The Mist (2007) [31 Days of Gore]

The Mist is about a group of shoppers who get trapped inside a supermarket when a strange mist settles on the town. A local zealot interprets the event as the end times and quickly rallies a group of brain-dead followers to do her misguided deeds of faith, which will eventually turn sacrificial in nature. The film’s hero, played by the always likable Thomas Jane, just wants to keep the dangerously frightened shoppers placated until he finds a way to get his son home.

This is all material that I should and typically do like. Monsters? Check. Religious folk acting like fools? Love it. But when you have Stephen King and Frank Darabont providing the brains behind your movie, the result should be a little better than this. Case in point: a group of expendable characters are determined to get themselves killed by the monsters lurking around the warehouse in the back. Granted, the characters don’t know the mist has monsters in it (yet), but they also don’t know the mist isn’t harmful to humans. When Jane asks them why they’re being so dense, the small group (led by genre veteran William Sadler) makes all kinds of flimsy excuses for acting like idiots.

MINOR SPOILERS BELOW

As for the famous ending… it was certainly a shocker, but I’m wondering whether or not the movie earned it. I’ve complained about happy endings in horror movies for years—if the survivors are smiling by the time the credits roll (see: The Visit), you’ve probably done a lousy job of putting them through hell. To be sure, my favorite final shot is probably The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, in which the blood-drenched heroine is screaming crazily in the back of a truck. It’s clear she’ll never be right again and the film’s made more powerful because of it.

The Mist certainly doesn’t take the easy way out, but somehow it felt like an afterthought to me. King has stated he preferred Darabont’s ending, but it seemed like an oddly cruel thing to do to the smarter characters. I’ll never forget it, sure, but wouldn’t it have been more meaningful if there was a reason behind it, other than, “Ha, bet you never saw this coming!”? On the other hand, I’m willing to admit I might be missing the meaning altogether: that Jane’s character ultimately succumbed to the same fear that had the dumber characters acting like morons.

Look, considering how many people seem to love the film, I’m well aware I’m being harder on The Mist than most movies… but considering its pedigree, shouldn’t I be? This is my second viewing and I just can’t understand why it doesn’t appeal to me like it did for most. Just one of those things, I suppose, and I have the sneaking suspicion I’ll give it a third shot sometime in the future.