🟨 The Mist (2007) Review - Stephen King's Editing Team | Film Waffle

The Mist (2007) directed by Frank Darabont

Book-to-movie adaptations don't have the best reputation, do they? 

Hell, my boss has a big fat sticker on her work computer that says "THE BOOK WAS BETTER." Yes. Normally, I think, it's best to say that.

But horror is a very fickle and chaotic genre, where things are not always so clear-cut. Doubly so as we venture into the land of weird fiction and cosmic horror.

Join me, will you? 

Join me, friend, and let us walk into a strange and bizarre world where Up is Down. Left is Right. And aggressively mid authors like Stephen King are hyped and celebrated for some reason known only to God.

I don't get it.

This is my first book-film waffle combo, having previously reviewed Stephen King's The Mist. If you didn't read my review of the story, you definitely should. Otherwise, I will be mad and offended. But if you can't be asked, I was not impressed.

Still, I put this film on my docket. So watch it I did.

And I have to say, Mr. Darabont did a fine job at being Mr. King's editor.

Quick Summary

Artist David Drayton is a good-looking guy in his early forties/late thirties who happens to be a disheveled, flannel-wearing artist. 

That's already a bit weird to me because most artsy guys I know are twinks with a stick bug build. Clothes and hair always done up to make them look like they're posing for an Instagram story. Didn't know artist was a chad profession back in the day. Expecting to see Mike Rowe out here doing that Dirty Job real soon.

Anywho, the morning after a ferocious thunderstorm hits, David and his family notice a thick mist advancing toward their neighborhood. Dismissing it, David takes his son Billy and neighbor Brent to the local supermarket to get some groceries.

As they head to the checkout line, a bloodied man stumbles into the store claiming that there's "something in the mist!" A moment later, the mist blankets the store. 

Story & Characters

This film is remarkably similar to the book. Many of the scenes are lifted straight from the text beat for beat. Which, yes, is a little samey to me, but I don't jive with Stephen King's wordy presentation, so I was open to iteration on the plot. Thankfully, the film was much more focused than the text.

Granted, the similarities I didn't like are still there.

Mrs. Carmo-whatever's religious fanatic plotline is still stupid. Reminds me of The Lord of the Flies, which I recently finished for the first time. People losing their shit way too fast. Really stretches believability for me.

They say that every society is three meals away from chaos. But, my dudes, they're trapped in a supermarket. Presumably with at least a couple weeks of supplies. Probably more if they rationed. Why are people committing seppuku and demanding blood sacrifices after 24 hours?

Similarly to the book, many of the survivors are useless. They stand around while crazy shit is happening. Men and women stood there gawking and swaying like they're on LSD while their best buds get ripped to shreds by eldritch horrors. 

There was a kick ass granny. I liked her. Don't remember her from the book. I'm pretty sure I would have if she existed because the bitch shoots a flamethrower.

Talk about badass. Fuck the mechanics and shit. I want the grandma who knows how to throw hands.

The ending of the movie is the craziest deviation from the book. And it rightfully is considered one of the most shocking endings in horror movie history. Much more dramatic than how the Stephen King book ended.

But. I don't know, dude. It feels so silly to me. You have our boy David. Hopeless. Lost. Nothing more to lose. Monsters screeching all around him. 

A minute later, he's hunky dory.

It's so contrived, man. It's so silly.

Hopefully that made sense in a non-spoiler kind of way.

Speaking of which, another silly thing is when a random survivor spends a minute of the audience's time running around the shop during a monster attack. He lights a torch with kerosene. Immediately trips on the can and lights himself on fire.

LOL.

I feel like I shouldn't be laughing, but, boy, was it funny. Kudos to the actor. You had one job, and you did it well. That was another facet I don't believe was in the book, but I'm glad it was here in the movie.

At first, I didn't understand the logic behind the people making David their de facto leader. Not to be a hater, David, but you're Mr. Generic personified. But then I kept watching, and you've got people standing around doing fuck-all during a crisis and other people setting themselves on fire. Suddenly, it made sense to me. David isn't retarded. That was why they chose him. I suppose you take what you can get these days.

There's always that thing in horror movies, isn't there, where you have people imitating statues or chickens with their heads cut off. I get it. Fear gets to people. But goddamn it's frustrating to watch.

And, of course, I can't forget about the romance plotline! Our glorious editor/director nixed it. And thank Christ for that. 

Instead, David and Billy cultivate a more family-esque bond with the random chick David meets in the supermarket, Amanda. Still a tad weird. Don't know why you're letting a stranger cuddle with your kid as he sleeps. At one point David also sets Billy free with the neighbor who hates his guts, so maybe the guy is simply a clueless himbo.

The acting was another positive. For such a hammy and over-the-top movie, I thought all the actors did really well. 

Frances Sternhagen as Irene, our previously mentioned flamethrower granny, was awesome. Thomas Jane as David was a great lead. Andre Braugher as Brent, Toby Jones as Ollie, Laurie Holden as Amanda, and Jeffrey DeMunn as Dan were also top-notch. Feels like I'm listing the entire bloody cast at this point, but I was surprised. I don't often expect good acting to pair with horror movies. Especially so if the monsters are going to be CGI. Maybe that's a low bar that I need to raise for future expectations.

Mechanics & Structure

I know I already mentioned it, but this film breathed way more life into these characters and their setting than the book did.

It's shot well. When the survivors do their little huddles, the camera joins them in their circle. When Mrs. Carm-whatever is putting a heretic on trial, it peeks over the crowd's shoulders. Things like that really sell the feeling of being trapped in the market right there with the lot of 'em.

There's not a whole lot of music, and I like that. Again, it puts you into the story. What you get instead are the ambient sounds of the market. People worried. Crying. Silence. Loneliness. It's a good effect! Also it fits with the minimalist aesthetic of being trapped in the same supermarket for 90% of the runtime.

That's not to say that everything was a winner.

There are a couple tense scenes where the camera goes too gung ho with the amphetamines cam. Reminded me of Jim Carrey jumping around like he was on crack in The Grinch. 

Bitch. Calm tf down. Get this cameraman some milk.

I know I praised the sound design a few paragraphs ago, but there are a couple strange choices at the climax.

During the climax, when things are at their most intense and the main cast are risking their lives, the sound guys added a Wilhelm Scream as one of the survivors bites the dust.

Hello? Why did we do that? 

Starting to smell like a black comedy when I include the silly stuff already mentioned.

Also, the music is such an odd choice. I've included a video below. This song plays during the final part of the climax. It's some weird female chanting to lend the movie spiritual or otherworldly cred.

Idk. It was not doing it for me. There are quite a few comments on Youtube of people mentioning The Mist and praising this track. Can't relate, honestly.

Maybe it's because the internet lives and breathes cosmic horror, so I'm partially immune, being the digital native/degenerate that I am.

In any case, I still believe that the film was an overall more cohesive package than the book by a long way. I mentioned in my book review that King's idea was amazing, but his execution was ass. Here, I think, we got a glimpse of what a refined The Mist looked like.

It reminds me of when Tim Howard was memed-up as the Secretary of Defense during FIFA 2014. It's like that, but with Frank Darabont as the editor for Stephen King's mountain of BS.

Conclusion

There's not much else to say about the film other than it's just a solid piece of horror media. With its intimate setting, sound, and cinematography, the movie invites you into a land where supernatural horrors are a single glass pane away.

The acting is good. The story is serviceable. The acting is superb.

It suffers from hiccups here and there, however. Some puzzling choices that I don't think worked well. But, overall, The Mist (2007) is a good film that far surpasses its source material. 

🟨 Rating: 7/10