Frank Darabont & Stephen King surprise us in a good way

by Memo Salazar

It’s been a pretty busy few months over here for us Cinemaspeak people, which has resulted, for me, at least, in the viewing of very few movies. The combination of my local theater’s “Super Tuesday” $4 movie ticket promotion and a recommendation from a friend, however, led me to watch an unlikely movie- The Mist, directed by Frank Darabont, a film that has been received with very lukewarm interest, both commercially and critically.

There wasn’t much interest from me, either- I don’t really care for Stephen King’s mainstream sensibilities, always pushing obvious buttons for silly effect; the only horror movies I can think of liking are usually tongue-in-cheek, such as Peter Jackson’s Dead Alive. Actual attempts at scaring me pretty much always fail, so I rarely bother trying to find one that does. For the most part, the Horror genre holds little interest to this guy… but The Mist was quite different in all these respects, and I found myself captivated and engaged like I haven’t been since… who knows. I don’t watch many horror movies.

The best thing about The Mist is the storytelling. Darabont keeps it simple and sincere, with an honest, hand-held style that stays far away from the gimmicky “guerilla hand-held” look found all over television, while maintaining the tension that you can’t get from static camera shots. Other than the opening nod to horror movies by way of a few famous movie posters (the main character paints movie posters for a living), there is nothing self-conscious about the film. It gives you some very simple, genuine characters from a small New England town (what else? It’s Stephen King, after all) who find themselves fending for their lives while trapped in a supermarket surrounded by fog and monsters. It’s a ridiculously clichéd horror movie premise, I know, but Darabont paces it so well, that, for the first time since who-knows-when, I was actually buying it, genuinely concerned for how the whole thing was going to be played out. Without giving any plot elements away, I can simply attest to the overall intelligence of the storytelling, right up to the end, where Darabont gives us a dramatic plot twist that is fitting and genuinely surprising. Compare that to the gimmicky, contrived and confusing plot twists of almost every thriller made today, and you’ll hopefully start to appreciate how refreshing The Mist is.

Which is not to say the film is perfect; every so often there are scenes where the dialogue or situation comes off a little too forced, as when the characters all tell us that when people are afraid, you can manipulate them to do almost anything. True enough, but the entire film is showing us that already- no need to hammer the point with some supplemental cliff notes. Here and there, characters do things that are more in keeping with “movie logic” rather than actual logic, but the film never strays too far off the path before it becomes believable again. There is also a classic Stephen-King-religious-nutcase right out of any 1970’s horror film, preaching fire and brimstone to those who will listen. This would be fine if this were a clever, ironic, self-conscious-reference type of film, but here, where the drama is actually played straight and sincerely, she’s just way too silly to buy into. I also wonder if it was the budget or Darabont’s lack of expertise that led them to give us some incredibly cheesy digital monsters, the film’s most obvious weak point. The scenes play out perfectly, until you actually see the creatures. They’re so obviously digital, they already seem dated, as if the film was made 10 years ago and is only being released now- not good when you’re trying for a legitimate horror film. Because everything else is well-crafted, those scenes still remain suspenseful, but it does pull you out of the moment a bit.

None of the little flaws, however, stop The Mist from becoming a solid piece of entertainment, and while the message is far from insightful or eye-opening, it is an intelligent piece of filmmaking that comes from the heart, rather than the wallet. It’s an old-fashioned horror film that stands out among the glut of overdone, over-sensitized gore-fests simply because it is simple. It deserves better than the attention it has received, so get off your ass and go check it out while you can. I think that’s all I have to say about that.

Tags: darabont, film, frank, holllywood, horror, mist, movie, stephen king, suspense