tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post5090046362699733504..comments2023-11-05T02:57:06.922-05:00Comments on The Vault of Horror: In Defense of THE MISTB-Solhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10717121313061173603noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-87245236455858165212010-03-26T00:16:28.901-04:002010-03-26T00:16:28.901-04:00Well I heard nothing but negative info on this fil...Well I heard nothing but negative info on this film, so I put it off for a long, long time. When I finally caved in and watched it, I was satisfied and was not nearly as bad as it was made out to be. Sure there were some bad moments in the art of acting and other minor flaws, but overall I liked it. The ending can hold many meanings and I took my own away from it. Again, not my favorite movie but not as horrible as some have claimed.<br /><br />Best moment was the pharmacy.The Man-Cavehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18148994596635513600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-59506266554750048702009-09-05T22:45:37.862-04:002009-09-05T22:45:37.862-04:00I just saw the mist on cable and had to comment. S...I just saw the mist on cable and had to comment. Sorry to say but contrary to the fans of the movie, I have to disagree. I can understand the support but I'm coming not as a fan of the genre, Darabont or Steven King. I watched because it was filmed in my home state and I was curious.<br /><br />15 minutes into the film and the only thing that kept me watching was to see just how bad of a movie it was going to be and it didn't disappoint. It hit rock bottom in the last minute of the film. I was curious to see who was responsible for directing something like this. Illogical actions by characters and a completely nihilistic and despairing ending which made me think the movie was commenting on the signs of the times we live in which was dreadfully over-done. Not many surprises throughout.<br /><br />I've seen better directing on tv episodes of Fringe.<br /><br />But...the giant creature at the end was pretty awesome though.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-81946519120410326892009-08-29T18:26:34.584-04:002009-08-29T18:26:34.584-04:00Thanks for letting us know about this post again t...Thanks for letting us know about this post again through the LOTTD Pick a Post Sensation. I agree that this is a very good horror film. For me the circumstances of human isolation in the face of a grave but largely unknown threat, coupled with various forms of extremism are the interesting elements. The dialogue about religion and politics as civilizing elements that control the human beast best symbolize this. This is one of the horror films that include elements of social commentary making it a valuable contribution to the genre.John W. Moreheadhttp://www.theofantastique.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-5005101809724882112009-08-15T14:08:23.633-04:002009-08-15T14:08:23.633-04:00I LOVE The Mist & consider it one of the best ...I LOVE The Mist & consider it one of the best horror movies to come out this century. I don't understand the horror community's dislike of it, especially considering the the rest of the online film community <a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mist/" rel="nofollow">seems to dig it</a>.<br /><br />If you've got access to that 2-disc edition, then I highly recommend watching the Black & White version of the film on Disc 2. Darabont had originally conceived the film as a black & white film, but the studio would have none of it. So Frank went back and converted the film to black and white as he'd originally envisioned. It's a slight change that makes a huge difference in the mood of the piece. It turns a really good horror film into something that borders on being damn near classic.<br /><br />Now what's this about you not liking Wrong Turn 2?Justin B.https://www.blogger.com/profile/02073202128961976246noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-59868634235881750712009-08-13T15:16:49.959-04:002009-08-13T15:16:49.959-04:00Honestly, I loved The Mist. It's a title I'...Honestly, I loved The Mist. It's a title I've been meaning to pick up on Bluray at some stage. Not sure about the bad vibes it got, it certainly deserved better from audiences.Karl Hungushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11402005407998764370noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-81789810994594752172009-08-12T10:13:04.049-04:002009-08-12T10:13:04.049-04:00I have nothing against the film except the ending,...I have nothing against the film except the ending, which is a nihilistic, mean-spirited trick to play on the audience and happily throws well-established character to the wind to do it. And King liking it is no guarantee of quality... I could read him all day but if I read, watched and listened to his recommendations all day I'd go insane sooner rather than later.<br /><br />Up to the end I think it works pretty well - effects are cheesy here and there, no problem. Way too heavy on the religious nut angle, forgiveable. Good fun, moves fast, evokes dread well enough. The giant creature near the end is magnificent. The ending is hateful. The indeterminacy of the original end fits so well because it's, well, misty. Changing it at all was a bad idea, but changing it as Darabont did was clumsy and ugly in equal part.<br /><br />But it's symptomatic of the age, I suppose. Or perhaps symptomatic of my age. I might add that I have no problem at all with Kubrick butchering King's work, so sanctity of the source material isn't a concern here...Nickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02105114526496564116noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-86072225705759489152009-08-12T07:29:38.087-04:002009-08-12T07:29:38.087-04:00I thought it was an excellent film spoiled by the ...I thought it was an excellent film spoiled by the ending - not because the ending was bleak (lots of great films have bleak endings) but because it represented a sudden change in characterisation that was not justified. If the Thomas Jane character had been shown wrestling with doubts etc then it would have been believable; in fact the opposite happened, and so the ending felt implausible, gratuitous and clumsy. There is just no way that a father would do that unless they were already mentally deficient in some way - and that is what the film failed to show.<br /><br />I'll value the film now for various excellent parts, especially the Harden character, but as a whole 'work' I have to judge it a failure, purely because of the ending.Sam Charles Nortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04088870675715850624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-81858368591698330042009-08-11T23:05:17.189-04:002009-08-11T23:05:17.189-04:00This is off on a tangent, but see, the thing is, I...This is off on a tangent, but see, the thing is, I don't believe that the human race we are now a part of is the same human race that crossed those ice bridges and all that 30,000 years ago or what have you... Sad, but I suppose I'm a glass half-empty kinda guy.B-Solhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10717121313061173603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-78833393538039232342009-08-11T22:48:33.068-04:002009-08-11T22:48:33.068-04:00I still love Dawn of the Dead. :D
Like you say, t...I still love Dawn of the Dead. :D<br /><br />Like you say, though, it's just sort of a feature of the genre. People behaving badly ramps up the tension.Steve Ringhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05701916717122040015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-46418305921690010332009-08-11T22:38:30.743-04:002009-08-11T22:38:30.743-04:00I can dig it but the species that crossed the icy ...I can dig it but the species that crossed the icy land-bridge in prehistoric times isn't going to be snuffed out by slow moving mindless zombies. We are far too cunning. We survived sabre-toothed cats for crying out loud!Steve Ringhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05701916717122040015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-67131764865648329732009-08-11T21:48:10.700-04:002009-08-11T21:48:10.700-04:00Steve, I wish I had your optimistic outlook on hum...Steve, I wish I had your optimistic outlook on humanity. I'm not as negative as Romero...but I'm closer to him than to you :-) I understand your weariness on the repetition of certain themes, but let's face it, these are the big themes that artists and creators have been struggling with since forever...B-Solhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10717121313061173603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-779932125425807782009-08-11T21:30:01.055-04:002009-08-11T21:30:01.055-04:00The Mist is a great movie.
Wether you loved the e...The Mist is a great movie.<br /><br />Wether you loved the ending or hated it, you had to feel something about it, a rare thing in an age of disposable cinema.kindertraumahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07176839856388835793noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-68412906756868946872009-08-11T19:21:39.406-04:002009-08-11T19:21:39.406-04:00Darabont did a great job but the story itself uses...Darabont did a great job but the story itself uses the tired old saw of society pulling apart at the seams being as much of a threat as the monster menace, making the monster menace seem trivial and obligatory. We've all seen The Monsters are Due on Maple Street. Can't we leave a good idea stand on it's own? Romero has such a dim view of society that he assumes that slow staggering mindless zombies would overrun the earth in a matter of weeks because people are innately homicidal or something. I think it would never happen, myself. Not only do I give humanity more credit than that but history proves that humans have repeatedly overcome mind-bendingly horrendous conditions to get where we are now. So when I see that scenario playing out in a movie in such a compulsory way (and I know it's in the story.-I read it probably twenty years before the movie came out) my patience is being sorely tested. Darabont did his best to rehash the Stephen King instant-psychocult thing convincingly but if he hadn't been confined to it I think he could have made a more interesting movie.<br /><br />And the monster effects were pretty good considering how inconceivable these other-dimensional creatures are supposed to appear. I think the original story had the spiders with fourteen legs. And Darabont didn't have a James Cameron sized budget to work with.Steve Ringhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05701916717122040015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-55173215293094751442009-08-11T18:34:52.797-04:002009-08-11T18:34:52.797-04:00I wanted to love this movie, I really did. I'm...I wanted to love this movie, I really did. I'm a huge fan of director Frank Darabont, and The Shawshank Redemption (1994) ranks as one of my all-time favorite films. Unfortunately The Mist misses the mark; it works as neither an all-out giant monster movie, nor is it a convincing suspense drama. Two film styles are in conflict here and because Darabont never does make up his mind which one he is selling, both fail. <br /><br />Case in point, the overtly melodramatic score used towards the end; beautiful, haunting, but entirely out of place. The music belongs in a Holocaust picture. I couldn't help thinking, "where's Schindler?"<br /><br />There are moments of genuine tension, and the special effects are fantastic, but none of this is enough to carry off the whole movie, no matter how well executed. The drama is <i>over-dramatic</i>, and comes off as silly, not riveting or convincing. This would have been great in a giant monster movie; for that I say go all out. In that case over-the-top works and The Mist could have been <i>that movie</i>. Instead, Darabont punctuates the action with sequences of melodrama trying to bring it back to a "serious" film. It doesn't work.<br /><br />The best horror tales often reveal something about human nature and King's classic story is no different. In it he shows us that the real horror is not what lies waiting in the mist, but rather 'the group' when it's out of control. Think Lord of the Flies -- Golding would agree that under the right conditions we are only ever one step away from our most primal selves. In the novella, King is quite good at getting this across without preaching it. In the film however, Darabont forgoes subtlety to the point of taking the theme and hitting us over the head with it. He wants to make sure we get it; characters are saying things like "Scare people badly enough, you’ll get ’em to do anything". Just in case we couldn't figure it out from the unfolding action. <br /><br />And that ending???? No way, man. Just couldn't buy it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-18437053127842732262009-08-11T17:33:53.260-04:002009-08-11T17:33:53.260-04:00That huge creature at the end they see creeps me o...That huge creature at the end they see creeps me out.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07839510832602357560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-56168034221820979782009-08-11T17:32:22.904-04:002009-08-11T17:32:22.904-04:00Now I haven't read it... in the novel does Mrs...Now I haven't read it... in the novel does Mrs. Carmody also say the common King mantra- "My life for you"Stuart Conoverhttp://www.buyzombie.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-36446245209466947392009-08-11T16:34:35.453-04:002009-08-11T16:34:35.453-04:00I really enjoyed this film as well and felt that i...I really enjoyed this film as well and felt that it was intelligently written, scary and actually took the time to develop characters that you grew to care about so that when bad things started happening to them you actually gave a crap about their respective fates... something that can't be said about a lot of horror films nowadays which seem to feature cardboard cut-out characterization and weak scripts (I'm thinking mostly of Michael Bay-produced remakes).<br /><br />I also thought that the use of hand-held camerawork was a nice touch and gave the film an edgy intensity and you-are-there kind of feel. I'm glad you singled out Thomas Jane. He is quite underrated and very, very good in this film. I really felt for him at the end. What a punch-to-the-gut ending.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08164105442273577128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-48657381113030645482009-08-11T15:46:29.333-04:002009-08-11T15:46:29.333-04:00Thanks for giving a shout-out to a great movie - o...Thanks for giving a shout-out to a great movie - one that in almost every regard exceeded my high expectations.Jeff Allardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04265550466781988388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-39446038614694236322009-08-11T14:46:29.688-04:002009-08-11T14:46:29.688-04:00DLR or DRL or whatever: "When they stayed in ...DLR or DRL or whatever: "When they stayed in the mist, it was terrific."<br /><br />Yes. They showed too much. To me it's not about the cartoony.FakeShemphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09700646917108971686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-49875383329008791202009-08-11T14:43:45.069-04:002009-08-11T14:43:45.069-04:00Dearest Mr. Chris, just because a author of someth...Dearest Mr. Chris, just because a author of something says something doesn't mean it's true. King didn't write the ending of the film, so there for has no say on how it effects his novella, which in and of itself is a completely different medium. Unlike Lucas (who I know is your go to guy in this argument, which is wrong also), King didn't go back and change his art. So it stands, and it is subjective. He may, I don't have too. Plus, mu biggest beef isn't the bleak ending, it's the fact that it's the fact that this almost engrossing movie comes down to what is basically a one liner. A bleak one liner, but still obviously a in your face moment. Had it ended 2 seconds earlier after it's supposed bleak ending, I think it would have worked.FakeShemphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09700646917108971686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-88595933832421751092009-08-11T14:39:52.905-04:002009-08-11T14:39:52.905-04:00My main complaint was with the creature design (Be...My main complaint was with the creature design (Bernie Wrightson had something to do with it, if memory serves)... many of the bugs looked cartoony, whereas most of the bugs in your garden are scary as hell when you look at them with a microscope (try it some time). When they stayed in the mist, it was terrific.DLRnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-27861999415917244152009-08-11T14:24:58.828-04:002009-08-11T14:24:58.828-04:00I have heard about that black&white thing, hav...I have heard about that black&white thing, haven't tried. And I will play devil's advocate for a second and say that it is a bit odd how the creature spares Miss Carmody like that--almost does make it seem like her crazy rants are correct. Just for split-second, anyway.B-Solhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10717121313061173603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-55245851063466849082009-08-11T14:21:01.940-04:002009-08-11T14:21:01.940-04:00I LOVE The Mist and i'm glad some people out t...I LOVE The Mist and i'm glad some people out there agree with me. I always have a great time watching that movie and it almost feels like i'm right there in the supermarket with those characters. Have you watched it in black and white? I think I actually prefer it that way and it comes off as essentially a whole different experience. Not to mention, the CGI looks a lot better in B & W.<br /><br />AWESOME MOVIE<br />AWESOME ENDING<br /><br />Nuff said.Johnnyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12334887669644750532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-90797075492478598162009-08-11T14:19:27.596-04:002009-08-11T14:19:27.596-04:00I'd say King liking the new ending counts agai...I'd say King liking the new ending counts against it. I've never been a fan of his endings (for long fiction at least). Climactic explosions are far too common.<br /><br />He should really be relegated to writing short stories and movie premises.Frank Whitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14850057409016456318noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470604276410220159.post-43222791233827864422009-08-11T14:08:52.838-04:002009-08-11T14:08:52.838-04:00I didn't think the ending was all that stupend...I didn't think the ending was all that stupendous. I mean, the little kid died in Cujo, too, so what's the big deal? I would have gone somewhere else with the end, though the giant creature was nifty and the army coming in wasn't a problem. And if he'd had the freedom to cut the clumsy instant cult stuff out (and he did admirably well with it), just think of all the neat stuff that could have filled that part of the movie out.<br /><br />It was a good movie but it's hard to make a great movie with Stephen King looking over your shoulder.Steve Ringhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05701916717122040015noreply@blogger.com