The Mist An Effective Horror Thriller With Some Flaws

Rating: 7/10 (22 June 2009)

The Mist is an effective horror thriller with some flaws from director Frank Darabont whose admirable in making this movie but unanswered questions, the dialogue at times, and the ending is what weighed the movie down. However The Mist is still not that bad it just could have been better. Darabont the man behind films like The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption continues to show his skill with this one as a filmmaker despite it's flaws. Thomas Jane is good as the lead David Drayton a movie poster artist who finds himself trapped in a grocery store with his son and many others when a freak storm unleashes nightmarish creatures that have a taste for human flesh. Jane may not win any awards with his performance but he's still convincing as David. The same can go for Marcia Gay Harden as Mrs Carmody in a rare villain role. Harden's character definitely has more than a few screws loose and can be as scary as the monsters outside lurking in the mist because she's clearly losing her mind. Harden is impressive in the role and she eventually gets whats coming to her. The rest of the cast including Laurie Holden, Toby Jones, William Sadler, Jeffrey DeMunn, and Andre Braugher in a brief extended appearance are effective as the supporting characters in their limited screen time. The movie does have some suspense, anticipation, a little humor, and the various creatures that come in all shapes and sizes are terrifying. Most of them are never clearly visible because they're in the mist so you only get glimpses which was okay but a clearer view of what they looked like would've been a little better considering several of the blood thirsty monsters are only given mere cameo appearances. All of them are still do their part but they could've been given more screen time. There is some suspense build up and anticipation which doesn't quite pay off but it's not entirely a failure either. A lot of questions are left unanswered except for one brief explanation as to where the creatures came from and how they got here. It was because of some kind of military experiment to create a window into another dimension which unleashed this whole other world with nightmarish beasts onto ours or something like that. A better explanation as to what happened would've also helped the film a little because it's better than no resolution at all. Some loose ends storyline wise aren't tied up by the end, the pacing was slow at times, the dialogue wasn't the greatest occasionally either, and some of the characters made stupid decisions which seems to be a trend horror movies have these days. The sequences involving a creature being shown in the mist or eating someone in a gruesome way are well executed but there could've been more of them. The special effects were so-so because at times you can definitely tell it's CG. The ending wasn't the best and if they had changed it the movie at least to me would've been much better. Despite it's flaws The Mist is still for the most part a good horror thriller better then most that are out there. Overall The Mist has gruesome deaths, some suspense, anticipation, scary villains, a little humor, and solid performances by the cast who make this horror film worth watching at least once.