Darabont and King Might Have Just Made The Perfect Horror Film

Rating: 10/10 (1 December 2007)

Darabont and Stephen King joined forces together and landed at #2 in the list of the top 250 films of all time in this website, and that other movie constantly shows up in many of the most admired and beloved films ever. Subsequent films haven't been of the same quality, but their latest collaboration is certainly as close to a masterpiece as anything that came out in 2007. This is a film that others will have to be measured against.
Here is a film that strikes a perfect balance between the graphic and special effects elements with an insightful, philosophical, and incisive look at the complexities of human nature when confronted with its deepest fears. A small town in the state of Maine is suddenly enveloped by a mysterious mist, an element that hides something that could be highly dangerous and might harbor the final apocalyptic moments of the human race. Darabont builds the tension from the opening moments of the film, as he introduces a freak storm that is a harbinger of more horrific things to come. He is in firm control of his camera and his crew, as the odds are stacked against the people of this city. They have found refuge in a small supermarket and are as safe as they can be for the time being, but tensions are brewing within the group, and little by little religious fanatics and pragmatists find that there is a very thin line between sanity and madness.
This is when this movie truly takes off, the exchanges between actors of the caliber of Marcia Gay Harden, a woman who is a zealot and truly thinks what is happening is a sign the end is near. Before we know it, she has whipped the crowd into a frenzy that produces devastating results. On the other side, the group led by Thomas Jane is finding that actions just have to be taken soon, or the end will truly be near.
Watching Gay Harden's character descend into the very logical madness she believes is truly frightening, even more frightening than the creatures King has managed to conjure this time out. The effects are used sparingly and are very effective, as the monsters come out at key times in the film, striking the humans down and festering whatever strength they might have.
In the end, and the end of this film is truly apocalyptic in its intensity and message, we might be led to think that hope lies somewhere at the end of the road, but watching the measures taken by man when facing the end is indeed devastating. Getting to this very emotional conclusion is an exhausting and rewarding journey; experience the cathartic moment will wipe the audience of whatever resistance they could still have. All of this is accomplished by Darabont's excellent direction, and a very haunting score by Mark Isham, a musical genius whom we don't get a chance to hear very often.
There are a few original moments in "The Mist", but we have seen a lot of it before, and hopefully detractors will admire the fact that Darabont has paid tribute to some of the finest films ever made in this amazing film. You will gasp even more as you recognize classic references to "Alien", "The Thing", "The Fog", "Children of Men", "Poltergeist" and a few others horror films.
It is truly my hope that the members of the critic unions and the people who award that standard of quality for film-making look beyond their preconceptions of the themes that should be recognized at the end of the year. Here is a very intelligent and insightful movie that forces to look inside of what believe, or what we are, and what might eventually become when faced with the truth. The beauty and the power of the word is very evident here, as is the use of light and shadow to portray the demons that we all fears, and of course, the film manages to utilize the talents of their actors to create feelings and images that otherwise would be just average and taken into the realm of the sublime.
"The Mist" is a great movie!