The Frank Darabont Redemption?

Rating: 7/10 (3 April 2009)

Not quite.
Following a rather violent storm, an assortment of small-town Maine residents find themselves trapped in a grocery store as a mysterious mist envelopes not only their town, but possibly the rest of the world. It's established early on that if you go into the mist, you don't come back. Well, that's not entirely true, as your legs might make a return. It doesn't even take 48 hours before the local zealot converts two-thirds of the store's population into a blood-thirsty cult, which isn't really much of a feat when the competition -- the outside world -- is populated by gigantic bugs, tentacles, birds and other assorted creatures that the back of the DVD case labels as "otherworldly."
Writer/Director Frank Darabont ("The Shawshank Redemption," "The Green Mile") makes his return to horror in "The Mist," adapted from a story written by none-other than Stephen King. Following the undeserving flop of 2001's "The Majestic," it's not surprising that "The Mist" has some key issues. Darabont seems almost unsure of himself making this movie, as the mood is never properly settled. The first half of the flick feels like a glorious and gruesome modern day B-movie. With its nasty special effects (not to mention, some hokey looking tentacles) and ugly creatures, it's a movie that is certain to haunt the dreams of any children that may catch a glimpse by mistake. The second half, though, attempts to make some sort of commentary on human nature, and gets lost in the monster madness. Truth be told, "The Mist" is much more effective when it plays it straight, almost like a "Night Of The Living Dead" with bugs.
Thomas Jane plays the protagonist to Marcia Gay Harden's truly scary antagonist, as the townsfolk ultimately succumb to some blood-thirsty creepy-crawlies and some old-school, hardcore bible-thumping. While the second half of the flick is chilling in its own right, it never reaches its point. You think what you're watching it going to make a statement and then "Bang!" -- at the speed of a bullet -- its dropped. The ending is truly cruel and will leave you unsettled for some time after watching it, which, I suppose, means that "The Mist" did its job correctly. It's certainly not Darabont's best work, but hopefully he'll get his sea-legs again and come back with another true classic. Taken for what it is, though, it's a movie that is guaranteed to make you squirm in your seat a bit and make your blood run cold at other moments, as you shout at the screen to some of it's blatantly ignorant characters. Clichés may run rampant, but much enjoyment can be derived from the new aged creature-feature.