Slightly better than your average horror movie

Rating: 5/10 (27 May 2017)

The Draytons - David, Steff and their son Billy - live in a small Maine town. One night a ferocious storm hits the area, damaging their house. The storm is accompanied by a strange mist. David and Billy and their neighbour Brent Norton go into town. There they discover that the mist contains some frightening creatures, creatures intent on killing humans.
A so-so horror movie, directed and written by Frank Darabont and based on a novel by Stephen King. Darabont's first two movies were brilliant and among the best films of the 1990s. I am, of course, referring to The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. In 2001 he directed The Majestic, also superb, yet criminally underrated.
Unlike his first two movies, The Majestic was not based on a Steven King novel and was not written by Darabont. For The Mist, his fourth (and, to date, last), he goes back to his original formula -
adapt and direct a Stephen King book/short story.
The result is not close to being in the same league as his first three movies. Largely a common-or-garden creature-horror film, this has nothing of the depth of those three movies. There are a few interesting themes - mob mentality and religious zealousness to the fore - but these are at best tertiary to the horror-thriller element.
The plot is not helped by some incredibly irritating characters and a general feeling of disengagement.
Due to the themes, ends up slightly better than your average horror movie, but that doesn't say much. It's easily the weakest genre.