Stephen King is here to scare again with his latest movie, The Mist."" The film centers on a man and his son, who are suddenly stranded in a grocery store with dozens of other locals when a strange mist envelops their town. Within hours, creatures burst from the fog to drag people away from the group and kill them. As their numbers dwindle, the survivors must come up with a way to escape from the supermarket to safety.
The monsters are definitely frightening, and this movie has more than its fair share of blood and gore. As someone explained however, ""It isn't what's outside the room that's so scary, it's what's inside the room."" As the movie progresses, the violent monster attacks almost take a back seat to the pandemonium that breaks out among the humans when it becomes clear they need a plan of action.
One woman, the religious zealot Mrs. Carmody, stirs a faction of people into fanaticism. Her group grows over time to become the majority. It is not clear whether this is social commentary, but it certainly puts an interesting twist on what could have been another dull horror flick. What she is willing to do to obey the ""will of God"" creates some of the most terrifying scenes of the movie.
In spite of this, ""The Mist"" doesn't really stand out in any one way. Like most horror movies, the characters can be exceedingly stupid and curious to a fault. It is obvious to the audience that when tentacles are dragging people away, it is not by any stretch of the imagination a good idea to check out a suspicious noise coming from outside. In fact, the characters make a lot of poor decisions throughout the movie, most of them ending violently. The characters are likeable however, or at least well written. It is easy to see oneself in multiple characters. They are not exactly heroes and have their own flaws.
The monsters' presence is only partially explained and there are several plot holes throughout the film. The focus is not really on the story so much as the characters' reactions to a seemingly hopeless situation and the choices they make. The result is a fairly entertaining two and a half hours at the movies. King even throws a couple moments of irony and humor in, too.
One flaw of ""The Mist"" is that it feels longer than it is. There is only so much anyone can do with a story about people being eaten by mysterious creatures. Although there are moments that set it apart from other films, it does not look like ""The Mist"" will go down in movie history as anything special. It definitely is not a waste of time to see, though, and is something most audiences will enjoy.
