The Mist (2007)

It's no accident that Thomas Jane's David Drayton has the artwork for John Carpenter's remake of the Christian Nyby's The Thing From Another World hanging in his art studio. In 1951, that original Howard Hawks production banded a group of men -- scientists and military personnel -- together against a being from another world. In the time of the Cold War, these men were united as one against a being from "over there". Carpenter went one step further and pitted the protagonists against eachother for his remake. Simply stated, there was no unity. The tension was thick and the suspense unbearable. No one was to be trusted and fingers were pointing. No one was safe.

With stellar adaptations of The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile already under his belt, Frank Darabont has solidified himself as the quintessential go-to man for Stephen King adaptations. And, along with 1408 earlier this year, The Mist proves the "Stephen King Movie" has returned to its glory of the 1980s.

The story is simple: a freak storm rocks the small town of Castle Rock, Maine. The next morning, trees and wires are down, houses are destroyed, and a forboding mist has gathered on the lake, slowly making its way towards town. In an effort to continue with their daily lives, locals have converged on the town market, stocking up on supplies. Then the mist arrives.

In The Mist, writer/director Darabont does what George Romero did with Night of the Living Dead. That is to say, he presents a monumental castastrophe which his characters have a difficult time trying to comprehend and survive. Using flesh-eating zombies, Romero had six characters to represent six different ways human beings might react to civil unrest, the Vietnam war, or the political assassinations that plagued this country in 1968. Here, Darabont has a stock of at least 50 different characters -- some main, some supporting -- to bring that idea into 2007 where the titular mist could represent any number of fears and frustrations that plague the American public. Fill in your own blank here...

Darabont, of course, also has an A-list cast to bring his story to life. Thomas Jane is common and sympathetic as Drayton; Andre Braugher is exactly as he should be as Brent Norton, the smooth-talking and hot-headed lawyer from New York; Toby Jones as the instantly likable Ollie; and Laurie Holden as Amanda Dumries, the surrogate mother figure to Dawtry's son. The standout performance belongs to Marcia Gay Harden as the Jim Jones-like Mrs. Carmody. Her performance is so jarring that it's simply terrifying how she spouts religious diatribes and manages to form a congregation in the back of a supermarket. As Darabont's script points out, people will follow whomever seems to have an answer in a time of crisis. When Mrs. Carmody's "visions" start to become realized, tension mounts and the rules of society are soon thrown out the window. Several characters decide something...anything needs to be done, as one character says, "before people start drinking the Kool-Aid."

Keeping in line with the "fill in your own fear or frustration" for the metaphorical mist, the picture's special effects leave something to the viewer's imagination. Yes, there are some impressive CGI and practical effects on hand, courtesy of CafeFX and KNB eF/X respectively, but there reamains an air of mystery to the things seen on-screen. Harking back to the days of The Thing From Another World, for instance, Darabont only gives us brief glances of several striking designs, effectively creating a scarier screen monster.

Working on a scant 37-day shooting schedule and $17 million budget, Darabount hired the cinematography crew from TV's The Shield. Ronn Schmidt and his crew often times improvised camera set-ups on the fly and this wise directing choice fully brings the audience into the supermarket. Throughout the picture, there are breathless moments of anxiety and tension, which are made even more evident by up close and personal cinematography. Like any director worth his weight in experience, Darabont knows he has control of his audience. He forces his viewers to bear witness first-hand to the events unfolding and, ultimately, to choose sides with the characters. In the end, much like Romero and Night of the Living Dead, he asks the question of "Who's right?", leaving the answer open-ended.

After a string of recent theatrical stinkers for the Horror genre, The Mist could very well be the "must-see" picture of the Fall. The ending is sure to be discussed (and possibly ruined by online chatter and bloggers) and debated. Frank Darabont's adapatation of Stephen King's The Mist is a fine picture made for Horror fans, but it also has the potential to be a mainstream and critical hit. See it!