Another rare successful King adaptation

Rating: 9/10 (17 January 2009)

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
David Drayton (Thomas Jane) is a successful New York commissioned painter who lives a quiet life with his son in a small American town. Following a fierce storm the night before, his new piece is ruined and he is thrown into some turmoil with his neighbour Andre Braugher (Brent Norton) another recluse with NY connections, which are resolved when he offers to drive him to the store. But this turns out to be the worst thing he could have done, as a huge mist appears out of nowhere and everyone in the store finds themselves trapped inside. It soon becomes clear murderous alien invaders are lurking in the thick fog outside and, trapped and couped up together, tensions mount among those in the store, stirred up most by a fanatical religious woman named Mrs Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden) whose theories behind their predicament end up causing some to take her side. The voice of reason in a sea of hysteria, David must draw on all his resources and get himself and his son out alive.
Give most film makers a script adapted from a Stephen King novel/short story and chances are they'll co*k it up like nobody's business. Give one to Frank Darabont, however, and he seems to have an unusual knack for making them work, from The Shawshank Redemption (one of the greatest films ever made), to The Green Mile and now this effective horror film. Not receiving quite so much press exposure at the time of it's release, it pretty much came and went on it's arrival in cinemas but sometimes it would appear this is the case with the really good films.
Once again, this is one of his works I've not got round to reading (not even sure if it's a novel/SS) but in this case, it's no less effective and easy to appreciate as a film on it's own. Darabont, with his style of camera lens, eerie lack of soundtrack and generally effective plotting, has crafted a horror with a creepy sense of atmosphere and impending doom, with a suspenseful main story with plenty of unexpected twists and turns. For the type of film it is, maybe it goes on a bit too long, but Darabont was never one for short and sweet, and sticking with it to the end is your best shot.
Jane, a star I've come to associate more with action films, does a much better job than expected of carrying the lead role, delivering a startling emotional out pouring at the end, but the star of the show is Harden as the preachy, twisted, demented religious nut, who manages to twist people's minds more than make them resent her. There's plenty of great support, too, from Laurie Holden (from The Majestic), Braugher, Bill Sadler and Darabont veteran Dan Hedaya. That's not to mention some superb special effects in the shape of the slimy alien creatures, as well as the Del Toro esquire fly things that invade the store at one point.
Another King/Darabont smash, you might not be able to see through The Mist but you should definitely try and see it. ****