JohnDoe
Bryn
BrentonThe Mist (2007) - Trailer Included
April 22nd 2008 23:57
The Unseen Villiany Within
The Mist is due to be released on DVD in Australia on the 19th of June
Based on the Novella by: Stephen King
Starring: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, William Sadler, Sam Witwer, Toby Jones, Laurie Holden, Andre Braugher, David Jensen
“As a species we're fundamentally insane. Put more than two of us in a room, we pick sides and start dreaming up ways to kill one another. Why do you think we invented politics and religion?” - Ollie
Stephen King is one of the most prolific writers of any era. He has penned in excess of 50 novels that have in turn been translated into more than 75 movies, TV Shows and mini series. Not counting his excursions into drama (Eg: Hearts in Atlantis, Stand By Me) most of his Horror/Thrillers have been mediocre at best. There have been three cinema adaptations that are masterpieces, Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, David Cronenberg’s The Dead Zone and Brian De Palma’s Carrie. Several mediocre efforts that hold some merit like John Carpenter's Christine, Rob Reiner’s Misery and Bryan Singer’s Apt Pupil. For the most part sadly the majority of celluloid excursions have wasted opportunities and ended up sub par or worse as downright trash.
Hitting cinemas last year, The Mist is a supernatural horror film that can proudly become the fourth exercise in terror to be confidently deemed a cinema gem. Based on a novella from The Skeleton Crew it’s taut, disturbing and painfully clever. This is a journey into nerve wracking trembles spearheaded by humanity’s destructive reaction to fear of the unknown.
“I can't accept that. People are basically good; decent. My god, David, we're a civilized society.” – Amanda
A lazy synopsises would be that it’s the Cube and Lord of the Flies cross bred or is that in bred with a traditional Twilight Zone monster movie. It’s not John Doe’s style to be lazy though, hence the 100 plus words before he even gets around to discussing the film in question. So here is a brief introduction to this tale that hopefully remains spoiler free.
“The end of times has come. Not in flames, but in mist.” – Mrs Carmody
David Drayton (Thomas Jane) is a movie poster artist, as the camera focuses on him working the nods to the stories original author and the tone of the film are immediately present. David is presently painting illustrating a film version of the Gun Slinger, part of King’s Dark Tower western trilogy. As a violent electrical storm rages lightning flashes revealing that on the walls are posters for John Carpenter’s The Thing and The Fog.
“Now listen people. We are experiencing some kind of disaster. I don't know whether it's man-made or natural, but I do know that it's definitely not supernatural. Or biblical. And no offense Mrs. Carmody, but the only way we're going to help ourselves is to seek rescue. We're going out.” - Brent
Abandoning his work as nature’s fury is unleashed, Drayton takes his family into the basement as a massive tree is uprooted and shatters the window where he was seated only moments earlier.
The next day all his calm, a heavy mist sits at the foothills of the surrounding lake. An olive branch is offered to Brent Norton (Andre Braugher), his obnoxious lawyer neighbour and so David, his young son Billy and Brent drive into town to get supplies to repair the damage to their respective houses.
En route police and army vehicles blast by towards a mysterious military science base known as Arrowhead located in the mountains just outside of the sleepy town in Maine. The subject of gossip and folk lore little is known about the experimental compound and unconcerned the trio continue onto the local hardware store.
Once inside more activity erupts as a frantic man bursts into the confines of the warehouse store with a bleeding nose. Startling the customers with claims of his companions swift and unseen fatal encounter within The Mist….suddenly an air raid siren blares and the threatening mist engulfs the shop….it begins.
“It appears we may have a problem of some magnitude.” – Bud Brown
I have a bad feeling about this
John Doe says:
So you don’t get the wrong impression, this film does have faults. It’s not perfect and the first half an hour misleads you into believing it’s just another “B” grade horror. It’s easy to settle into believing that you are in for a dose of enjoyable schlock entertainment.
The early FX shots are a little on the tongue in cheek side, but all that changes once its true purpose is revealed. The velocity increases and a claustrophobic study of the fundamentals of a clawing paranoia and desperation emerge. Comparisons to The Thing and Invasion of the Body Snatchers are much more appropriate.
Misconceptions are abruptly removed when suddenly the tension snowballs, the terrifying special effects improve and importantly you become invested in the plight of these trapped characters. By the time the story hits its apex there are few equals to its superior visuals and heart exploding suspense. There is the imminent doom and cold menace of a great white shark rolling it eyes into the back of its head for an inevitable attack.
Now is probably a good time to mention how much JD despised Writer/Director Frank Darabont until this point in his career. He was a man who even managed to bleed any sense of menace or danger from prison (The Shawshank Redemption) and like Spielberg had a saccharine quality to his work that left me repulsed for all the wrong reasons.
In The Mist Darabont’s knowledge of cinema language and deft audience manipulation finally becomes apparent. There is a restrained expertise in the staging and pacing. Cleverly minimising the soundtrack, don’t expect to be warned in advance of impending destruction here. The minimal score is supported by unpolished cinematography that frames shots for maximum impact and urgent editing from the technical team behind The Shield. The result is a social commentary of realism that is inescapable, a tone that salutes the dense atmosphere of his inspirations.
Best of all the film follows through on its pitch dark promises with a finale of such melancholy devastation that Johnny refuse to discuss it with those who have not yet witnessed it for themselves.
The script tightens and the imaginative FX accelerates as each scene proceeds, it’s akin to bamboo shoots up the fingers nails. None of these peripherals would coagulate without the dedication of the cast who are committed to convincing us this is all really happening.
Thomas Jane (Thursday, The Velocity of Gary) backs up his charismatic performance in the under seen real life cop thriller Stander and scene stealing turn in Boogie Nights. You believe his on-screen intelligence and obsessive survival instincts.
Marcia Gay Harden (The Dead Girl) is truly repulsive as the religious zealot all to eager to believe in Gods blood thirsty desires. Inspiring such hatred in the pit of your stomach that it’s hard not to reach into the screen and throttle her. This is a fearless performance that embraces the pack mentality with a fervour that should be rewarded.
All the players including William Sadler, David Jensen and Andre Braugher excel in there parts.
Johnny D loves being surprised by films and when he saw the trailer for this, frankly it looked derivative and judged it to be a poor mans version of The Fog. How wrong he was. Under estimation can sometimes lead to excitement, it wasn’t until about half way through that he realised he had read the original novella, but this didn’t detract from the shocks that the film offered.
The DVD release will have both the original version and also Darabont’s intended cut that is black and white, which I can only imaging adds another level to the creepy feel. So next time your looking for a frightfest on a rainy night, switch all the lights out and prepare for some quality chills in The Mist.
If you would like find out some of the stories secrets, then visit Bryn’s brilliant review over on horrorphile.net
Spoiler Warning - The trailer for the Mist that hints at where the story goes.
Frank Darabont introduces his Black and White version that will be available on the DVD edition.
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Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
And cheers for the nod.
Coincidentally my review today is another Invasion/Thing influenced B-movie made good.
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Though i don't know how tidy a work it is. Took me over a thousand word and I didn't even really talk about what happens in the film.
I will be heading over to your review of The Faculty soon, love the blood test salute to The Thing in it.
Comment by Jason King
Salty Popcorn
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
I guess we all look for different things in a horror film, obviously I dug it immensely. I am a sucker for the whole duality of man, paranoia breeds self destructive primal nature thing and thought this really focused on the characters well, instead of the usual empty crud with no substance. (Not that I don't mind the odd slice of schlock fun, Slither for instance made me laugh along.)
I am really reluctant to discuss the ending for fear of ruining it for others, so all I will say is I loved the follow through where so many lesser films back down. (Eg: the 28 days Later finale)
Because I'm a huge fan of The Thing and Invasion of the Body Snatchers this was right up my alley. Many have tried to emulate these films but few succeed in surprising me like this one did while still following teh basic structure of the genre.
Out of curiosity, what modern horror films of this type pleased you?
Comment by Jason King
Salty Popcorn
A tough one so after some net searching for a refresher:
* The Ring - Japanese version only - it scared the shit out of me - I mean I went white and turned all the lights on scared.
* Final Destination (number 1) was a great idea and I enjoyed the hell out of it.
* Blair Witch Project - I sat behind Ewan McGregor and John Luigezamo at the premiere and got really drunk at the after party and asked the directors what the fuck it all meant. I just wish I could remember their answer. Sorry for the swear word.
* The Descent (English version, not the US SHIT re-cut) - I just loved loved loved this film - but OMFG the book is so out of this world and totally "Journey to the Centre of the World" - it's a must read.
* The Butterfly Effect - Ashton's best work, amazing
* Mothman Prophecies - blew me away
* The Devil's Backbone - BRILLIANT
* Hostel - freaky scary
* Borat - scared the hell out of me for how appalling it was, and OMG that fat guys butt in any person's face is enough to bring on nightmares for years.
I could look into this more but this is what comes to mind at first after a quick net look.
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Totally agree with japanese The Ring, true nail biter (hated the remake too).
Final Destination was a cool idea but the movie wasted the concept and was just stupid.
Blair Witch I enjoyed, but prefer Cannibal Holcaust.
The Descent rules, (again we agree) did a review of it here if your interested.
Butterfly Effect was just insulting I thought it was dumbed down to cater to 12 year olds. So lame and obvious plus a hack job of everything Donnie Darko brought up in a far more subtle, intelligent and thoughtful way. (I haven't even seen Ashton do anything decent though)
Mothman Prophecy tried so very hard, but for me fell flat..not a complete lost cause though.
Devil's BackBone was brilliant, still I think Del Toro's Cronos is his best venture into horror.
Hostel I found silly (the first half was so over cooked and ridiculously dumb) and I was waiting the whole time for the reputed violence to start, which never really happened (Scarier still though is the fact I thought the sequel was a much better film)
Borat - truly frightening that some people thought it was funny, I agree...didn't mind the short skits on the Ali G show though.
A few other recent faves off the top of my head in recent years-
May - click for review
Frailty - click for review
Dog Soldiers - click for review
Dawn of the Dead (remake, god help me)
Audition (in fact anything Miike holds merit IMO)
Thanks for playing along...always curious about what others think of horror films...like comedy possibly the most subjective genre.
Comment by D. Armenta
The Florida Keys and Everglades
The Black Sheep Chronicles
What constitutes bad manners?
The male mystique
Debate Fan
So glad to hear that this one hasn't fallen under the King curse; I really enjoyed his earlier work and hated to see the hash made of his stories in movie form. Totally concur with the standout triumvirate (Kubrick/Cronenburg/DePalma)
Since I know that I'll always like what you like, I feel confident now about ordering this from Netflix--thanks!!
P.S.--maybe opening up a can of worms here, but what was scary about Borat? Looked like your basic parody of your basic Czech stereotype...
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
"My Excellent reviews" love your positivity!
Hope you enjoy The Mist as much as I did, be warned as I said in review it starts off like just another schlock horror but once the situation elevates its Lord of The Flies time.
As for Borat, it was an empty vessel very obvious and subjective...as an Aussie it was insulting that people all commented "only in america" yet the stupidity and ignorant racism are just as rampant in this country too....it was a one trick pony that got old very quick, as i said I didn't mind the little 5 minute Borat skits on the Ali G show back in the day but it just didn't warrant a longer running time than that.
Always superb to share your company and thoughts, glad to know your out there fighting a the good fight.
Hope all is well in your world of sunny Florida.
Comment by Cibbuano
20/20 Filmsight
Science News
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
I liked the original short story, so I'd probably sit through this...
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
I was so unimpressed with the trailer for this and wasn't going to even watch it because it was a Darabont film. Then Bryn recommended it highly, so I thought Id give it a try...maybe I enjoyed it so much because I had low expectations, but either way the end result was satisfying.
Hope I haven't over-hyped it, but it did have a lot of the things I enjoy, eg claustrophobic feel, social comment, destructive human nature and imaginative scenarios that nod great films.
Comment by Ginger Snap
Hated Marcia
Loved the end