A Very Poetic and Disturbing Horror Film

Rating: 9/10 (25 November 2007)

Of course on first glance many people might think this is a rip off of John Carpenter's The Fog, however as much of a cornerstone The Fog is in American horror, The Mist is more poetic, captivating and emotional then Carpenters' Fog. The top reason why I think this is so is because King just doesn't write about the long going battle between good and evil, but also because he explores the biblical concept of good and evil, paranoia induced fear and how humans quickly turn from civilized people to savages. With a great leading and supporting cast and a money conserving set, this movie, along with The Green Mile, The Shawshank Redemption and The Stand, is one of the best Stephen King adaption in a long time. This is something that I was waiting to see.
Marcia Gay Harden, who plays the town's delusional Catholic believer, is so believable as a Christian tyrant who invokes fear into everybody and who believes that the apocalypse is afoot. With an excellent combination of hand gestures, tone of voice, emotion and feel, she really goes above and beyond with her performance. Thomas Jane, who plays David Drayton the father of Billy Drayton, acts relatively calm throughout this horrible mess. Of course, at points his sedated acting can be too calm when the action and the scene calls for a more panic feel to it (i.e. the garage scene). Though, when the tension rises he puts %110 into his performances. He does a really great job with his character. Besides these characters, there are several great performances by Laurie Holden, Toby Jones (adds comic relief), William Sadler (Green Mile), Frances Sternhagen (Misery) and Nathan Gamble (Babel).
Like many SK novels and novellas, this one had a great religious undertone that works and is proved on more than one occasion. The central biblical themes of the movie is the belief in God and to accept him as our Lord and Savior, as seen on numerous news channels where people beat that concept into young children. The most alarming theme in the film was the idea of sacrifice to prove our devotion that was demonstrated by a very powerful, haunting and disturbing scene in the entire movie. Among these there were other small themes of Catholic ideology and the famous story of betrayal by Judas. All together, they were very good themes that were finally brought up in the most distressing way.
One critic said "This is the bloodiest movie ever produced." Obviously he is not an avid horror watcher. Granted, there were a few bloody scenes, but the scariest thing would be the monster attack scenes, mainly because we can't see anything. This movie effectively tacks us back to that ere when horror movies were solely based on imagination and mind over matter, this movie does a great deal to horror. The idea that something is out there in the mist, and we can't see it, we hardly know what it is, it attacks with surprise and fear and you can't do anything about it. Unlike typical "Mist / Fog" horror movies, there is no ghost or centralized monster, in this film there are multiple things attacking the store. What's also scary is the idea that you are trapped in a cramped store and you can't escape.
For the most part the camera angles were tight, focusing on the character that is talking, there are occasional wide shots and establishing shots as well. For my taste I think that the tight shots add to the tension and emotion to the movie, it gives you a sense of "tunnel vision," a feeling that your cramped and uncomfortable, a feeling that works very well with the feel of the movie. What I think is amazing is that the wide shots and hand held shots all coincide with the foot market, that everything takes place inside the food mart. Some of the camera angles, for some scenes, were frightening and intimidating. This is a type of cinematography that we rarely see in Stephen King movies.
Overall, I think this is ONE of the BEST Stephen King adaptations yet, coming from the guy who brought us the captivating Green Mile and the inspirational Shawshank Redemption, this isn't his best work, but still a very horrid and emotionally torn film. Considering other great Stephen King novels have been butchered by directors (examples: Golden Years, Thinner, Tommyknockers and Desperation), this movie does an excellent job capturing the tension, themes, feel and horror of one of the greatest horror writers ever.