Give The Mist a miss.

Rating: 2/10 (20 February 2008)

Not being a huge fan of Stephen Kings work, I entered the cinema with little to no expectations - which was a good thing, as this movie only went to reassure me that the only thing worse than reading Stephen King is watching Stephen King.
The Mist can only be described as being some horrid combination of my three least favorite things - Stephen Kings brand of nonsensical and non believable "horror", an episode of Survivor, and an episode of Big Brother.
The film begins with what at first appears to be nothing more than your average run-of-the-mill storm. Heading into town to pick up some supplies, artist Dave Drayton and his son Billy eventually wind up in the local supermarket. Sadly, they remain in this setting for the majority of the remaining hour and a half making for some rather uninteresting scenery and camera work.
It isn't too soon before a mysterious "mist" engulfs the supermarket. Only after an elderly man whom bleeding profusely declares that "there is something in the mist" do the staff and customers lock themselves in the store in an feeble attempt to shield themselves from the "horrors" that await. These "horrors" come in the form of some cliché and unimaginative extraterrestrial insect-like creatures, which are comparable to those of A Bugs Life.
From this point onwards, the remainder of the film feels like some giant episode of reality television in the vein of Survivor or Big Brother, and the audience is subjected to watching a bunch of confined dimwits trying to overcome the challenge that is the "mist".
All of your favorite stereotypes are here - the redneck, the crazed religious person, the token black, the leather clad bikey, the acne ridden store assistant, and of course, our underdog hero which come in the form of Dave Drayton. Conflict ensures as personalities collide.
You would think that after our poor store assistant Norm is subjected to the harsh cruelties of the tentacles which emerge from the "mist" that the others would learn their lesson. Apparently not, and several other would-be heroes suffer a similar fate through random acts of stupidity.
Apart from spewing out over-sized insects, the "mist" also seems to sap IQ points from anyone it comes into contact with. This becomes increasingly obvious throughout the film, and climaxes when our store bound citizens conclude that a wall of dog food is an effective means of fending off hostile beings. Then again, do you really expect anything more intelligent from someone who uses an iMac such as our artist friend?
Tension mounts as religion crazed Mrs Carmody splinters the stores inhabitants into two factions through her seemingly never-ending religious babble. The audience is able to breathe a sigh of relief when she finally receives a bullet to her head, effectively putting an end to her unoriginal and uninspiring dialogue and mundane excuse of a subplot.
Eventually our hero Dave and a random selection of townspeople decide to make a break for it. Venturing into the "mist", they seek sanctuary in his car. However, it appears that the price of gas is too high for Dave and for whatever reason has decided not to top up today. Which is unfortunate, as it soon puts an end to any motorized escape.
After all hope seems lost comes the only sort of "twist" in the story - our hero Dave rather unheroically puts a bullet in the head of all the cars occupants - including his son. Finally (for reasons unexplained) the "mist" rather suddenly disappears and all is well and good - except for the fact our hero is now down one son, and I am down the price of admission to this sad excuse for a piece of "horror".