The Mist (film)  

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The Mist (also known as Stephen King's The Mist) is a 2007 American science fiction horror film based on the 1980 novella The Mist by Stephen King. The film was written and directed by Frank Darabont. Darabont had been interested in adapting The Mist for the big screen since the 1980s. The film features an ensemble cast including Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Nathan Gamble, Andre Braugher, Toby Jones, Frances Sternhagen, Buck Taylor, William Sadler, Sam Witwer, Alexa Davalos, Chris Owen, Andy Stahl, and future The Walking Dead actors Laurie Holden, Jeffrey DeMunn, Melissa McBride, and Juan Gabriel Pareja.

Filming for The Mist began in Shreveport, Louisiana, in February 2007. The film was commercially released in the United States and Canada on November 21, 2007; it performed well at the box office and received generally positive reviews. Darabont has since revealed that he had "always had it in mind to shoot The Mist in black and white", a decision inspired by such iconic films as Night of the Living Dead (1968) and the "pre-color" work of Ray Harryhausen. While the film's cinematic release was in color, the director has described the black and white print (released on Blu-ray in 2008) as his "preferred version."

The director revised the ending of the film to be darker than the novella's ending, a change to which King was amenable. Darabont also sought unique creature designs to differentiate them from his creatures in past films.

Although a monster movie, the central theme explores what ordinary people will be driven to do under extraordinary circumstances. The plot revolves around members of the small town of Bridgton, Maine who, after a severe thunderstorm causes the power to go out the night before, meet in a supermarket to pick up supplies. While they struggle to survive, an unnatural mist envelops the town and conceals vicious, Lovecraftian monsters as extreme tensions rise among the survivors.

Plot

In Bridgton, Maine, artist David Drayton, his wife Stephanie and their eight-year-old son Billy take shelter in the basement of their lakeside home during a severe thunderstorm. While surveying the damage the next morning, they notice a thick mist advancing over the lake. David and Billy leave for town with their neighbor Brent Norton to buy supplies. Inside the supermarket, they watch police cars speed down the street, and a terrified civilian, Dan Miller, runs into the store and warns of a danger lurking in the mist. As a siren sounds, store managers Ollie Weeks and Bud Brown close off the supermarket, and the mist envelops the store. Against David's advice, bagger Norm goes outside to fix the store's emergency generator, but he is grabbed by a tentacled creature and dragged into the mist. David and Ollie direct the customers to barricade the storefront windows. Mrs.Template:NbspCarmody, a religious fanatic, begins preaching about an impending Armageddon, while a small group of skeptics led by Brent leave the store to seek outside help, which results in their deaths. David forms connections with several people in the store, including Amanda Dunfrey, a teacher who came into conflict with Mrs.Template:NbspCarmody over her religious zealotry. She carries a revolver in her purse, and gives it to Ollie, who is a former regional shooting champion.

As night falls, enormous flying insects – attracted to the lights – swarm in front of the store and are preyed on by pterodactyl-like creatures. One of the creatures smashes a window, allowing the insects inside. In the ensuing panic, two people are killed and another is burned to death in an attempt to incinerate the insects. Meanwhile, Mrs.Template:NbspCarmody is miraculously spared from an insect, leading her to proselytize more fervently and gain followers among the survivors. A small group led by David go to the neighboring pharmacy in search of medical supplies, but are attacked by giant spiders that kill two men, forcing them to retreat. Mrs.Template:NbspCarmody, who had opposed the expedition, uses this failure to increase her influence by offering protection from divine wrath to new converts. The next day, following the suicides of two soldiers from the local military base, a third soldier, Jessup, reveals that a government project to discover other dimensions was underway at the base, and that scientists may have opened a doorway into a dimension containing the creatures invading the town. Mrs.Template:NbspCarmody's followers offer Jessup as a sacrifice and expel him from the supermarket, and he is immediately devoured by a giant praying mantis-like creature.

The next morning, David and his group prepare to leave the store, but are stopped by Mrs.Template:NbspCarmody, who demands that Billy be delivered as the next sacrifice. Ollie, however, guns her down, then threatens her traumatized followers into standing down, thus allowing the group to escape. Outside, he and two others are devoured by the creatures and one runs back to the store, while David, Billy, Dan, Amanda and another woman reach David's car. Driving through the mist, David finds his home destroyed and Stephanie dead. Devastated, he drives away from town, passing a colossal six-legged beast and eventually running out of gas. With no means of escaping the mist, the resigned group decide to end their lives. David shoots Billy and the other three survivors with his four remaining bullets before leaving the car to be taken by the creatures. The mist suddenly dissipates, revealing that the United States Army has arrived and are in the process of exterminating the creatures and restoring order. Realizing that the deaths of his son and friends had been in vain, David screams in agony.

Cast

• Thomas Jane as David Drayton, a painter who ends up trapped in the supermarket with his son Billy.
• Marcia Gay Harden as Mrs. Carmody, a decidedly unorthodox religious fanatic who uses her own facile interpretation to preach that the mist is the wrath of God.
• Laurie Holden as Amanda Dunfrey, a new teacher at the local school. She carries a Smith & Wesson Model 60 with her at all times.
• Andre Braugher as Brent Norton, a big-city attorney and David's neighbor.
• Toby Jones as Ollie Weeks, the supermarket's assistant manager who is experienced with guns.
• William Sadler as Jim Grondin, a belligerent and weak-minded mechanic.
• Jeffrey DeMunn as Dan Miller, a man who takes shelter in the market after witnessing the dangers from the mist.
• Frances Sternhagen as Irene Reppler, an elderly teacher and Amanda's co-worker.
• Alexa Davalos as Sally, a cashier at the supermarket and Billy's babysitter.
• Nathan Gamble as Billy Drayton, David's eight-year-old son.
• Chris Owen as Norm, a bag boy.
• Sam Witwer as Private Wayne Jessup, a soldier stationed at the nearby Arrowhead military base.
• Robert Treveiler as Bud Brown, the supermarket's manager.
• David Jensen as Myron LaFleur, a mechanic who works with Jim.
• Melissa McBride as an unnamed woman who left her kids alone at home.
• Andy Stahl as Mike Hatlen, one of the patrons at the supermarket who side with David's group.
• Buck Taylor as Ambrose Cornell, a mustached man who sides with David's group and has a shotgun in his truck.
• Juan Gabriel Pareja as Morales, another soldier from Arrowhead base.
• Walter Fauntleroy as Donaldson, another soldier from Arrowhead base.
• Brandon O'Dell as Bobby Eagleton, Joe's brother, one of the patrons at the supermarket who side with David's group.
• Jackson Hurst as Joe Eagleton, Bobby's brother, who tries to build a torch with a mop but fails.
• Susan Watkins as Hattie Turman, the lady who watches Billy at the supermarket and a local real estate agent.
• Mathew Greer as Silas, one of the patrons at the supermarket who side with Brent's group.
• Kelly Collins Lintz as Stephanie Drayton, David's wife and Billy's mother.
• Ron Clinton Smith as Mr. Mackey, the supermarket's butcher.

See also

• The Fog (novel), a 1975 novel by James Herbert