitman thread but there's no current one and I don't want to make one just for this.)

 

[Goreomedy]

Since this thread is derailed already

How is it derailed? People are simply discussing King's opinion of the movie/ending and if that is at all evidence of quality.

 

[michaeld]

King on the ending...

Frank wrote a new ending that I loved. It is the most shocking ending ever and there should be a law passed stating that anybody who reveals the last 5 minutes of this film should be hung from their neck until dead.

 

[BobJustBob]

How is it derailed? People are simply discussing King's opinion of the movie/ending and if that is at all evidence of quality.

Actually they are discussing various King books and the film adaptations of them. If general King discussion is on-topic than so is general RT discussion.

 

[Chiggs]

Since this thread is derailed already, I don't feel bad for posting this pic here. (It should be in the Hitman thread but there's no current one and I don't want to make one just for this.)

:lol :lol :lol

but the fact that jack in that version is already creepy and suspect when they arrive at the hotel hurts it a little for me.

And that's one of the reasons I liked it. I'm glad there were no overwrought "slow descent into madness" scenes. Jack was kind of already a suspect character to begin with, given his background and I like the fact that he feels attracted to the hotel from the start, like he's already been there. I like how his selfishness is almost instantly apparent in the film.

Also, the ending of the novel/miniseries is so embarassing compared to Kubrick's version. Just embarassing. On one hand, we have the hotel blowing up, and on the other, a beautifully shot chase through the a hedge maze, followed by a an excellent tracking shot through the lobby which ends with a shot that makes you go "hmmmm." At least I did.

Kubrick took a solid horror concept filled with typical King hokiness and made it far more cerebral.

 

[Stoney Mason]

Actually they are discussing various King books and the film adaptations of them. If general King discussion is on-topic than so is general RT discussion.

Uh not really but okay.

 

[VistraNorrez]

i watched the mini-series when it was on tv, and it was just fantastically enjoyable to watch. as far as the stories that are told between kubrick's version and the tv version, i still personally feel that the mini-series told the more interesting and dynamic story, even if it was told in a more obvious, less interesting way. kubrick's version obviously excels at memorable imagery, but the fact that jack in that version is already creepy and suspect when they arrive at the hotel hurts it a little for me.

I would agree with you about Jack except by the end we find out he's always been the caretaker there. So it makes sense he's always been a little off kilter.

 

[beelzebozo]

yeah, i'm not saying either is unimpeachable. i have my problems with both, just taking the opportunity to point out what i've always found weak story-wise about kubrick's film. on the whole it's probably much more worth someone's time, just not flawless by any means

 

[DeadTrees]

i haven't read the original book in like 15 years

can someone spoil the original ending for me?

Spoiler

The survivors from the supermarket discover that New England, if not the entire planet, is now barely habitable, and that everyone in the area is either dead or in hiding. The main character is writing down his story at a abandoned motel just before the survivors make a break for Hartford, based on a fragmentary radio message.

The End.

 

[HomerSimpson-Man]

I'm not much of a person for downer endings and I'm avoiding spoilers...but basically this movie's ending would bum a person like me out? Not even a smidgen of hope?

 

[Milabrega]

I'm not much of a person for downer endings and I'm avoiding spoilers...but basically this movie's ending would bum a person like me out? Not even a smidgen of hope?

The books ending would deliver not even a smidgen of hope, however reading the spoilers there is a smidgen of hope and in its place you get sorrow instead.

Not regarding the ending but something else in:

Spoiler

Don't the arrowhead soldiers commit suicide not get killed by the christian lady's people?

 

[DeadTrees]

Spoiler

Don't the arrowhead soldiers commit suicide not get killed by the christian lady's people?

Spoiler

In the book, they hang themselves before talking to anyone. The connection between the Arrowhead project and the mist is strongly implied but never confirmed.

 

[Chiggs]

Spoiler

In the book, they hang themselves before talking to anyone. The connection between the Arrowhead project and the mist is strongly implied but never confirmed.

Movie Spoiler

Spoiler

It's the same way in the movie, except one soldier doesn't hang himself, instead he gets killed by an angry crowd. Also, they really bang you over the head with the Arrowhead Project.

 

[Stoney Mason]

While the talk about the ending is valid personally I really could care less whether it's hopeful or not. I think an ending is what it is. It either enhances all the stuff you have seen or opens up a new different direction that you weren't expecting. I judge it based on whether it is fitting versus whether I'm happy or sad when I walk out of the theatre.