The Mist

GAH I FORGOT ANOTHER ONE.

Okay, The Mist. Based off a Stephen King book The Mist is actually quite surprising in that the supernatural oddities are there pretty much from the get-go and are completely visible. This turns it from the normal kind of supernatural thriller King is used to producing into a movie with an almost survival horror bent to it. Does that make it better?

The Mist takes place in a small town where before you can say "uh oh" a mass of mist is rolling down the mountainside from the general direction of an army base, trapping a father, son, and his neighbor along with several others inside a grocery store. They then proceed to discover just what kind of threat they're dealing with, both on the outside, and eventually inside as well from a woman preaching about the end of days.

The cast are really all surprisingly good, especially Marcia Gay Harden as the religious zealot. While there are some stars here (including the man now immortalized as Starkiller in The Force Unleashed video games), you really get the sense that this is an ensemble cast in an ensemble setting and they all make each other look good as any ensemble should.

The creatures themselves are really cool looking, though they also ratchet up the suspense as it seems like each new encounter brings with it a new and terrifying creature. Each person's foray into the mist keeps you on the edge of your toes, just like everyone in that store.

Yet with all that being said, the story itself seemed a little unremarkable to me. The whole thing, while effective, still felt like it was lacking a little originality. It felt like any other suspenseful monster movie. People stick together to survive, bad things happen, and there is an inevitable trip into danger to try and get supplies that goes predictably wrong. There's a kind of "twist" that is a big no brainer (SPOILER It's all a military experiment that went wrong, DUH. END SPOILER) .

However, this movie deserves to be watched just for the ending. It doesn't really matter if you watch the rest of the film. You can get by on knowing that monsters attack, a lot of people die, and there's pretty much no hope of living for anyone. The ending, though...the ending needs to be seen. It is one of the most original and completely horrifying endings to a movie I think I've ever seen. It strikes deep, and it strikes hard. It takes a surprisingly bold move that I believe most movies would shy away from, and that's all I'm going to say about it except WATCH IT.

The Mist as a whole may not have much originality going for it, but the tight acting and highly unconventional ending make it a very worthwhile view.

The Mist gets an 8/10 (the ending bumped it by a point).