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: #4475 in DVD
• Brand: WELLSPRING/GENIUS
• Released on: 2008-03-25
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Formats: Color, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 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

Michael Jackson Was Wrong, It Does Matter if The Mist is Black or White. (dvd features below)
On the two disc edition of The Mist, on disc 2 there is a glorious Black and White version of the film, with an introduction by the director Frank Darabont. Darabont says he originally wanted The Mist to be in B&W and be a throwback to the 50's and 60's horror movies such as Night of the Living Dead, which I felt it had a lot in common with. Darabont says this can be considered his director's cut. I knew he directed two other King favorites The Shawshank Redemption (Two-Disc Special Edition) and The Green Mile, but I didn't realize his other contributions to the horror genre, until I checked out IMDB. Starting in 1980 as a production assistant on Hell Night and going on to write the screenplays for A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 - Dream Warriors, The Blob, The Fly II (Collector's Edition), and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

The Mist is an entertaining, at times infuriating, tragic horror film filled with fun scares in the form of 50s and 60s era monsters lurking in the mist outside and the uglier monsters inside that apply to our present day, a true creature double feature.

Darabont reminded me of Romero and his use of horror and social commentary. Here he makes an atmospheric horror movie, our main character, David Drayton, played by, Thomas Jane, (Deep Blue Sea) designs posters for horror movies, followed by a big storm, and ultimately has David and his son (mom at home) trapped in a supermarket with the towns people. Similar to the mall in Dawn of the Dead [Blu-ray] evil lurks outside the market, not in the form of zombies that can be seen, but old school monsters that lurk out in the mist. That's the surface of the film, but as we go through the layers we find much more, such as the monsters that lurk inside the supermarket. Human nature, when afraid and backed into a corner and the role the military plays once the smoke clears are some of the movie's other factors.

The Black and White Version is the way to go, to get that old school feel the director intended, even the way the title on the dvd is written is like an old monster movie. Highly Recommended, one of King's best film adaptations.

2 DISC DVD FEATURES (FROM BACK OF DVD)
DISC I Features Commentary by Writer/Director Frank Darabont - Deleted Scenes with optional commentary - Drew Struzan: An appreciation of an artist - Behind the scenes webisodes - Trailer Gallery Dolby Dig 5.1
DISC II - Frank Darabont introduces The Mist in Black & White - The Director's Vision: The Complete Feature Film in Black & White - When Darkness came : The Making of the mist - Taming the beast - The making of scene 35 - Monsters among us: A look at the creature FX - The Horror of it all: The visual FX of the mist. Dolby Dig 5.1

The Mist
After a bad storm that puts a tree through his studio window, David Drayton (Jane), his son Billy (Gamble), and neighbor Brent (Braugher) head into town to get some supplies from the supermarket. Once there, the mist that they saw rolling across the lake has made it into town and engulfs the store. The terror level is upped when a man runs into the store with blood on his face, screaming that there is something out there. Indeed, there is, and soon those trapped in the store see what it is. To make matters worse, a religious fanatic by the name of Mrs. Carmody (Harden) is stirring up some of the customers with her talk of the end of the world. David finds himself looked to for guidance, and when things seem to be as bad as they can be, things get worse.

Director Frank Darabont takes another stab at a Stephen King story, this time a horror story, and succeeds quite well. Like "The Shawshank Redemprion" and "The Green Mile", "The Mist" is a faithful adaptation of the source material, with an added on ending that may or may not work for viewers. I, for one, enjoy endings of this nature, but am not sure that it was the right ending to tack on the end of this particular story. The acting is solid all around, especially Marcia Gay Harden as the disturbing Mrs. Carmody. The film has its share of monsters, but the scariest ones are inside the store, not outside it. "The Mist" works because it is a smart thriller, directed by an excellent director. I recommend this film.

A Movie with Many Problems
THE MIST has the full panorama of responses, from those who find it 'the best of the Stephen King story adaptations' to those who find it a feeble attempt to wed science fiction with biblical predictions. Frank Darabont has consistently brought King's popular horror stories to the screen with great success. For this film he's gathered a substantial cast, used computer generated graphics well, but in the end the result is a confusing mishmash of story versus sermon versus actors being overwhelmed by some really strange upstaging creatures.

David Drayton (Thomas Jane) is a graphic artist who manages to weather a freak storm only to discover a mysterious mist hovering over his backyard lake. Going to town with his young son to get supplies at a Food Store he joins the other townsfolk in the gossip about the mist which now engulfs the town: could it be due to some experiment at the military post lab in the mountains? The store's generator sounds like it is fumbling, and while brave David tries to fix it (mind you, in this town with no electricity, the lights in the main store remain on....), he sees the back wall buckling and hears a bizarre noise. Returning to the storefront, David informs the crowd of his findings, but his descriptions are not believed - especially by the town psycho Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden) who sees all things in relation to her channeling of God via her knowledge of the Book of Revelations, and the pessimistic out-of-towner Brent Norton (Andre Braugher), who has a running disagreement with David. But gradually David gathers some sensible folk (Toby Jones, Chris Owen, et al) to accompany him to the generator room and against David's warning, the back door is opened by the young stock boy and huge tentacles enter from the mist and consume the lad. Thus we have two factions: those who side with Mrs. Carmody's religious zealot need to sacrifice people to the outdoor monsters now flying about the store and those who are convinced they must fight the offenders with force and escape. The mess of a story is further confused with overlay of father/son devotion, mass hysteria, mob rule, revenge on the military for loosing these 'other world monsters' on the public, and 'what do we do if this is the end of the earth'. How it all winds down may satisfy some and may irritate others.

So why rate this film with two stars instead of one? Marcia Gay Harden gives a bravura performance as the crazy Mrs. Carmody and Toby Jones offers a solid representation of the stable man as a clerk in the store who keeps his wits about him. Thomas Jane is Thomas Jane, and for an action hero, he seems to melt with the circumstances. The movie is long, silly, not scary, and suffers from a weak script. For those who are entertained by this sort of story it may be worthwhile. For those who are fatigued by the same old line of good versus evil in the form of gooey huge monsters, pass on this film. Grady Harp, March 08