Terrifying, interesting and brilliantly bleak

Rating: 9/10 (17 November 2008)

Frank Darabont has a track record of uplifting, hopeful films. His most successful film, "The Shawshank Redemption" is a prime example of this. Anybody who watches "The Mist", another Darabont-helmed Stephen King adaptation, expecting a similar experience is going to be more than disappointed.
"The Mist", a horror film on a number of levels, is one of the most terrifying, intense, thrilling, chilling and, let's face it, brilliantly bleak films of recent years. Unlike a number of horror films, this sets out to shock its audience with characters and ideas rather than just horrific situations. Its supernatural premise is merely the backdrop for what is the really scary heart of the film.
A group of neighbours are trapped in a convenience store when a mysterious mist descends on their town, containing some sort, or sorts, of terror. As they are confined and their situation gets worse, small divisions grow and grow as the group splits and becomes increasingly feral. Whilst there are plenty of good horror moments, and a number of fine set-pieces, nothing is scarier in this film than what the people do to each other over the course of the film.
At the heart of this film is an excellent cast. Thomas Jane's David Drayton makes a good everyman hero and is ably supported by Laurie Holden and Nathan Gamble (impressive as Drayton's son), whilst the increasingly fantastic Toby Jones is magnificent as Ollie Weeks. However, the standout performance (and role) is Marcia Gay Harden's as Mrs. Carmody, a Christian fundamentalist, sure that the apocalypse has come, who whips up part of the group into a fervour. She is, without a doubt, the most terrifying thing in the film.
The actors are helped by a superb adaptation by Darabont. The characters, which form a decent microcosm of the society, are wonderfully defined and are develop interestingly. Their divisions and disputes are simmering quietly under the surface at the start of the film and the way they develop is fairly believable. Added to this, the dialogue is very good and there are occasional moments of dark humour (one moment, when Carmody is whipping up her followers with a chant of "expiation", leads to the wonderful line "Welcome to Sesame Street kids. Today's word is expiation.").
It isn't perfect. The visual effects often jar and it can't quite keep the intensity going all the way through, but this remains a thoroughly impressive, highly recommendable, completely satisfying piece of work. Added to that, it has a bleak, excellent ending which demonstrates this film's integrity. Darabont was offered more money for the film if he changed the scripted ending (different from the original story) and he declined. This is horror with the courage to follow its ideas and story through to a proper conclusion which deserves to be seen and appreciated by a wide audience.
4 Stars out of 5