The Mist (film)

The Mist (also known as Stephen King's The Mist) is a 2007 American science-fiction horror film based on the 1980 novella The Mist by Stephen King. The film was written and directed by Frank Darabont. Darabont had been interested in adapting "The Mist" for the big screen since the 1980s. The film features an ensemble cast, including Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Nathan Gamble, Andre Braugher, Sam Witwer, Toby Jones, Frances Sternhagen, Buck Taylor, Robert Treveiler, William Sadler, Alexa Davalos, David Jensen, Chris Owen, Andy Stahl, and future The Walking Dead stars Jeffrey DeMunn, Laurie Holden, Melissa McBride, and Juan Gabriel Pareja.

The Mist
Theatrical release poster
Directed byFrank Darabont
Screenplay byFrank Darabont
Based onThe Mist
by Stephen King
Produced by
  • Frank Darabont
  • Martin Shafer
  • Liz Glotzer
Starring
  • Thomas Jane
  • Marcia Gay Harden
  • Laurie Holden
  • Andre Braugher
  • Toby Jones
  • William Sadler
  • Jeffrey DeMunn
  • Frances Sternhagen
  • Sam Witwer
  • Alexa Davalos
  • Nathan Gamble
  • Buck Taylor
CinematographyRohn Schmidt
Edited byHunter M. Via
Music byMark Isham
Production
company
Darkwoods Productions[1]
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer[1][2]
Dimension Films[1]
The Weinstein Company[2]
Release date
  • November 21, 2007 (2007-11-21)
Running time
126 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$18 million[3]
Box office$57.3 million[2]

The director revised the ending of the film to be darker than the novella's ending, a change to which King was amenable. Darabont also sought unique creature designs to differentiate them from his creatures in past films. Although a monster movie, the central theme explores what ordinary people are driven to do under extraordinary circumstances. The plot revolves around members of the small town of Bridgton, Maine, who after a severe thunderstorm causes the power to go out the night before, meet in a supermarket to pick up supplies. While they struggle to survive, an unnatural mist envelops the town and conceals vicious, Lovecraftian monsters as extreme tensions rise among the survivors.

Filming for The Mist began in Shreveport, Louisiana, in February 2007. The film was commercially released in the United States and Canada on November 21, 2007; it performed well at the box office and received mixed reviews.[4]

Darabont has since revealed that he had "always had it in mind to shoot The Mist in black and white", a decision inspired by such films as Night of the Living Dead (1968) and the "pre-color" work of Ray Harryhausen. While the film's cinematic release was in color, the director has described the black-and-white print (released on DVD and Blu-ray in 2008) as his "preferred version."[5]

Plot

In Bridgton, Maine, artist David Drayton, his wife Stephanie, and their eight-year-old son Billy take shelter in the basement of their lakeside home during a severe thunderstorm. While surveying the damage the next morning, they notice a thick mist advancing over the lake. David and Billy leave for the town with their neighbor Brent Norton to buy supplies.

Inside the supermarket, they watch police cars speed down the street, and a terrified civilian, Dan Miller, runs into the store and warns of a danger lurking in the mist. As a siren sounds, store managers Ollie Weeks and Bud Brown close off the supermarket, and the mist envelops the store. Against David's advice, bagger Norm starts to go outside to fix the store's emergency generator, but he is grabbed by a tentacled creature and dragged into the mist. David and Ollie direct the customers to barricade the storefront windows, but one woman leaves to go home to her children. Mrs. Carmody, a religious fanatic, begins preaching about an impending Armageddon, while a small group of skeptics led by Brent leaves the store to seek outside help, which results in their deaths.

David forms connections with several people in the store, including Amanda Dunfrey and Irene Reppler, two teachers who came into conflict with Mrs. Carmody over her religious zealotry. Amanda carries a revolver in her purse and gives it to Ollie, who is a former regional shooting champion. As night falls, enormous flying insects – attracted to the lights – swarm in front of the store and are preyed on by pterodactyl-like creatures. One of the creatures smashes a window, allowing the insects inside. In the ensuing panic, Sally and another are killed while Joe receives fatal burn injuries in an attempt to incinerate the insects. Meanwhile, Mrs. Carmody is miraculously spared from an insect (likely due to her being still), which leads her to proselytize more fervently and gain followers among the survivors.

A small group led by David goes to the neighboring pharmacy in search of medical supplies but is attacked by giant spiders that kill two men, forcing them to retreat. Mrs. Carmody, who had opposed the expedition, uses this failure to increase her influence by offering protection from divine wrath to new converts. The next day, following the suicides of two soldiers from the local military base, a third soldier, Jessup, reveals that a government project to discover other dimensions was underway at the base and that scientists may have opened a doorway into a dimension containing the creatures invading the town. Mrs. Carmody's followers offer Jessup as a sacrifice and expel him from the supermarket, where he is immediately devoured by a giant praying mantis-like creature.

As David and his group prepare to leave the store the next morning, they are stopped by Mrs. Carmody who demands that Billy be delivered as the next sacrifice, only for Ollie to shoot and kill her as her followers attack. Returning to their senses, her traumatized followers reluctantly allow the group to leave. As the group makes its way through the parking lot, Myron, Ambrose, and Ollie are killed, and Bud runs back to the store. David, Billy, Dan, Amanda, and Irene reach David's car and leave.

Driving through the mist, David finds his home destroyed and Stephanie dead. Devastated, he drives away from town, passing a colossal six-legged beast and eventually running out of gas. With no means of escaping the mist, the adults decide to end their lives. David shoots Billy and the other three survivors with his four remaining bullets before leaving the car to be taken by the creatures. The mist suddenly dissipates, revealing the vanguard of a U.S. Army armored column in the process of exterminating the creatures and restoring order. Seeing that the Army has also rescued survivors, including those from the store and the woman who left to get to her children, David breaks down upon realizing that he killed his son and friends for nothing and that they were just moments away from being rescued and drops to his knees screaming in despair.

Cast
  • Thomas Jane as David Drayton, a painter who ends up trapped in the supermarket with his son Billy
  • Marcia Gay Harden as Mrs. Carmody, a religious fanatic who believes the mist to be the wrath of God
  • Laurie Holden as Amanda Dunfrey, a new teacher at the local school. She carries a Colt revolver with her at all times
  • Andre Braugher as Brent Norton, a big-city attorney and David's neighbor
  • Toby Jones as Ollie Weeks, the supermarket's assistant manager, who is experienced with guns
  • William Sadler as Jim Grondin, a belligerent and weak-minded mechanic
  • Jeffrey DeMunn as Dan Miller, who takes shelter in the market after witnessing the dangers from the mist
  • Frances Sternhagen as Irene Reppler, an elderly teacher and Amanda's co-worker
  • Sam Witwer as Private Wayne Jessup, a soldier stationed at the nearby Arrowhead military base
  • Alexa Davalos as Sally, a cashier at the supermarket and Billy's babysitter
  • Nathan Gamble as Billy Drayton, David's eight-year-old son
  • Chris Owen as Norm, a bag boy
  • Robert Treveiler as Bud Brown, the supermarket's manager
  • David Jensen as Myron LaFleur, a mechanic who works with Jim
  • Melissa McBride as an unnamed woman who left her kids alone at home
  • Andy Stahl as Mike Hatlen, one of the patrons at the supermarket who side with David's group
  • Buck Taylor as Ambrose Cornell, a mustached man who sides with David's group and has a shotgun in his truck
  • Juan Gabriel Pareja as Morales, another soldier from Arrowhead base
  • Walter Fauntleroy as Donaldson, another soldier from Arrowhead base
  • Brandon O'Dell as Bobby Eagleton, Joe's brother and one of the patrons at the supermarket who side with David's group
  • Jackson Hurst as Joe Eagleton, Bobby's brother, who tries to build a torch with a mop, but fails
  • Susan Watkins as Hattie Turman, a local real estate agent
  • Mathew Greer as Silas, one of the patrons at the supermarket who sides with Brent's group
  • Kelly Collins Lintz as Stephanie Drayton, David's wife and Billy's mother
  • Ron Clinton Smith as Mr. Mackey, the supermarket's butcher
  • Amin Joseph as a military police officer

Production

Development

Director Frank Darabont first read Stephen King's 1980 novella "The Mist" in the Dark Forces anthology,[6] and originally expressed interest in directing a film adaptation for his directing debut. He instead filmed The Shawshank Redemption, also based on another King novella.[7] In October 1994, after completing The Shawshank Redemption, Darabont reiterated his interest in filming "The Mist".[8] Darabont did not immediately follow through, instead directing the 1999 film adaptation of Stephen King's The Green Mile. Darabont eventually set up a first-look deal for The Mist with Paramount Pictures, having been entrusted feature-film rights by Stephen King.[7] By December 2004, Darabont said that he had begun writing an adapted screenplay for The Mist,[9] and by October 2006, the project moved from Paramount to Dimension Films, with Darabont attached to direct and actor Thomas Jane in negotiations to join the cast.[7]

Writing
"The story is less about the monsters outside than about the monsters inside, the people you're stuck with, your friends and neighbors breaking under the strain."
— Darabont on The Mist[10]

Director Darabont chose to film The Mist after filming the "straighter dramas" The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile because he "wanted to make a very direct, muscular kind of film". Darabont conceived of a new ending in translating the novella for the big screen. Author King praised Darabont's new ending, describing it as one that would be unsettling for studios. King said, "The ending is such a jolt—wham! It's frightening. But people who go to see a horror movie don't necessarily want to be sent out with a Pollyanna ending."[11]

Darabont described The Mist as quaint in its elements of monsters and fear of the unknown compared to the contemporary popularity of films with torture porn. The director saw The Mist as a throwback to Paddy Chayefsky and William Shakespeare, explaining, "It's people at each other." He highlighted the element of fear in the film in how it compelled people to behave differently. Darabont said, "How primitive do people get? It's Lord of the Flies that happens to have some cool monsters in it."[6] He also drew parallels to The Twilight Zone episode "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" and the 1944 film Lifeboat.[3]

In the novella, the character David Drayton—who is married—has a sexual encounter with Amanda Dumfries, who is also married. Darabont did not want to attempt conveying on screen the protagonist being involved in an extramarital affair. The characters in the film, portrayed by Thomas Jane and Laurie Holden, instead share a more emotional relationship. Jane explained, "We kind of form a little family, sort of surrogate family where my son and I'm a father and she becomes the mother to the son. We become a little unit as we're trying to get through this nightmare together." Holden compared the nightmare to what refugees experienced at the Louisiana Superdome during Hurricane Katrina.[12]

While the origin of the mist in the film is never explained in great detail, Frank Darabont did write an opening scene in a draft dated 5 August 2005, in which the thunderstorm causes a malfunction at the Arrowhead Project's lab that allows the portal to another dimension to stay open too long. The scene was never filmed.

Filming

In December 2006, Jane finalized negotiations with the studio to join the cast.[13] In January 2007, actors Andre Braugher and Laurie Holden joined Jane for the cast of The Mist.[14] Production began the following February at StageWorks of Louisiana, a sound stage and film production facility in Shreveport, Louisiana.[15] Marcia Gay Harden and Toby Jones joined the cast later in the month.[16]

William Sadler, Jeffrey DeMunn, and Brian Libby, each of whom appeared in Darabont's previous Stephen King adaptations The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, were cast in supporting roles. Sadler had previously played Jane's role, David Drayton, in a 1986 audiobook version of "The Mist". Darabont wanted to cast King in the supporting role that eventually went to Brian Libby, an offer that King turned down because he did not want to travel to film the part.[17]

Darabont sought to pursue "a more fluid, ragged documentary kind of direction" with The Mist,[12] so he contacted the camera crew from the television series The Shield, after having directed one episode, to use their style in the film.[18] Darabont attempted to film The Mist digitally but found that it "wound up looking too beautiful". The director chose to film with 400 ASA from Fujifilm, which gave footage a grainy effect.[3]

In the opening shot, David is drawing in his room. The drawing is based on King's Dark Tower series, and was painted by film poster designer Drew Struzan. Darabont also included reproductions of Struzan's posters and illustrations for The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, John Carpenter's The Thing, and Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth. Struzan went on to produce a poster for The Mist, but this image was not used in the film's marketing campaign.[19]

Darabont collaborated with the production designer to create a mix of eras to avoid appearing as a period piece, but also not looking so contemporary. Cell phones were used by characters in The Mist, but the military police in the film did not dress in modern attire. While an MP also drove an old Jeep instead of a Humvee, other cars seen in the film are modern models.[3] The city police cars in the beginning of the film are a 1987 Chevrolet Caprice and a 1988 Ford LTD Crown Victoria, cars that were standard police vehicles in the late 1980s, but have not been used in force since the late 1990s.

Over 100 extras from Shreveport, Louisiana, were included in The Mist. Unlike conventional application of extras in the background of a film, 60 extras were interwoven with the film's ensemble cast.[20] Additional elements giving the film a local flavor include the prominence of local Louisiana brands such as Zapp's potato chips. Exterior shots of the house at the beginning were in Shreveport. Exterior shots of the supermarket were in Vivian, Louisiana. Also, if closely inspected, the shields on the side of the passing firetrucks early in the film identify them as part of the Caddo Parish fire department. This is possibly a mistake, as the film is allegedly set in Maine.

Music

Darabont chose to use music to minimal effect in The Mist to capture the "heavier feel" of the darker ending he had written to replace the one from the novella. The director explained, "Sometimes movie music feels false. I've always felt that silent can be scarier than loud, a whisper more frightening than a bang, and we wanted to create a balance. We kept music to a minimum to keep that vérité, documentary feel." Darabont chose to overlay the song "The Host of Seraphim" by the band Dead Can Dance, a spiritual piece characterized by wailing and chanting. As a fan of Dead Can Dance, Darabont thought that the song played "as a requiem mass for the human race."[21] The original score was composed by Academy Award-nominated composer Mark Isham.

Effects

Darabont hired artists Jordu Schell[22] and Bernie Wrightson to assist in designing the creatures for the film.[18] Greg Nicotero worked on the film's creature design and make-up effects, while Everett Burrell served as the visual-effects supervisor. Nicotero initially sketched out ideas for creature design when Darabont originally expressed interest in filming The Mist in the 1980s. When the project was greenlit, Nicotero, Burrell, and Darabont collaborated about the creature design at round-table meetings at CaféFX.[12] The studio for visual effects had been recommended to Darabont by Guillermo del Toro after Darabont asked the director who created the visual effects for Pan's Labyrinth.

Due to the creatures' being described in only a few sentences in the novella, Darabont sought to conceive of new designs. The challenge was creating designs that felt unique. Nicotero, who was versed in film history and genre history, reviewed past creature designs to avoid having similar designs.[3] When the designs were completed, Nicotero and Burrell educated the cast on the appearance of the creatures by showing puppets and the function of their eyes and mouths. The puppet demonstrations served as reference points for the cast, who had to respond to motion-capture dots during filming.[12]

Release

The Mist was screened at the film festival ShowEast on October 18, 2007, at which Darabont received the Kodak Award for Excellence in Filmmaking for his previous works The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile.[23]

Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, 71% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 147 reviews, with an average rating of 6.60/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Frank Darabont's impressive camerawork and politically incisive script make The Mist a truly frightening experience."[24] On Metacritic, the film holds a weighted average score of 58 out of 100 based on 29 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[4] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a "C" on scale of A to F.[25]

James Berardinelli wrote of the film, "The Mist is what a horror film should be—dark, tense, and punctuated by just enough gore to keep the viewer's flinch reflex intact. ... Finally, after a long list of failures, someone has done justice in bringing one of King's horror stories to the screen. Though definitely not the feel-good movie of the season, this is a must-see for anyone who loves the genre and doesn't demand 'torture porn' from horror."[26] Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune praised the film: "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.[27] Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwarzbaum wrote "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."[28] Tom Ambrose of Empire said the film was "criminally overlooked" and "one of the best horror movies of the last few years."[29]

Roger Ebert wrote a mixed review, giving it 2 stars out of 4: "If you have seen ads or trailers suggesting that horrible things pounce on people, and they make you think you want to see this movie, you will be correct. It is a competently made Horrible Things Pouncing on People movie. If you think Frank Darabont has equaled the Shawshank and Green Mile track record, you will be sadly mistaken."[30] Justin Chang of Variety gave a mixed review, and wrote: "Much nastier and less genteel than his best-known Stephen King adaptations (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile), Frank Darabont's screw-loose doomsday thriller works better as a gross-out B-movie than as a psychological portrait of mankind under siege, marred by one-note characterizations and a tone that veers wildly between snarky and hysterical."[31]

Accolades

Bloody Disgusting ranked the film number four on their list of the "Top 20 Horror Films of the Decade", with the article saying "The scary stuff works extremely well, but what really drives this one home is Darabont's focus on the divide that forms between two factions of the townspeople—the paranoid, Bible-thumping types and the more rational-minded, decidedly left-wing members of the populace. This allegorical microcosm of G. W. Bush-era America is spot on, and elevates an already-excellent film to even greater heights."[32]

The film was nominated for three Saturn Awards; Best Horror Film, Best Director, and a win for Best Supporting Actress for Harden.[33]

Box office

The film was commercially released in the United States and Canada on November 21, 2007.[2] Over the opening weekend in the United States and Canada, The Mist grossed $8,931,973. As of August 9, 2009, the film grossed $25,593,755 in the United States and Canada and $27,560,960 in other territories for a worldwide total of $57,289,103.[2]

Home media

The Mist was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 25, 2008. The single disc includes an audio commentary by writer/director Frank Darabont, eight deleted scenes with optional commentary, and "A Conversation With Stephen King and Frank Darabont" featurette.

The two-disc edition includes the exclusive black-and-white presentation of the film, as well as the color version, and five featurettes ("When Darkness Came: The Making of The Mist", "Taming the Beast: Shooting Scene 35", "Monsters Among Us: A Look at the Creature FX", "The Horror of It All: The Visual FX of The Mist", and "Drew Struzan: Appreciation of an Artist").

TV series

In November 2013, Bob Weinstein revealed that Darabont and he were developing a 10-part television series based on the film.[34][35] In February 2016, Spike picked up the pilot.[36] In April 2016, Spike ordered the series.[37] Emmy-winning director Adam Bernstein directed the pilot. It premiered on June 22, 2017.[38]

See also
  • The Fog (novel), a 1975 novel by James Herbert

References
  1. "The Mist (2007)". American Film Institute Catalog.
  2. "The Mist (2007)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved December 5, 2007.
  3. Douglas, Edward (November 16, 2007). "An Exclusive Interview with Mr. Frank Darabont!". ShockTillYouDrop.com. Retrieved November 20, 2007.
  4. "The Mist Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  5. Darabont, Frank (2008). Director's Introduction. The Mist. Harry Knowles. Archived from the original on November 17, 2021 – via YouTube.
  6. Stax (July 28, 2007). "SDCC 07: Chatting in The Mist". IGN. Retrieved November 19, 2007.
  7. Fleming, Michael (October 18, 2006). "'Mist' envelops Dimension". Variety. Retrieved May 17, 2007.
  8. McGavin, Patrick Z. (October 4, 1994). "Long Live The King". Chicago Tribune.
  9. "Frank Darabont on Adapting The Mist". ComingSoon.net. May 15, 2004. Retrieved May 17, 2007.
  10. Kent, Alexandyr (March 23, 2007). "A bad day at the market". The Times.
  11. Breznican, Anthony (June 20, 2007). "Stephen King adapts to Hollywood". USA Today. Retrieved November 19, 2007.
  12. Murray, Rebecca (August 15, 2007). "Behind the Scenes of The Mist Based on a Stephen King Story". About.com. Retrieved November 19, 2007.
  13. "The Punisher Enters The Mist". IGN. December 6, 2006. Retrieved May 17, 2007.
  14. Kit, Borys (January 26, 2007). "Braugher, Holden float to 'Mist'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on February 17, 2007. Retrieved May 17, 2007.
  15. Kent, Alexandyr (January 19, 2007). "'The Mist' creeping into Shreveport". The Times.
  16. Fleming, Michael (February 21, 2007). "Actors will emerge from King's 'Mist'". Variety. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  17. "INTERVIEW: Stephen King and Director Frank Darabont Talk The Mist". Movieweb.com. November 13, 2007. Archived from the original on February 16, 2008. Retrieved February 10, 2008.
  18. Douglas, Edward (July 27, 2007). "Comic-Con '07: Two Clips From The Mist!". ShockTillYouDrop.com. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved July 30, 2007.
  19. Struzan, Drew (2007). "Poster for "The Mist"". drewstruzan.com.
  20. Kent, Alexandyr (November 18, 2007). "The core of a horror flick: 'The Mist' features dozens of local extras". The Times. Archived from the original on January 12, 2008. Retrieved November 20, 2007.
  21. Frese, David (November 17, 2007). "Frank Darabont dares to alter a Stephen King classic: 'The Mist'". Kansas City Star. Archived from the original on November 21, 2007. Retrieved November 20, 2007.
  22. "The Most Realistic Grand Moff Tarkin Bust Ever Made". At Tha Movies. January 27, 2014. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  23. DiOrio, Carl (October 16, 2007). "ShowEast to close high on Darabont". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on October 18, 2007. Retrieved November 20, 2007.
  24. "The Mist (2007)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved February 13, 2021.
  25. "Search Title". Cinemascore. Archived from the original on December 20, 2018.
  26. Berardinelli, James (2007). "Review: Mist, The". Reelviews.net.
  27. Phillips, Michael (November 23, 2007). "Scary King inhabits 'The Mist'". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on August 11, 2019.
  28. Schwarzbaum, Lisa (November 14, 2007). "The Mist". EW.com.
  29. Ambrose, Tom (June 30, 2008). "The Mist". Empire.
  30. Ebert, Roger (November 20, 2007). "The Mist". Chicago Sun Times.
  31. Chang, Justin (November 12, 2007). "The Mist". Variety.
  32. "00's Retrospect: Bloody Disgusting's Top 20 Films of the Decade...Part 4". Bloody Disgusting. December 18, 2009. Retrieved January 3, 2010.
  33. "'300' leads Saturn nominations". The Hollywood Reporter. February 21, 2008. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
  34. Cieply, Michael (November 24, 2013). "The Weinstein Company, Seeking Hits, Shifts to TV". The New York Times. Retrieved November 30, 2013.
  35. Hipes, Patrick (September 16, 2015). "'The Mist' TV Series Emerges From Dimension & Scribe Christian Torpe". Retrieved June 22, 2016.
  36. Trumbore, Dave (February 25, 2013). "Stephen King's 'The Mist' TV Series Gets Pilot Order at Spike". Collider. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  37. Andreeva, Nellie (April 14, 2016). "'The Mist' Stephen King TV Adaptation Gets Series Order At Spike". Deadline.
  38. Petski, Denise (May 6, 2016). "Adam Bernstein To Direct 'The Mist' On Spike". Deadline.
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