The Mist

[nemo]

The Mist by Frank Darabont would also fit in this thread http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=10838.msg85922#msg85922 since it`s also Science Fiction.
Since it`s the best Horror movie and the best Stephen King adaption in a long while, osit, it deserves it`s own thread :).
Again I agree with the reviewer from _http://www.movies.com/themist/moviereview/108104.html

Who's in It: Thomas Jane, Andre Braugher, Marcia Gay Harden, Toby Jones, Frances Sternhagen

The Basics: In a small town in Maine, a freak storm is followed by a thick white mist. And there's stuff in the mist. Lots of stuff. Stuff so cool and so freaky that I almost wish I didn't have to write a review where I give away even one second of it. I just want to say, "Go see this awesome movie!" and make you believe me. Could you do that just once? Anyway, people get trapped in a supermarket and turn on each other while trying to figure out if fight or flight is the most viable option.

What's the Deal? Here's what it's not: It's not anywhere near as lame as the poster that I've seen up in theater lobbies, the one that made me groan each time I passed by it. It's also nothing like either version of The Fog, the movie where the fog rolled in and then ghosts knocked on your door a lot. And to anyone that I ever said, "Oh dang, not The Fog, Part 3!" to, I apologize. This one is suspenseful, funny and political, and it has a deep sense of pessimism and irony that warms my monster-loving heart.

Political? It's been said by others — and I believe it — that all movies are political, especially the ones that say they're not. This horror takes place in Maine, which isn't just home to the story's author, Stephen King, but it also features the main non-Texas compound of a certain political family dynasty, and its creeping subtext is that all the bad stuff going on is military-based, an experiment in colonialism gone wrong. Meanwhile, loudmouthed religious nuts capitalize on the population's fear.

Who Deserves to Be a Household Name After This Movie: Sternhagen. I know, you have no idea who she is unless you're a Broadway hound or a member of her immediate family. But she's a character actress who's been around for 77 years. She's been in a million things — she was Kyle McLachlan's uptight WASP mother on Sex and the City, and she plays the coolest, grumpiest, smartest person in this movie. She actually made people in the press screening cheer, and now I wish she was my grandmother.

I Promise This Is Not a Spoiler, But … It's got one of the coolest endings of the year.

The amazing thing here is that those people, surrounded by existential danger, have nothing better to do than creating their own mini-armageddon, thanks to apolcalyptic nut Marcia Gay Harden,
who prays to her (clearly mad) "God of the Israelites" (this is a Hollywood movie !)
Ah ...and the ending: It will shock you, so be forewarned (somehow they did away with some movie conventions).

 

[Smallwood]

This was incredibly good! I had bad expectations because of the director's earlier work (Shawshank Redemption) but I was most positively surprised.

The first 30 or so minutes were kind of meh, but it got better soon after. It was tightly packed with interesting situations, also squeezed in a universal truth or two.

 

[fabric]

Yea me too~! I had no idea it was gonna turn out the way it did. Thought it was going to be the standard cliche of a stupid monster terrorizing the town etc. But turned out pretty good. Liked how they worked in the religious crazy woman and how she slowly got people actually believing in her. There's tons of other little things but don't want to spoil the movie

 

[anart]

Okay, guys, I just rented this movie for the sole reason that you said it was:

Since it`s the best Horror movie and the best Stephen King adaption in a long while, osit, it deserves it`s own thread

(and nemo identifies with being a movie buff - meaning usually he would err on the side of always recommending artsy, good movies)

This was incredibly good!

Yea me too~!..... But turned out pretty good.

Knowing it was a Stephen King adaptation, I figured it might be little gory - but it was a GORE fest!! I would strongly not recommend trying to eat anything if you're watching this. I didn't even think it was very well done - the CGI was obvious and the acting was in the vein of a television movie. Maybe it was a made for TV movie and I missed that?

The ending was the only part that I think was done well - unfortunately, the ending is truly horrific.

So - personally, I'd warn anyone off this movie who doesn't like to watch bloodied skin being stretched, men eaten alive, burned alive, intestines strewn about, spiders exploding from innards ---- and that is just to mention a few of the events to not type spoilers... But, if that's what you're 'into', then enjoy!

I know - it's subjective - however, I had to balance out these glowing reviews with a great big, "if only I had could get out of the sauna and turn this horrible thing off - accckkkk!!!!"

 

[GRiM]

I checked it out on IMDB and read a few posts about it, have not seen it and don't really like gore films so I might skip this one., Might as well share what people in the imdb-forum learned from this movie:

• Don't ever listen to your car mechanic for things not car related.
  
• Parallel universes are foggy.
  
• Extreme Silly String isn't as fun as it sounds.
  
• When you hear a strange noise, investigate...alone.
  
• Handbags and short hair grant instant trans-dimensional immortality
  

 

[Gimpy]

So - personally, I'd warn anyone off this movie who doesn't like to watch bloodied skin being stretched, men eaten alive, burned alive, intestines strewn about, spiders exploding from innards ---- and that is just to mention a few of the events to not type spoilers... But, if that's what you're 'into', then enjoy!

I know - it's subjective - however, I had to balance out these glowing reviews with a great big, "if only I had could get out of the sauna and turn this horrible thing off - accckkkk!!!!"

I know what you mean anart. For me though, watching movie gore is ok as long as it serves the story, because its a movie, not real. I can't watch those reality TV shows that actually use footage of horrific accidents happening in real time.

Are there movies that I won't watch? Oh yes. Those movies that are gore for torture's sake, like those Hostel flicks and Saw....those are all about hurting people, and I can't stand that.

I haven't seen the Mist yet, but it sounds like a good one, I'll see if we can Netflix it.

 

[dant]

Well, from what I can tell, I guess Mist is not a family
with children movie. Reminds me of a famous, but retired
comic strip author that showed Stephen King's children
terrified when he wanted to take them out for a movie.
I cannot recall the author though.

 

[anart]

I haven't seen the Mist yet, but it sounds like a good one, I'll see if we can Netflix it.

I'll be quite interested to find out if you think it is a 'good one' after watching the ending.

 

[Gimpy]

I haven't seen the Mist yet, but it sounds like a good one, I'll see if we can Netflix it.

I'll be quite interested to find out if you think it is a 'good one' after watching the ending.

Sure! ;D I'm a weirdo though anart. I like some movies because they're so awful they make me laugh, like "Roadhouse" or "Sin City".

 

[anart]

I'm a weirdo though anart. I like some movies because they're so awful they make me laugh, like "Roadhouse" or "Sin City".

I quite liked Sin City - it was easy to suspend disbelief and very well done. I've not seen Roadhouse.

************* spoiler alert********************



A father having to shoot his young son in the head to kill him before he was eaten by monsters, after almost two hours of watching that son suffer horrific psychological torture and that father promising to not let him be eaten by monsters --- only to have the rescue forces arrive twenty seconds after the father shoots his only son in the head is not really an enjoyable ending to any movie for me. But, that's just me.

 

[Oxajil]

I'm a weirdo though anart. I like some movies because they're so awful they make me laugh, like "Roadhouse" or "Sin City".

I quite liked Sin City - it was easy to suspend disbelief and very well done. I've not seen Roadhouse.

************* spoiler alert********************



A father having to shoot his young son in the head to kill him before he was eaten by monsters, after almost two hours of watching that son suffer horrific psychological torture and that father promising to not let him be eaten by monsters --- only to have the rescue forces arrive twenty seconds after the father shoots his only son in the head is not really an enjoyable ending to any movie for me. But, that's just me.

************* spoiler alert********************





Ye it indeed wasn't. It was really horrible. I guess that making assumptions in such situations wouldn't be very beneficial. I felt really bad that the father did that to the kid and it's even worse because he made a promise. The boy was so shocked to see that gun pointed at him (if I remember it well, it was some time ago that I saw it). I did however really like the acting skills of the man, especially the way he reacted when he found out that the rescue forces were out there and there was no point in killing them, I think it takes some skills to show how one would react in such a situation.. and I think he did well.
For those who like shocking endings (but I don't think this one is as horrible like the one from The Mist, though it was really shocking and felt bad about it... but somehow I liked it because it makes the viewer to think about it) I would like to recommend the movie ''The Uninvited'', that movie really had me thinking for days, cause of the way it ended!

 

[Gimpy]

I'm a weirdo though anart. I like some movies because they're so awful they make me laugh, like "Roadhouse" or "Sin City".

I quite liked Sin City - it was easy to suspend disbelief and very well done. I've not seen Roadhouse.

I love to write stories, and one of the things every fiction writer goes through in the beginning is "the Purple Prose" phase. :D
Some writers can make the descriptive clunkers work, and in the hands of decent actors, it can be a lot of fun. Sin City, and even The 300 dudes are a lot of fun that way. My favorite is Roadhouse. The dialogue in that movie cracks me up, and I love it.

I'm still waiting for the Mist from netflix. I did look it up on IMDB to check it out. Having read a lot of King, I know he likes to go for the gross out if he can't have a good fright. Horror writing is 90% suspense, sprinkled with shocks. I like King's horror because as he's gotten older, he goes for a real life horror instead of just a visual/visceral fright.

Even knowing the ending of a film won't change the emotional punch in my case. Having a true to life action at the end, which is the real horror of the story, just makes me take the thinking further: Even though the 'rescue party' arrives after he's shot his son, there is no guarantee they are safe. The genie is out of the bottle, and putting it back is seldom possible. It's horrible, yes, but I can still understand it. Its movies like Hostel or Saw that I can't get through, because I don't like 'games' of any kind that damage people. (I can't stand role playing games either, much to my writer friends surprise)

If you like Sin City, I think you'll enjoy Roadhouse. Patrick Swayze is the lead, and he does a wonderful job. :D

 

[Robert Fordisto]

I think that The Myst is an excellent horror movie but the most interesting aspect of it, is the dynamic that developed between the religious fanatic and part of the group.
You can see a great example of HYSTERIZATION. I dont know but i think that in the near future we will see that a lot.

 

[loreta]

For me also it is the best adaption of a King's story. I like the idea of these strange visitors from we don't know where that come to terrorize us. And how to survive in this battle with them. It is a very scary movie but the monsters are everywhere because the fanatical religious woman in the movie (and in the novella also) is monstrous. I don't like the end in the movie that is different from the end of the short story. I asked myself: why? Very strange.

It is in fact my favorite horror movie. A very scary movie that sometimes I wanted to see, I don't know why! ;)

 

[Arreis13]

There are only two movies that I wish I never seen and this is one of them. ;) 28 days later is the second. Both movies I thought were excellent and frightening. I think my subconscious mind dwells on the plots of each of these movies creating a curiosity that I cannot seem to get enough of. :)