Steven King's THE MIST (Review)

If you haven't seen this movie then turn away and stop reading. Otherwise I warned you. The movie started out nicely with very believable characters and reactions to a violent storm that has torn up a small community. As family's are settling down and converging on the local grocery store to get supplies as a weird mist rolls in. Just when people are calming themselves a earthquake hits and shakes up the communities already shaken nerves. Just add a man running for his life and shouting things are in the mist and were off to a nicely rounded horror story. Sure a few non believers make a break for their cars and you hear their twisted screams of torture and unimaginable death in the mist. The endless preaching of the bible thumper at first seems harmless and understandable for some in a stressful situation but after awhile the people start becoming their own worst nightmare. The actions of some of the characters seemed inconsistent and their seems to be a wave of mistrust in each others idea of danger even after seeing and hearing it first hand. I think this is an attempt to heighten the uneasiness amongst the characters and raise the stress level but it just seemed frustrating and of topic at the time. The preachy ladies profit-like predictions start to convince a growing group that she might be right. After several cheesy special effects the holy rollers are in full effect looking for someone to blame and a sacrifice to appease their version of god's thirst for blood. What was once the majority now finds themselves a minority and figure out that they would be safer to take their chances on the road. The preachy ladies constant bible thumping gets to the point where if I were trapped with her I would be the first to volunteer for sacrifice just to end the torture of her voice. I found myself cheering when she finally "get hers" and cheered even louder when the Coup De Grace came. The movie characters explain the revelations type happenings to a military experiment that has opened a dimensional door which allowed these creatures to enter our world and wreck havoc. The creatures are unimaginative in their design although the acidic spiderwebs were a nice touch. When the group ,that made a break for it, runs out of gas they come up with only one solution. I was into this movie, even with its cheesy special effects and inconsistent acting up until the very end and then the last five minute ruined this movie. I haven't read any of Steven King's books but I have seen all of his movies and I have been told many many times that his movies don't translate well to movies but I feel that this movie had a lot of potential up until the ending. This movie had the potential to be in the top 3 of his movies in my book but I have to put it in the middle of the pack now, right there with Storm of the Century and Sometimes They Come Back and the end of the pack being The Langoliers and Riding the Bullet. Christine and The Silver Bullet are still number one and two respectively. I would have to put IT in the top 5.

THE MIST

on a scale of 1-10

Acting- 7

Special Effects- 4

Story Idea- 7

Entertainment Value- 6

Would I watch it again- No

PS. Although not one of John Carpenter's best, go watch The Fog (1980 version) It's creepier and has a better ending. John Carpenter's best movie by far is The Thing and the funny thing is that the movie poster is shown in the opening scene of The Mist.