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Average User Score: 8 (121 sources)

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Tell the world what you think of Stephen King's The Mist

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PeppermintDream

-1

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This has to be the best conversion of a stephen king novel i have ever seen.
The brilliance of this story is how what you expect to happen doesn't.
Making it unpredictable thus more entertaining.

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Posted apr 28, 2009 2:11 am pt

Xaviersx

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This was my rental site review as well as blogged non spoiler opinion. In my opinion, it was a surprisingly good movie.

What I found engaging in the film was the unfolding nature of people trapped in such veiled peril; what is the...
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This was my rental site review as well as blogged non spoiler opinion. In my opinion, it was a surprisingly good movie.

What I found engaging in the film was the unfolding nature of people trapped in such veiled peril; what is the mist, where did it originate, what can we do and not do to stay safe from or escape from the mist and its mounting horrors. The cycling through the states of people's / group's mindset, the disbelief in the possibilities, the initial reactions of stubborn pride and ignorance which in any benign circumstance would seem rational and intelligent course of action, followed by how people /groups break down into making rash decisions, indecision, falling into panic, fear, betrayal, rallying around religion, seeking answers if not help, and finding faith or insanity, this survival at all cost and sacrifice interplaying throughout.

I found the main characters to be well fleshed out and believable. I grew either desperately hopefully for those I attached to or felt great anger at other characters, and at the end of the movie, I had to revisit some of my thoughts on who was wrong or right, and by what degree, since much was not revealed in how all fared.

What I did find fault with was in its ending. It's pacing and resolutions seemed forced, thus not effectively conveying elements that would lead to the concluding events. But those are creative editing issues, not acting or basic storyline, and purely opinion on my part. I found myself immediately wanting to see the extra features and needing to relive the last moments to gain perspective, which I rarely do with movies. For a movie inspired by a Stephen King novella (and I have problems with most Stephen King related movies being sub par in my opinion), I was pleasantly surprised with how well I received it, mildly disturbed by the overall impression left, and satisfied in this B+ "monster" movie.

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Posted apr 23, 2009 7:56 am pt

V_Translanka

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I don't think there's a better Stephen King ADAPTATION out there...because it DOES take a few liberties: in the story no one makes it out of the store & the world is basically completely ****ed. That's sort of one thing I don't get about...
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I don't think there's a better Stephen King ADAPTATION out there...because it DOES take a few liberties: in the story no one makes it out of the store & the world is basically completely ****ed. That's sort of one thing I don't get about this...I mean, what? How do they fix a tear in the cosmos?? Well, aside from that, the ending, as super hyped as it was, WAS as good/cool as everyone was saying. SEE THIS FILM. Oh, and I completely nerdgasmed at the Dark Tower movie poster painting in the beginning. The movie gets extra points for that alone...^_^ It's how I wished Hearts In Atlantis had dealt with Dark Tower references... I just saw this again on the two-disc special DVD that has the "Director's Vision" version that's the movie in Black & White and DAMN if it doesn't look freakin sweet that way. The Mist really does conjure up old B&W horror movies of olde.

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Posted nov 13, 2008 1:52 pm pt

Warrior427

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I really enjoyed the movie alot of good horror suspense and they have the craziest nut job in this move who almost gets every rational thinking person kill the plot might be a little out there for some people but I think the way they introduce and...
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I really enjoyed the movie alot of good horror suspense and they have the craziest nut job in this move who almost gets every rational thinking person kill the plot might be a little out there for some people but I think the way they introduce and tell the story really is what really makes it great

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Posted oct 20, 2008 12:13 pm pt

Stubob1983

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Seeing as how the religious nut was in the original novella...you had to have her in the movie. She's supposed to piss you off.

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Posted sep 16, 2008 10:57 am pt

GavinGibbons

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a good conversion of a steven king novel. Usually i find something to complain about, but that is not the case here. For those who complain about the ending then remember this... it is a horror book, written about a bleak subject... of course it...
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a good conversion of a steven king novel. Usually i find something to complain about, but that is not the case here. For those who complain about the ending then remember this... it is a horror book, written about a bleak subject... of course it has a sad ending :)

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Posted jul 13, 2008 9:09 am pt

gordosaros

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LOVED THIS MOVIE. IT WAS GOOD AND SCARY

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Posted jun 27, 2008 1:00 am pt

bgres077

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In all honesty this movie would have garnered another star had it not had the annoying religious woman who took over the movie for about a half hour. *Spoiler ahead* Also, it would have gotten only one and a half stars had she not been shot in...
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In all honesty this movie would have garnered another star had it not had the annoying religious woman who took over the movie for about a half hour. *Spoiler ahead* Also, it would have gotten only one and a half stars had she not been shot in the gut, and then square in the forehead.

With that out of the way, The Mist was a movie that was average at best. The story was pretty simple, a "Mist" moves into town and a group of townsfolk are stuck in a Grocery Store. A small group bands together to try to escape from the religious group that has formed inside the store.

This movie would have been far better had the religious parts been left out, however it is still a decent movie. The ending was pretty predictable, however some people may be surprised by how it ends.

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Posted jun 27, 2008 12:46 am pt

b87boy

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I usually don't like sad endings. But this one is not bad.

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Posted jun 22, 2008 11:21 am pt

delta_116326

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i would give it more stars but the religious nut pissed me off to much.

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Posted jun 1, 2008 11:23 pm pt

• [+] Chicago Tribune
  
  88
  Good and creepy, The Mist comes from a Stephen King novella and is more the shape, size and quality of the recent "1408," likewise taken from a King story, than anything in the persistently fashionable charnel house inhabited by the "Saw" and "Hostel" franchises.

  by Michael Phillips | Read Full Review »
• [+] ReelViews
  
  88
  What a horror film SHOULD be - dark, tense, and punctuated by just enough gore to keep the viewer's flinch reflex intact.

  by James Berardinelli | Read Full Review »
• [+] The Onion (A.V. Club)
  
  83
  What is surprising is how he (Darabont) rebounds from his weak, awkwardly compressed opening to produce one of the scariest King films since Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining."

  by Tasha Robinson | Read Full Review »
• [+] Entertainment Weekly
  
  83
  There's a grim modern parable to be read into the dangerous effects of the gospel-preaching local crazy lady Mrs. Carmody (brilliantly played by a hellfire Marcia Gay Harden) on a congregation of the fearful.

  by Lisa Schwarzbaum | Read Full Review »
• [+] Portland Oregonian
  
  83
  In the parlance of the kids today, the movie totally goes there.

  by M. E. Russell | Read Full Review »
• [+] Empire
  
  80
  Criminally overlooked in the States, this is one of the best horror movies of the last few years.

  by Tom Ambrose | Read Full Review »
• [+] Film Threat
  
  80
  I think this one of the first King movies to legitimately give me the creeps.

  by Pete Vonder Haar | Read Full Review »
• [+] San Francisco Chronicle
  
  75
  While it's riveting throughout, The Mist is a bit bloated.

  by Peter Hartlaub | Read Full Review »
• [+] Charlotte Observer
  
  75
  At its best, The Mist just wants to make you jump.

  by Lawrence Toppman | Read Full Review »
• [+] Miami Herald
  
  75
  It's a B-movie with A-list aspirations, and it's at its best when it's not trying to be something it isn't.

  by Rene Rodriguez | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Reader
  
  70
  Darabont doesn't match the sly cultural commentary of "The Host," a recent Korean import that also revamped the giant-monster genre, but his grocery-store survival drama, dominated by Marcia Gay Harden as a shrill fundamentalist, serves as a crude but effective allegory for post-9/11 America.

  by J.R. Jones | Read Full Review »
• [+] Seattle Post-Intelligencer
  
  67
  The scenes that really work are the ones that take place outside the supermarket, in the beginning and at the end of the film. In fact, the "Twilight Zone"-inspired ending nearly makes up for all that comes before.

  by Andy Spletzer | Read Full Review »
• [+] Austin Chronicle
  
  67
  Unlike King, Darabont ends this story with a drop kick to the cerebellum, a change from the original that shocks the viewer and leave little doubt that Darabont thinks we're all headed to hell in a hand basket.

  by Marjorie Baumgarten | Read Full Review »
• [+] USA Today
  
  63
  More thought-provoking than frightening. Its stubbornly cynical attitude makes it worth watching, more than the monsters or the impenetrable mist (which looks spewed from a fog machine) engulfing a small town in Maine.

  by Claudia Puig | Read Full Review »
• [+] TV Guide
  
  63
  The movie has a monster problem -- the more you see of them, the less scary they are -- most of the characters are standard-issue types, and Harden seriously overdoes the pious psycho bit.

  by Maitland McDonagh | Read Full Review »