Product 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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2167 in DVD
• Brand: MIST, THE: 2-DISC COLLECTOR'S EDITION (DVD MO
• Released on: 2008-03-25
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Formats: Collector's Edition, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .35 pounds
• Running time: 126 minutes

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

Customer Reviews

awesome
Excellent blue ray movie transfer along with a great movie itself. I would recommend this movie to all horror buffs.

Stupid Characters doing stupid things
It seems the writer intended this movie to be a sort of morality tale about the frailty of humanity and the depths to which people will sink in the face of fear and the unknown. He failed miserably. The characters are unrealistic archetype caricatures, all of which are unbelievably stupid and slow to act in the diferent situations that arise in the movie. Apparently the only archetype not represented is that of rational humane man. Everyone's first instinct is to either kill someone else or start offing themselves like lemmings. This was a terrible movie. Do not waste your time.

Adequate adaptation of King's novella
After a raging storm that knocks out all power, David Drayton and his young son Billy head into town for supplies. Along for the ride is neighbor Norton, whom David doesn't normally get along with. Before leaving home, David and his family wonder about the strange mist hovering over the lake. Once in town, he discovers the power is out there too, and the checkout lines in the grocery store are long.

Then, they notice the mist rolling across the store's parking lot. They hear screams, and a large earthquake-like thud shakes the store and silences the air raid siren. A man runs into the store from the mist, informing the people that there's "things" out there. Now trapped inside the store, the large crowd wonders what to do and who to believe. Shopper Mrs. Carmody, a crazy lady from town, works the desperate crowd into a frenzy of religious fanaticism. There ARE things in the mist, tentacles and large bugs and flying daemons, and as Mrs. Carmody preaches the end of the world and expiation via blood, David must find a way to save himself and his son, and the few who follow him.

I can't help but compare the movie to the story, which I've read several times and consider it one of King's best stories (before he lost his talent and began writing drool). In the book, King really captured the crowd mentality when people are shoved together in a tight place. It didn't work as well in the movie translation. In my summary of the plot, I tried to stay true to the movie, which in all fairness follows the book quite well until the ending. I was disappointed in the movie for several reasons. The director used all unknown actors, no big names to anchor the film. The acting was rather wooden, and Mrs. Carmody should have been older and fatter (plus I miss the bright yellow pantsuit she wore in the book). The FX was ok but not spectacular. The scriptwriter changed the ending, and not for the better. What this film really needed was a bigger budget to make it work; it's not grisly enough to be 'B' horror, and not performed well enough for mainstream films. All in all, it turns out to be just a mediocre film that didn't live up to my expectations. Rent, don't buy. Enjoy!