2008 Woodie Awards
Decent scares to be found in 'Mist'
By: Phil Hornshaw
Issue date: 11/19/07 Section: Lifeline
- Page 1 of 1
A small town gets covered in a thick, creepy mist following a big storm.
It's not that big of a deal until some people go out into the mist and never come back, or others come running out of it, bloody and screaming.
"Stephen King's The Mist" moves quickly into its idea of terror. Led by David Drayton (Tom Jane, "The Punisher"), a group of about 30 people are trapped in a neighborhood grocery store as the spooky mist rolls in. It's so thick that no one can see more than a few feet through it.
And before long, stuff starts coming out of it.
What follows is a claustrophobic tale of what happens to people under extreme stress.
Trapped in the supermarket, people continuously make stupid decisions. Without spoiling too much, people do a lot of interesting things, and while the direction of the story is readily apparent pretty early on, the degree of just how bad things can get is not.
Much to horror fans' delight, things get pretty bad.
Acting is proficient throughout - screaming and infighting continue on a disaster-movie track. Nothing is really inspired, but the film and its cast handle things in about as believable a way as you might expect.
Believability is what the verdict comes down to for "The Mist."
Computer-generated imagery used throughout the movie is, unfortunately, pretty awful in the era of transforming robots and child wizards.
Suspension of disbelief will allow some people to ignore the CGI - after all, movies like this used to employ big puppets - but for others, a few moments might be enough to inspire a few laughs instead of scares.
Even so, it's not so much about what comes out of the mist as what it does to the people inside the supermarket.
The actors can at least sell the idea of a spooky possible-apocalypse happening on Main Street.
The scares are more about what the people inside choose to do in response to what's outside, but there are a few harrowing moments of misty action.
And as ads have it, the ending of the film is a departure into horror Stephen King often avoids. "Shocking" might not be the word I'd use, even though that's what the TV spots say. "Decent" is a better choice.
In fact, "decent" is the word that leaps most to mind when discussing "The Mist."
It's an interesting concept, a nice attempt, and a fair amount of scares.
Three of five stars
It's not that big of a deal until some people go out into the mist and never come back, or others come running out of it, bloody and screaming.
"Stephen King's The Mist" moves quickly into its idea of terror. Led by David Drayton (Tom Jane, "The Punisher"), a group of about 30 people are trapped in a neighborhood grocery store as the spooky mist rolls in. It's so thick that no one can see more than a few feet through it.
And before long, stuff starts coming out of it.
What follows is a claustrophobic tale of what happens to people under extreme stress.
Trapped in the supermarket, people continuously make stupid decisions. Without spoiling too much, people do a lot of interesting things, and while the direction of the story is readily apparent pretty early on, the degree of just how bad things can get is not.
Much to horror fans' delight, things get pretty bad.
Acting is proficient throughout - screaming and infighting continue on a disaster-movie track. Nothing is really inspired, but the film and its cast handle things in about as believable a way as you might expect.
Believability is what the verdict comes down to for "The Mist."
Computer-generated imagery used throughout the movie is, unfortunately, pretty awful in the era of transforming robots and child wizards.
Suspension of disbelief will allow some people to ignore the CGI - after all, movies like this used to employ big puppets - but for others, a few moments might be enough to inspire a few laughs instead of scares.
Even so, it's not so much about what comes out of the mist as what it does to the people inside the supermarket.
The actors can at least sell the idea of a spooky possible-apocalypse happening on Main Street.
The scares are more about what the people inside choose to do in response to what's outside, but there are a few harrowing moments of misty action.
And as ads have it, the ending of the film is a departure into horror Stephen King often avoids. "Shocking" might not be the word I'd use, even though that's what the TV spots say. "Decent" is a better choice.
In fact, "decent" is the word that leaps most to mind when discussing "The Mist."
It's an interesting concept, a nice attempt, and a fair amount of scares.
Three of five stars
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