Some might be tempted to dismiss The Mist as just another horror flick based on a story by Stephen King. But the credit of "Directed by Frank Darabont" should tip you off that this might be anything but a run-of-the-mill shocker. Darabont, three of whose four feature films have been based on works by King, directed the screen adaptations of King’s The Shawshank Redemption (1994) and The Green Mile (1999), both widely respected films. Those earlier films dealt mainly with character development and the interaction of people in desperate situations. In The Mist, his first horror film, Darabont has captured something that so many have missed in adapting King for the screen: The drama is just as much about human reactions to other humans as it is about humans vs. monster or monsters unknown.

The premise is simple: A raging storm on the Maine coast brings down trees and power lines right and left. A tree has crashed through the front window of our soon-to-be hero, David Drayton (Thomas Jane). Drayton and his son, Billy (Nathan Gamble), leave mom and go to town for supplies, taking along neighbor Brent Norton (Andre Braugher). All have already noticed a thick mist moving in from the ocean, and their shopping in the local market is interrupted when a man runs in yelling about having seen something in the mist -- monsters, maybe. At that point, the mist enshrouds the supermarket and everyone inside becomes a prisoner.

The monsters -- giant creatures looking like crabs and dragonflies -- soon appear, and immediately dispatch in gory fashion anyone who tries to escape. Inside the store, factions soon develop. The town’s religious loony, Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden), convinces many that their plight is God’s punishment, and it isn’t long before neighbor is at neighbor’s throat. Attacks from outside reunite them only long enough to provide fuel for a deeper schism. Handsome, muscled, square-jawed Drayton becomes the leader of the reasonable faction, which also includes the elderly Irene, played to perfection by veteran actor Frances Sternhagen.

Too many "horror" movies are actually only torture flicks that, in their attempts to scare us, show too much. The Mist delivers gore, but only when needed -- horrific scenes are spaced so that, by the time they arrive, they are genuinely scary. Sometimes characters are swallowed in the mist and we’re left with a whited-out screen, wondering what lies behind it. Darabont creates a palpably frightening atmosphere: Neither the characters onscreen nor people in the audience know what to expect next. In between the attacks, the human conflict of sanity and religious fanaticism starkly played out by the survivors in the store shows how savage we can be to each other: In our zeal to be right, we become monsters ourselves. This is the first horror film I’ve seen in a long time that actually frightened me.

Darabont is faithful to King’s original novella -- until the end. I’m surprised that his stark shocker of a conclusion won the producers’ approval. Anyone who’s seen enough episodes of Twilight Zone will be able to figure out what’s going to happen, but even they will be surprised at how.

The Mist will have tremendous impact on audiences. I will never again drive a foggy road without scenes from this movie flashing before me -- a terrifying thought. There may have been something in the mist in John Carpenter’s The Fog (1980), but he never delivered on it. Darabont does. If you like to be scared, this mist is a must.

• Go Back