The Mist

Viewer Rating:Hanley has rated The Mist rating: 5 Star

The Mist is a suspenseful horror film adapted from a novella by Stephen King and directed by Frank Darabont. This marks the third collaboration between Darabont and King, adding to previous films The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile.

The Mist is set in a New England town which is suddenly enveloped in a heavy fog. Thomas Jane plays protagonist David Drayton, whose shoes the audience easily slip into. While in the supermarket, the mist falls on the town, trapping himself and his son with a group of panicked townspeople. While they discover the deadly creatures that have come with the mist, Drayton comes to realise their outside threat isn't nearly as deadly as the one brewing inside.

Thomas Jane is excellent as the family man and hero while Marcia Gay Harden gives a fantastic performance as the religious fanatic Mrs Carmody. Like the modern-day equivalent of Nurse Ratched, Mrs Carmody inspires such hatred in the audience it is abnormally welcome when we see any of the protagonists rebelling against her Old Testament sermons. Strong supporting characters come from Toby Jones, a kind-hearted supermarket clerk and Darabont regular William Sadler, a jittery redneck. Frank Darabont, as usual, chooses his cast particularly well.

The Mist shows writer Stephen King at his best with incredible scenes including an horrific trip to the pharmacy that pays slight homage to Alien and a disturbing human sacrifice scene that shows the full effect fear can have on people's humanity. The Mist discards current trends of torture porn and brutality, instead filing itself as more of a character study. Sure, the special effects aren't that up to scratch and it doesn't exactly scream optimism but The Mist is a brutal, truthful film that isn't so much a scare tactic as a warning label. Don't fear the beasties living under your bed, fear the ones living next door.

Review published on the 28 July 2011 15:38