Misanthropic Mini Masterpiece

Rating: 8/10 (14 April 2015)

This is yet another film I've been wanting to see for a while and yet never got round to it . Based on a novella by Stephen King and directed by Frank Darabont who also brought THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION and THE GREEN MILE to silver screen THE MIST opened to wide acclaim but underperformed at the box office and eight years later it remains the last feature film to be released by Darabont
!!!!! SUGGESTIVE SPOILERS !!!!
Let's be honest here . The premise is frankly ridiculous . A bunch of middle Americans get trapped in a supermarket by a mist that hides murderous monsters . I think that's been produced by the Syfy Channel a few times . Add in a little kid and a religious maniac and you've almost got a full house - or rather supermarket - of walking , talking clichés and yet THE MIST is more than efficient at being a claustrophobic horror movie where we don't see is much scarier than what we do . Some people might be put off by the slow portent pace and talkative scenes but it's nice to see a horror movie that doesn't rely on cheap shock tactics all the time and makes you think . There's also an element of misanthropic cynicism building as the story goes along I should have also watched this when it came out since I recently found out how the movie ends . The ending itself is memorable but for me the greatest scene is just before this that hints the human race might be superseded by unaware leviathans from another dimension worthy of the best works of HP Lovecraft
There is a slight spanner in the works and that is some of the CGI is bloody awful in places , especially the initial monster attack that does tend to take you out of the movie . It's more puzzling as to why it's so bad since it's a studio picture and budget shouldn't have been a major obstacle and in some scenes you'd be forgiven you are indeed thinking you're watching a Syfy production . Regardless of this THE MIST is on the whole a creepy , tense horror movie . Compare this to the not dissimilar movie MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE that uses King as a source and you can see how badly THE MIST could have turned out