Monster movie with soul

Rating: 10/10 (27 November 2009)

Based on a novella by Stephen King first published in the anthology Dark Forces this is, quite simply, an astonishing movie. Directed by Frank Darabont, a man with a clear love of King's output (The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile were also adaptations of King's work), this is bleak, thought provoking and challenging movie making.
The plot: A small town in Maine (where else?) suffers a severe thunderstorm, with trees blown down and general chaos wrought. The following day, the locals are packing the supermarket, picking up supplies to clear up the weather borne detritus when a mist rolls into town from the nearby hills, with one man racing into the supermarket, blood dripping from his face, claiming that there is 'something' in the mist. The natives are skeptical, right up to the point when tentacles emerge and snatch one of their own from under their noses. The place is locked down, with stocks piled up against the glass front of the building but, within, a new threat emerges: a vehemently religious woman who claims it is God's vengeance for our impure ways.
Tense, with an atmosphere so sharp you could shave a fourteen year old's scrotum with it, this is less a monster movie and more a focus on the extremes we will go to when pushed. Several things about this movie stand out and elevate it above standard 'creature feature' status, not least of which are the performances. A cast of relative unknowns deliver excellent, believable portrayals of normal folk in peril, and the heart strings are plucked throughout, though in an intelligent, logical way, not in a 'make's you want to puke out your own kidneys' sense.
Darabont makes fine use of lighting and, crucially, the score is an accompaniment, not the dominant feature, adding substance to scenes rather than overwhelming them, something that the Michael Bay's and Zack Snyder's of this world would do well to note. It's impossible to talk about this movie without mentioning the ending (I won't ruin it, but skip the next sentence if you'd rather know nothing) which is nothing short of astonishing. Poignant, heart wrenching and with such humanity it brings a tear to the eye, something few, if any, horror movies achieve.
Whilst delivering the goods in terms of gore and violence, this movie is so much more than that and one I would recommend to all, not just the usual sick in the head blood fiends. You know who you are.