Customer Reviews
The Best king adaptation ever?.....maybe 
2008-07-04
The thing about the mist is it creeps up on you, kinda like the way the beasties do in this movie. One minute your thinking your watching an average modern day homage to 50s b movies and then bang! it hits you, what your actually watching is a masterful execution of storytelling with just the right amount of terror to keep the toes curled. Frank darabonts excellent adaptation of one of stephen kings lesser known novellas is full of great ideas and with a necessary first half of the movie given over more to character development rather than needless gore and empty shocks, this in turn leads to a far more satisfying second and third acts when you actually care about their plight, this is the key to a great movie, especially in this genre. Thomas jane heads a cast of great character actors as a simple trip to the supermarket turns into a siege when a huge mist descends upon the town full of other worldly creature's. Its a simple tale of 'who's the worst animal' the creature's outside or the ones trapped inside? but it's told with such glee and abandonment that you can't help but be absorbed into king's rather eerie world. The beasts themselves are a mix bag of lovecraftean giants and mutated insects and the mist itself adds to there mystery although this was probably more for budgetary reasons than for effect, but it's hard not to feel a bit let down that the bigger ones don't get more screen time, however the scene in the pharmacy with some terrifying arachnid types more than compensates. This is a rare horror movie, one that invests time and energy into it's inhabitants and is all the better for it, after all it's the ending that has had more criticism than anything else and that was for being so morbid and sad, but if this was a standard stalk and slash gorefest would anyone really care? i doubt it. see it.
An explanation for some of the bad, 1-star reviews you see here. 
2008-07-04
Several fundamentalist churches have taken exception to the way Marcia Gay Harden's character was depicted, and have encouraged their faithful to give this wonderful movie bad ratings, in the hope of reducing the number of people who buy it. Just thought you'd like to know. The supermarket scene was some of the best drama ever in a horror movie. Judge for yourself!
There was a reason it was a novella. 
2008-07-04
The movie was based on a novella, and the two hours you would take to read it would be time better spent than watching this overlong movie.
Borderline bad movie with a "Horrible",& most non-redeaming ending 2008-07-02
I can't believe what I just watched.
I know King is bizarre but after sitting through a B-movie like scare flick, I had to watch a father shoot his own son -to save him- only to have the military arrive minutes later???? That is just wrong.
I watched TV-like special effects, people sacrifice eachother, murder, and bloody/gross scenes only to be confronted with an unimagineal ending of killing your own son??
If you even think of buying, renting , or watching this movie you should have your head examined. How do I get back that 2 hrs of my life?
Great King Movie 2008-07-01
Great movie about people. This movie got right what so many other movies based on books by Stephen King got wrong. It's about the people. His novels are so character driven that you care about the people so much that the plot fades into the background. The "creatures" in the mist were done as well as they could be. The ending was drastically different from the original novella by King. Likely done to generate more interest around the film. IMO King's ending would've worked much better, but it might not have sold as many copies. If you are a Stephen King fan this movie is must. Horror movie fan, also a must. If you are neither then avoid this movie all together.
horror fans and stephen king fans will both be pleased....... 
2008-07-09
what I liked most about the film was that it got better and better as it went along- the ending was a surprise. No plot details here, go rent it and enjoy.
Thomas Jane & Laurie Holden give great performances....wish they were in more movies...
actually, I give the movie 3.5 stars out of 5.
Read the book instead 2008-07-07
Based on many other reviews, I knew this movie wasn't going to be great. But given Frank Darabont's near-perfect impressions of Shawshank and Green Mile, I figured I should at least give it a shot. Turns out I was unprepared for what is truly an awful Stephen King adaptation.
To be fair, making a good horror film is difficult. It's even harder to make a good horror film based on a book that was so lovingly-crafted. The book is full of such vivid people, monsters, and events, that your imagination will sculpt images no film can possibly re-create. And the sheer terror and suspense with which King describes the coming of the mist and particularly the ill-fated expedition to the pharmacy simply do not lend themselves to the film medium. That isn't to say that Darabont couldn't have done worlds better, but ultimately, this is a movie that just should not have been made.
Many people will say that King is simply bizarre or weird or will use some other pejorative. That is naive. There is a heart and warmth to his writing that was captured so well by the Shawshank and Green Mile films. This film has none of that.
Most offensive to me was the ending, and for multiple reasons. First, it is badly shocking. Darabont even admits in the commentary that it is partly for shock value. I don't claim to be a Stephen King expert, but I've read a good 10-15 of his books, and this is one ending I can tell you he would never write. Yes, the end scenario is alluded to within the book. But from what I know about David Drayton, I would assert that he is incapable of such an act. Second, Stanley Kubrick took some big liberties with The Shining, but where he transformed the original King story into a strong work of film that can stand alone, Darabont butchered the original text with his overuse of artistic license. King outwardly claims to have "liked" the ending, but I wonder what he really thought. I will admit that the book's ending would not work in a movie. But that is just another reason this story should have been left alone.
There were things I enjoyed. I thought the monsters were tremendous. Their appearances were not far from what I imagined whilst reading the book. Credit must be given to the special effects team. However, it seems that special effects are what Hollywood really excels at these days, so good monsters are to be expected.
We know that Frank Darabont is capable of directing moving, worthwhile films. He must have seen that The Mist would be a dud. Why in the world would he choose to go through with it? The DVD extras explain that the budget was indeed meager. And why did Paramount Pictures back out? Dimension Films wound up being the studio, a company that brought us such forgettable dreck as the Scream trilogy and all eight incarnations of Hellraiser. This movie is definitely their cup of tea.
Realistic People; Unrealistic Menace 2008-07-06
The realism of the people and small-town settings portrayed here draws us in and bands us together with the party trapped in a grocery store, waiting out the coming of whatever ferocity is in the surrounding mist. The camera work and lighting puts us right in the faces of the frightened, beleaguered shoppers. I felt as if I were walking directly behind the store manager, peering over his shoulder as he circulates around the store, whispering counsel, quelling rising tempers, helping to plan escape. Toby Jones does a brilliant job in this part, a total departure from his role as Truman Capote in "Infamous."
All the actors turn in compelling, realistic performances as each in turn gets spotlighted in the beam of whatever improvised light the shoppers devise when night falls and their power is cut.
However, I can't be quite as enthusiastic about the creatures that strike out of the mist. Sometimes these artifacts, with their improbably akimbo limbs and their almost human, craning, questioning faces - even seem to be vaguely comical. With all the advances that have been made in fabrication and CG effects in recent years, these menacing arthropods still didn't seem to match the frightening realism of the attackers in decades-old movies such as "Them."
Still, the movie is worth watching. It will take you out of yourself into that store-under-siege.
Not all of the bonus material on the DVD is as worthwhile though. The Director's commentary is a little flat and uninformative and you can skip it unless you have a lot of extra time. It will be enough to listen to the Director's chat with Stephen King, from whose early short story/novella this picture was drawn. And you can also listen to just the commentary accompanying the movie's outtakes to get enough of an idea of the budget techniques used to create the effects in this film.
DARABONT HAS KING SIZED ONIONS 2008-07-06
very good horror show , with conviction . what an excellent ensemble . well above average script , acting , directing , etc . no shock considering king and darabont's two pevious collaborations "the shawshank redemption" and "the green mile" . flawless ? no , but better than 85 percent of what passes for horror .
This was AWFUL!!!!! I want my two hours back!! 2008-07-06
This was the WORST movie I have EVER seen. I kept watching it thinking it would get better if I was just patient. It did not. The ending was miserable and a perfect fit to a wasted movie experience. Save yourself the time and money and rent/buy a movie that is worth it.
