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HORROR 101: THE A-LIST OF HORROR FILMS AND MONSTER MOVIES  VOL 1

(2007)
Directed by Frank Darabont
Starring Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden, Andre Braugher, Toby Jones, William Sadler,
Jeffrey DeMunn, Frances Sternhagen, Nathan Gamble, Alexa Davalos, Chris Owen

For any movie, you need at least two elements to make it a great movie.  First you need the story.  Without that, it doesn’t matter how good of an actor you have, it just isn’t going to cover up a poor storyline.  The second would be the acting.  Even with a great story, if you don’t have the right talent there, this great story can come off as flat as the paper it’s written on.  Writer/director Frank Darabont was lucky enough to have high points in both of those two elements right from the start.

The Mist is based on the novella by Stephen King that was first published back in 1980 in the anthology Dark Forces.  The movie, which follows the book pretty closely,  deal with a small New England town that becomes enveloped by thick white mist that arrives the morning after a fierce thunderstorm.  A small group of people gather inside the local grocery store when they realize that something is in the mist.  Something deadly.  Although it takes a short time for everyone to realize this, especially for those that can't believe this is anything that couldn't be explained.  But they learn soon enough.

I remember reading this story when it re-published in King’s anthology book, Skelton Crew, and immediately fell in love with it.  It had the usually great story line from King, with very believable characters.  And most of all, it was scary.  I am amazed that it took over 25 years for it to finally come to the big screen.  But I for one think it was worth the wait.

Darabont is a horror fan.  And even though he has made commercially successful movies for Hollywood, like The Shawshank Redemption (also from a Stephen King story) and The Majestic, he started off writing horror movies.  He was the screenwriter for films like Nightmare on Elm Street 3, the 1988 remake of The Blob, and The Fly 2.  Even his very first film project that he did was a short film called The Woman in the Room, based on (yet again) a Stephen King short story.  So as a die hard horror fan, when I hear that Darabont is going to be directing a film adaptation of The Mist, I am very excited at that prospect.  And he didn’t let me down.

We know the story is coming from Stephen King, and we know it’s a good old fashion monster movie.  None of this “suspense / thriller” crap….it’s a horror movie.  But as we said, if you don’t have a good cast, even the best story is going to come up short.  Darabont has gathered an exceptional group of actors to fill out this movie. 

Thomas Jane plays David Drayton, our main character, and is very believable.  The audience is seeing what is happening through his character.  While he doesn’t understand what is happening out in the mist, he knows that whatever it is, it’s bad.  His main rival at the grocery store becomes the crazy Mrs. Carmody, played by Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden.  She gives this character so much depth and personality, that even though she is hated by just about all of the audience, you can at least understand where she’s coming from….as twisted as that place might be.

Using a lot of talent character actors, each one of the townspeople are memorable here.  People like Francis Sternhagen, Jeffrey DeMunn, and of course my personal favorite, William Sadler.  Every time you see one of these people on the screen you know you can count on a great performance.

Another point in this particular movie that could make or break it was the creatures.  If the CGI looks too cartoonish, then you lose the scare factor, and then it just becomes camp.  But no worries here, since everything is handled exceptionally well by Café FX.  And with the help of Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger, all the critters, big and small, are a wonder to look at.  And they are nothing like you’ve seen before.

But the real gist of the story here isn’t about the fight between the people inside the grocery store and what’s out in the mist.  It’s about the fight between the people in the grocery store against each other.  During a time of crises like this, would man turn against each other?  That is the real question put to the test here.

Dimension has released a 2-disc special edition DVD that really is a must for fans of this movie.  The first disc features audio commentary by Darabont, deleted scenes (with optional commentary), a featurette on the artwork of Drew Struzan, and trailers.  But the second disc features even more behind-the-scenes featurettes, from the making of the film, the visual and practical effects, creature designs, and much more.  But also on the second disc is the entire feature again…except in black and white.  This was the way that Darabont originally wanted to make the film, but obviously knew that the studios wouldn’t go for it.  But it is on this 2-disc edition.  For those out there that don’t have a problem with black and white movies, and God forbid even like them, this is a special treat.  Give it a try once and see what you think.