Diabolically smart writing and directing underly this surefire horror classic

Rating: 9/10 (8 May 2009)

After seeing the trailer for this movie several times in the movies, I quickly decided I will not watch what seemed as horror junk to me at the time, mainly because apart from a few awesome exceptions, I am not a true horror fan. I mean hey, why would anyone pay 10 bucks to sit on the edge of their seat for 90 minutes? Things quickly changed when a group of my mates bullied me into watching this, and I have to say it was the best bullying I've endured to this date! 'The Mist' is the motion picture adaptation of the diabolically smart horror novel written by the great Stephen King, and influenced by the artistry of the great Zdislaw Beksinki.
The movie kicks off in a rather mediocre expected manner, but when a freak storm unleashes the fiends of hell, a small town supermarket becomes the only refuge to a group of people who quickly form a survival colony.
As the movie progresses, issues of morality and human behavior dominate, as Frank Darabont delivers some of the best movie directing seen all year. Monsters, creatures of the dark and mutated life forms take over the movie's setting, while the survival colony gets split into two sects. Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden) delivers an enthralling performance as the religious fundamentalist who proclaims prophet-hood and grasps this small town group's imagination, turning them into primeval humanoids thirsty for survival on one hand, and on the other, David Drayton (Thomas Jane) leads a small but rather logistically superior group who eventually take matters into their own hands and decide to gamble matters and explore the unknown.
The Mist's ability to make its audience ask themselves ethical questions as the movie progresses renders it a horror classic. One of the lines that struck me in the movie was when David said that people think they are safe so long as they have 911 and phones, but put them in a disaster setting for ten minutes and their survival instincts kick in. Such was the deep issues of morality and philosophy that this motion picture went into. The ingenious ending epitomizes this great movie and makes sure Frank Darapont has delivered one of the motion pictures of the year.
The Mist is a movie that delivers on so many levels, while managing to capture the wild imagination of it's viewers. Highly recommended!