The weather forecast for tonight: Heavy fog with scattered body parts.

Rating: 9/10 (27 March 2008)

Tentacled beasties with snapping claws; insectivorous critters with poisonous stings; winged monstrosities that swoop from the sky; and hideous arachnids that shoot acidic strands of web: these are just some of the Lovecraftian creatures waiting to crush, tear, rip, and devour whoever should stray into The Mist.
I'm not a huge fan of Stephen King's books: he has some great ideas, but I don't particularly enjoy his style of writing, and find that he tends to leave some of his stories a little too 'open-ended' for my liking. The Mist, however, is one (short) story of his which I thoroughly enjoyed. And director Frank Darabont's movie adaptation more than does it justice, delivering loads of scares, some great monsters, a fair smattering of gore, plenty of atmosphere, and adding an ending that'll leave you shell-shocked.
Thomas Jane plays David Drayton, one of a group of people (which includes Drayton's son Billy) who are trapped in a supermarket after a strange mistthe result of a top-secret government experiment gone wrongsuddenly envelops the building. When the frightened customers and staff realise that there is something unspeakable in the mist that wants to eat them, fear and panic turns them against one another.
Darabont's wonderful script is pretty faithful to King's original tale, (only omitting an admittedly unnecessary sex-scene and adding an inspired downbeat ending), and the great cast give gripping performances (particularly from Marcia Gay Harden, as a religious zealot convinced that the 'end of days' has arrived, and Jane as the artist-turned-hero).
The special effects and creature designs are very imaginative and, for the most part, pretty convincing (a few of the CGI effects could've been better, but I'm nit-picking). The score is also very good, especially at the end when a haunting melody perfectly complements the harrowing visuals.
The result is one of the best US horror films that I have seen in quite a while, and is one that should definitely not 'be mist' (be missedgeddit?).