Discovery

Reading Stephen King as a pre-pubescent mess was very much an act of rebellion for me. I was a raised in a non-denominational (but needlessly strict) religious household. At a very young age, my personal boundaries were hammered into my skull: No sex. No violence. No blasphemy. No swearing. No no no no no no.

I first picked up Night Shift, King’s first short story collection, at a yard sale down the street from me for only $3. But I didn’t ever read the book in the open, for fear of my mother taking it away from me.

Looking back now, a lot of these stories seem to have their premises ripped off of other movies and a ton of H.P. Lovecraft pieces. But goddamn, they were so fun. The morbid matter at hand in “Grey Matter.” The twisted “solution” provided by “Quitters, Inc.” The overall creepiness of “I Am The Doorway.” And “The Lawnmower Man” is so patently absurd, it scared the shit out of me as a kid.

I moved on to his novels after that. I read The Stand first, which my older brother had left behind after he moved. I was hooked. I moved on to It. I’ve still never quite read anything like it.

I’ve read most of his books, but I gave up on him somewhere around the age of 17. And not until earlier this year, when my friend Ty recommended I read Skeleton Crew, did I read anything by Stephen King.

“The Mist” is the collection’s first story. It’s more of a novella (clocking in just over 120 pages) and I had to read it again immediately upon finishing. After a freak storm covers a small Maine town in a blinding mist, things begin to appear and attack survivors housed in a local grocery store. It’s apocalyptic view of the world, as well as it’s believable characters, sold me. To date, it stands as my favorite piece written by Stephen King.

So imagine my joy to learn that, of all people, the wonderful Frank Darabont would be directing the film. He’s already successfully adapted The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption. And, for a story that’s so fiercely loved by King fans, I can’t imagine a more perfect person to be manning the wheel.

For those who have read “The Mist” and enjoy it as much as I do, you won’t be disappointed with this film adaptation. It’s a nearly word-for-word, plot twist-by-plot twist identical reading of the novel. But what I found most impressive was Darabont’s  ability to capture the overwhelming aura of this situation.

As with the novella, the movie is shot almost entirely in one setting: the local grocery store. During the day, the store is brightly lit. Darabont alternates between shots of individual aisles and wide overhead shots of the entire store. By giving us a full look of the entire set, the claustrophobia sets in. We know exactly how much space there is and we know exactly where everyone (and everything) can hide.

The first scene with one of the mist’s “creatures” takes place in the backroom of the store. After a generator malfunctions, two local men (and store employees) goad a young man (Norm) out to clear whatever is blocking it. This is against the urgings of the main character, local artist David Drayton (played wonderfully by Thomas Jane).

As the first tentacle slipped under the rolling gate, I wasn’t really impressed. This is the only special effect in the whole movie that didn’t work for me. Actually, the part simply looked unfinished and, having seen the other scenes that use CG-effects, this seems to be the case. But, this aside, the scene is a great representation of the mounting chaos that is present in the character’s environments.

As I said, later uses of CG are spectacular. The mutant flies? Fascinating. The pteradactyl-like creatures? Spectacular. But it’s the movies’ spiders that are absolutely horrifying. Maybe it’s my old phobia coming back to haunt me, but spiders that can burst out of a human’s body and shoot acid cobwebs are fucking terrifying to me.

But what separates this from normal horror fair is the acting. Let it be known: I fucking LOVE ensemble casts. And this cast is absolutely perfect. Darabont has cast a group of people who so gloriously resemble the exact type of people King envisioned in his novella. After seeing the film, I can’t picture anyone else as Mrs. Carmody. (Marcia Gay Harden is completely evil as the religious fanatic who calls the “disaster” the End Times, as prophesized in Revelations.) Nathan Gamble is a perfect Billy Drayton. (I’ll call it now: that kid is gonna appear in a ton of movies.) And Toby Jones embodies the meek, yet heroic character of Ollie Weeks very well.

Knowing there are so many people stuck in the grocery store makes the movie all the more exciting. There are simply that many more variables to take into account as the creatures in the mist begin to realize there are people hiding in the store.

I won’t spoil the ending for those who have never read the novella. But if you’re a fan, be forewarned. Frank Darabont hasn’t so much changed it as he has added on to it. The movie, save for a few tiny fluctuations, is an exact copy of the story, right up to Stephen King’s ending. Darabont’s addition, however, will deeply divide fans of the novella; it’s a huge risk for the man who has so faithfully adapted King’s stories in the past. The addition completely changes the mood of the film to be one of the most depressing endings I’ve ever seen. (To give you an idea, if you thought David Fincher’s Seven was a dark movie, The Mist seems to have been penned by Satan.)

But that’s all I will say. I stand by Frank Darabont’s adaptation, beginning to end. This is a smart, psychological horror movie that’s every bit about the gore, the terror, the monsters, and adding brains to the story. I wasn’t disappointed in the slightest. The ending, if anything, simply makes sense. Hell, any movie that gives me nightmares about its subject the night I watch is a good piece of cinema to me.