Monster Mayhem
There is no more room to hide from fear.
That’s the basis for the film adaptation of Stephen King’s story The Mist which was written during the mid eighties. The height of his descriptive powers described a New England town besieged by a coiling mist that seemed more alive as it approached.
It carries imaginative darkness that calls for creatures that go bump in the night. Only that these things are far worse. “The Mist” affords a frightening glimpse into the unreal that stays nearly hidden unless you have enough courage to open the door all the way. If you dare.
What's worse is the indifference of these creatures that take form in the mist: they are seemingly uncaring and an abomination of nature. They merely drift by and would pick at their victims only if bothered… treating people as if they are simply gnats to be smoldered. They have the attitude, wholly single-minded, that goes, “If you screw with us, we’ll screw with you.”
And come in many shapes and forms on an evolutionary scale they do—there are spiders, dragonflies, pterodactyl creatures, and others that have no familiar shape. There are also tentacles which first appear at the beginning of the story which harkens back to the mythological works of H.P. Lovecraft.
In many ways, the original story by King was a homage to the great Providence scribe who set his ideas and stories of godly monsters to old 1930s pulp fiction books. You can feel the glimmer of his works when watching a film like “The Mist.” It’s very unnerving. The entire town becomes engulfed in all darkness. There seems to be no escape.
It was an intelligent move for director Frank Darabont using the extraordinary talents of comic book artist Bernie Wrightson for designing the final creature seen… the mountainous giant, with its unearthly cry, that stalks through on high legs towards the end. Wrightson is a living legend. And his powerful notions of horror is well-realized here. Some of the creatures really do seem otherworldly. They will scare the bejesus out of you.
But are the creatures the real stars of the film?
Not really. There is potential drama ensuing when you put a group of people together in a very stressful situation in a supermarket. Trapped, confined, confused, the people are torn between their beliefs and fear. And what is left is almost primal savagery. Many people devolved into their lesser states due to their lack of understanding of things around them. They are like children compared to the creatures moving inside this mist. A sea of darkness.
It is not helped that a local religious woman, deeply disturbed, turning the entire thing into a biblical Armageddon waiting to happen and she is brilliantly played by actress Marcia Gay Harden. She becomes some kind of messiah with all the answers when a cult is formed under her prayers. She calls for human sacrifice—the greatest primal act committed by man.
There are plenty of good performances in this film. The always sympathetic Ollie Weeks played by Toby Jones seems like a very ordinary man who stops buckling under his not-so-nice boss. I have always liked Thomas Jane who is an interesting actor. He played the Punisher opposite John Travolta a few years ago and always brings a kind of humanity into his role even if his character doesn’t call for it. Jane is a likable actor, kind yet firm, sweet but tough. He is very down-to-earth in this film. Which makes him very accessible to the viewing public.
He takes on the greatest responsibility of taking care not only of his son, but several other people who formed friendships with him throughout the tirade of fear that swallows the supermarket in which they are trapped. It’s a brilliant stroke of fiction. A supermarket feels so familiar, well-known to people… and putting them in a supermarket setting like this brings a whole different feeling of terror in the story/film.
I really liked the directing and the creative ways of keeping the original source of the film. You get a sense of hopelessness that has an awful grasp on people. Right to the very end, despite religion, the military or anything, there is that vast sense of no hope that spirals us together when we realize the cosmos is a bigger place than we thought.
There’s some very nice touches of Lovecraft in the film. The most important revelation in the story is from Private Jessup who only heard things, patching things together, when he said in his confession, “I heard these military scientists… they opened up some kind of window to another dimension. Another universe. And these things started crawling in.”
The tone, the darkness, all of it was nicely handled by director Darabont, known for his work of “The Green Mile” and the “Shawshank Redemption”, who played with the idea of the things out there not meant for this world. And the feeling of sickness swells up inside you when you try to look around every corner, every alcove, wondering if something would be there waiting.
Darabont wanted to make this film black and white in a homage to the old 1950s monster movies. But studio interference caused the film to be reverted to color for the theatrical releases. That’s too bad. It’s a nice idea. And the shades of black and white could only lend further discomfort in the leering darkness that sifts around the New England town. You can see the different take of the film in B&W on the two disc set of this film. Worth the look if you’re a fan of old horror movies.
Perhaps Darabont hopes to become the film counterpart to Stephen King in some of his works. It’s good to see someone who has a good grasp of the original material and convey it with mighty brush strokes of creativity. Much like Roger Corman and Edgar Allan Poe during their cycle of films in the 1960s.
Maybe Darabont will revisit King territory again very soon. It wouldn’t be a bad idea.
That’s the basis for the film adaptation of Stephen King’s story The Mist which was written during the mid eighties. The height of his descriptive powers described a New England town besieged by a coiling mist that seemed more alive as it approached.
It carries imaginative darkness that calls for creatures that go bump in the night. Only that these things are far worse. “The Mist” affords a frightening glimpse into the unreal that stays nearly hidden unless you have enough courage to open the door all the way. If you dare.
What's worse is the indifference of these creatures that take form in the mist: they are seemingly uncaring and an abomination of nature. They merely drift by and would pick at their victims only if bothered… treating people as if they are simply gnats to be smoldered. They have the attitude, wholly single-minded, that goes, “If you screw with us, we’ll screw with you.”
And come in many shapes and forms on an evolutionary scale they do—there are spiders, dragonflies, pterodactyl creatures, and others that have no familiar shape. There are also tentacles which first appear at the beginning of the story which harkens back to the mythological works of H.P. Lovecraft.
In many ways, the original story by King was a homage to the great Providence scribe who set his ideas and stories of godly monsters to old 1930s pulp fiction books. You can feel the glimmer of his works when watching a film like “The Mist.” It’s very unnerving. The entire town becomes engulfed in all darkness. There seems to be no escape.
It was an intelligent move for director Frank Darabont using the extraordinary talents of comic book artist Bernie Wrightson for designing the final creature seen… the mountainous giant, with its unearthly cry, that stalks through on high legs towards the end. Wrightson is a living legend. And his powerful notions of horror is well-realized here. Some of the creatures really do seem otherworldly. They will scare the bejesus out of you.
But are the creatures the real stars of the film?
Not really. There is potential drama ensuing when you put a group of people together in a very stressful situation in a supermarket. Trapped, confined, confused, the people are torn between their beliefs and fear. And what is left is almost primal savagery. Many people devolved into their lesser states due to their lack of understanding of things around them. They are like children compared to the creatures moving inside this mist. A sea of darkness.
It is not helped that a local religious woman, deeply disturbed, turning the entire thing into a biblical Armageddon waiting to happen and she is brilliantly played by actress Marcia Gay Harden. She becomes some kind of messiah with all the answers when a cult is formed under her prayers. She calls for human sacrifice—the greatest primal act committed by man.
There are plenty of good performances in this film. The always sympathetic Ollie Weeks played by Toby Jones seems like a very ordinary man who stops buckling under his not-so-nice boss. I have always liked Thomas Jane who is an interesting actor. He played the Punisher opposite John Travolta a few years ago and always brings a kind of humanity into his role even if his character doesn’t call for it. Jane is a likable actor, kind yet firm, sweet but tough. He is very down-to-earth in this film. Which makes him very accessible to the viewing public.
He takes on the greatest responsibility of taking care not only of his son, but several other people who formed friendships with him throughout the tirade of fear that swallows the supermarket in which they are trapped. It’s a brilliant stroke of fiction. A supermarket feels so familiar, well-known to people… and putting them in a supermarket setting like this brings a whole different feeling of terror in the story/film.
I really liked the directing and the creative ways of keeping the original source of the film. You get a sense of hopelessness that has an awful grasp on people. Right to the very end, despite religion, the military or anything, there is that vast sense of no hope that spirals us together when we realize the cosmos is a bigger place than we thought.
There’s some very nice touches of Lovecraft in the film. The most important revelation in the story is from Private Jessup who only heard things, patching things together, when he said in his confession, “I heard these military scientists… they opened up some kind of window to another dimension. Another universe. And these things started crawling in.”
The tone, the darkness, all of it was nicely handled by director Darabont, known for his work of “The Green Mile” and the “Shawshank Redemption”, who played with the idea of the things out there not meant for this world. And the feeling of sickness swells up inside you when you try to look around every corner, every alcove, wondering if something would be there waiting.
Darabont wanted to make this film black and white in a homage to the old 1950s monster movies. But studio interference caused the film to be reverted to color for the theatrical releases. That’s too bad. It’s a nice idea. And the shades of black and white could only lend further discomfort in the leering darkness that sifts around the New England town. You can see the different take of the film in B&W on the two disc set of this film. Worth the look if you’re a fan of old horror movies.
Perhaps Darabont hopes to become the film counterpart to Stephen King in some of his works. It’s good to see someone who has a good grasp of the original material and convey it with mighty brush strokes of creativity. Much like Roger Corman and Edgar Allan Poe during their cycle of films in the 1960s.
Maybe Darabont will revisit King territory again very soon. It wouldn’t be a bad idea.
posted by K.M. Paters at 11:27 AM
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