Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
After a violent storm, a dense cloud of mist envelops a small Maine town, trapping David Drayton and his five-year-old son in a local grocery store with other local residents. They soon discover that the mist conceals deadly horrors that threaten their lives, and worse, their sanity.
The Mist is a solid Stephen King adaptation elevated enormously by its ending, which is one of the most gut-punch, devastating conclusions in modern horror — genuinely shocking and thematically resonant in a way few horror films dare. The plot is competent survival-horror with strong social commentary on mass hysteria and religious fanaticism, though the structure is fairly conventional. Acting is serviceable with Thomas Jane anchoring the film earnestly, and Marcia Gay Harden delivering a memorably unhinged performance as the zealot Mrs. Carmody. Cinematography is functional and gritty but unremarkable. Novelty is moderate — the Lovecraftian creature design is imaginative and the social dynamics add texture, but the siege-horror premise is well-worn territory. The ending alone pushes this above its genre peers and is what the film is rightfully remembered for.