Raises the bar for King adaptations

Rating: 10/10 (23 November 2007)

One of King's most famous short stories is brought to the screen with all of its terror and humanity intact. Darabont, known for the dramas - Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile - has now raised the bar for adapting King's horror stories to the big screen.
The Mist is about two kinds of terror - that of the supernatural and that of the human capacity for primal regression in the face of ultimate fear. A group of small town folks trapped in a local food-mart when the mist rolls in try to survive. The terror outside, in the mist, becomes only one of the problems they face as those trapped inside turn to "leaders" who believe differently about what is happening. The result is an obvious homage to "Lord of the Flies", but suits its purpose in the horrifying landscape King creates.
Darabont handles the saturating sense of dread and despair with a deftness that has been embarrassingly absent in nearly all of the previous attempts to bring King's stories to film. What's absent in The Mist are the standard clichés, thin characters, and inexplicable human behavior that are prevalent in most horror films.
The script is nearly indistinguishable from the source material save for very small details, some minor modern updates (cell phones), and an added ending (the short story lacked any real ending). It works on every level for both the fans of King and those who are new.
10 out of 10. Way to go Frank!