The Mist Review

30/04/2009

Crikey!

Dir. Frank Darabont
Year: 2007
Cert: 15

imdb Link

Frank Darabont doesn’t need scripts. Only books by Stephen King. There’s a huge quantity of the latter, and thankfully, considerable talent in the former.

If other film-makers, especially of the modern, hip and knowingly geekish JJ Abrahms variety were to create a triumvirate of films based on the literary works of the indisputable master of mainstream horror and escalating page counts then The Mist would be a great starting point. Its a low budget, high concept Twilight Zone style lark that spends the majority of its time dealing with a small group of characters trapped isolated within supermarket fending off rarely seen fog-dwelling monsters whilst dealing with the hysteria of their fellow survivors.

Darabont went in the opposite direction. First adapting King’s novella ‘Rita Heyworth and the Shawshank Redemption’ into a sprawling, supremely confident prison epic that became a genre classic. He attempted the same with the Green Mile to diminishing returns. Here, he lowers his ambition and narrows his focus.

Its a straightforward, fish-bowl scenario, the likes of which proliferated some of the 80s and 90s most esoteric spooky television. After their property and vehicles are damaged in the recent storm, local painter David Drayton (Thomas Jane: strong in an every-man role), takes his argumentative neighbour to the local supermarket to stock up on supplies for repairs while his young son tags along (he’s not overly annoying, shock). While there an air-raid siren is heard and a fog begins to descend outside. A man is seen running through the car-park towards the store, his eyes wide with panic and blood on his face: “Something in the Mist!” he yells as he crosses the threshold… Its the kind of disorientatingly great start that makes you sit up and take notice. 

It sets in a tension and intrigue that, especially after an encounter with a tentacled monster, (the weakest part of the film effects-wise) rarely lets up. The creature designs continually impress. Creating the fantastic idea that within the Mist itself there lies a whole world, an entire eco-system of monstrosities. From giant spiders (with evil little faces) to hulking titans, its reminiscent of Del Toro’s eclectic creature work on Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy. The special effects quality in general is remarkable for such a low budget effort.

Down-time between creature encounters gives focus to the building friction between the survivors. We get arguments about class, religion and politics with the majority of supporting characters shallow archetypes. Its all a bit obvious at times (along with the Mist as ‘fear itself’ angle) and you’ll certainly see a couple of plot points coming, not to mention that everybody goes nuts a bit too quick. But Darabont understands the pulpy nature of the material and ensures group interactions are dynamic thanks to a strong cast of unknowns and TV actors that successfully lend freshness to the multitude of cliché. Even small comedic moments work well without destroying atmosphere and big props to Marcia Gay Harden’s delightfully unhinged portrayal of religious zealot Mrs Carmondy, gobbling up all the scripts best lines on her evolution from local nut to psychotic messiah.

Unhappy with the ambiguity of King’s original coda Darabont’s cinematic rethink is elegiac and devastating, managing to net King’s approval as the definitive finish. If Shawshank was a parable about the power of hope The Mist gives a stern warning about the perils of giving up on it.

This a film that brings back a vitality and old-fashioned inventiveness long missing from mainstream horror. Its of a time when scary films were about stories, not exploitation, grisly effects or half-naked teens. It may lack the claustrophobic terror of The Descent and the visceral impact of Rec. But Darabont and his cast bring their A game to a highly recommended B movie.

4 stars (out of 5)

Note: Darabont shot the film for black and white but was forced to release in colour. I hear from several sources this black and white version is the superior film. I’d love to hear from anybody who has seen both editions.

There are 2 comments in this article:

  1. 30/04/2009Ste J say:

    I totally agree that the best horror films are about the story and they do seem to be lacking these days. As for the ending of the film, for me it was a bit obvious since i’d seen that old black and white film i told you about, the depressing end works okay but i found it hard to care about the characters, i suppose because i’m used to King’s book descriptions of them which are stupidly indepth.
    What this review has is a solid, humourous and indepth view with a good ending. Much like the Mist itself but you aren’t a mentalist and your cat isn’t a special effect.

  2. 30/04/2009Thomas Robinson say:

    You make a good point. I felt that, surprising or not, the ending worked very well within the themes of the story and seemed like a really hard hitting and logical way for the characters to go out. I much preferred it to King’s ‘and they drove off into the unknown’ style finale. I sometimes feel that an ending can be very effective even if the audience guesses the outcome (The ‘what’s in the box?’ scene from Se7en springs to mind)

    I also agree that the characters are thin (I tried to cover this a bit) and it all fits in with the ‘pulpiness’ of the story. If the characters were too realistic I doubt it would have meshed well with the more traditional ‘giant spiders/tentacles’ monsters they had to interact with, also the extreme nature of some peoples actions within the store would have come off exceptionally false. I praised Marcia Gay Harden’s Mrs Carmondy. By no fair estimation a realistic character but very convincing in a very one-note role (how regularly we see a crazy priest type character proclaiming the end of the world). I felt the film found a logical middle ground between the real and the improbable, its more a cool story than a proper character piece (I had to look up the main guy’s name on Imdb, which is rarely a good sign) and fit in with the vibe most of Kings work follows.

    There are certainly better horror films out there and I do not suggest this be labelled a classic, but its the type of film you expect to be pretty run of the mill, but surprises you with its effectiveness. Its like when you can’t sleep at night and you turn on the TV to find a particularly good X-Files episode.

    When I re-read the review to answer your comment I noticed a few grammatical problems. I will endeavour to fix this. Make sure you let me know of any problems with my style, I want it to read smoothly without getting bogged down in superfluous adjectives.

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