Editor Reviews:

Description:
A mysterious mist, thick with blood-thirsty creatures, descends on a small town, where a group of people holes up in a grocery store to fight for their lives.

Amazon.com:
Writer-director Frank Darabont, who showcased the softer side of Stephen King in his film adaptations of The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, turns to darker material for The Mist, his latest King adaptation about a group of ordinary townspeople trapped in a supermarket by a mysterious fogbank. Thomas Jane is top-billed as a Maine illustrator who attempts to calm the frightened shoppers, but his job is cut out for him from the get-go, first by the discovery of malevolent creatures lurking in the mist, and then by the mad mutterings of Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden), a local eccentric who calls for Old Testament-style sacrifices to appease the supernatural forces. Darabont delivers monster movie thrills and understated social commentary with equal skill, and he's well supported by his cast (which includes Andre Braugher, Toby Jones, William Sadler and Jeffrey DeMunn) and the vivid special effects by KNB EFX, which effectively mix CGI with models and stop-motion animation (the terrific monsters were designed by legendary comic book artist Bernie Wrightson). And for those curious about how the novella's downbeat ending has translated to film, suffice it to say that Darabont's conclusion is at once different and more unsettling than King's. --Paul Gaita

Rating : - "Promise You Won't Let The Monsters Get Me"
Synopsis: The '07 release `The Mist' unfolds like a Lovecraftean nightmare come alive in a small rural American community. Cloaked within a dense, inexplicable mist that engulfs the town lurks a collection of phantasmagorical creatures ranging from what appears to be large, mutated dragonflies and spiders to enormous monstrosities that would answer to such diabolical names as Shoggoth, or Cthulhu if this film had been adapted from a H.P. Lovecraft novel. Though no mention of the nefarious Necronomicon is ever mentioned surely some blasphemous occult conjuring must have been going on in that top secret military base located on the outskirts of town that released these other dimensional beings into our world.

David Drayton (Thomas Jane) and his young son are trapped inside a supermarket with a group of terrified town residents and unfortunate travelers with a storefront wall of glass serving as their only protection from the mist and the horrors that await outside. Thoughts and emotions run wild within their precarious refugee. Some escape into denial, some fall into religious hysterias and some contemplate suicide. Only a brave few seem willing to face the truth and plan an escape, or die trying.

Critique: `The Mist' is an exciting, harrowing film that firmly held my interest from beginning to end. Christopher Lambert look-a-like Thomas Jane delivers a solid performance as the strong and valiant David Drayton who is forced to not only suppress his own personal fear of the incomprehensible menace outside within but deal with the mounting emotional onslaught of those around him. I also enjoyed the performance of Laurie Holden as the level-headed but vulnerable Amanda Dumfries and Marcia Gay Harden as the unstable religious zealot Mrs. Camody. On the negative side I wish they hadn't done the too often repeated alien incubation sequence. It was great in `Alien' but enough is enough. The religious fanaticism subplot was also a little over-the-top for my tastes but it certainly wasn't enough to spoil my enjoyment of the central storyline.

When all is said and done it's definitely the Lovecraft inspired monsters in the mist that capture my imagination. I keep seeing in my minds eye those final moments of the film as the valiant few drive through the fog and view all the mayhem and destruction wrought by these creatures. The sounds of their unearthly bellowing and glimpses of unimaginable horror as they move in and out of sight within the thick mist are accentuated by the haunting soundtrack provided by Lisa Gerrard. This is truly an unforgettable image that will stay with the viewer for quite some time.