The Mist














Below is a list of the Stephen King books I've read and movies I've seen.

• Carrie - book & movie
• The Shining - book & movie
• The Stand - tv movie
• Firestarter - movie
• Cujo - book and movie
• Creepshow - movie
• Christine - book and movie
• Pet Cemetary - movie
• It - tv movie
• Misery - movie
• The Green Mile - movie
• The Running Man - movie
• The Deadzone - movie and tv show
• Children of the Corn - movie
• Maximum Overdrive - movie
• Stand By Me - movie
• The Shawshank Redemption
• The Langoliers - tv movie
• Apt Pupil - short story and movie
• The Mist - movie

So I've seen 25 Stephen King books or movies. How does The Mist movie rank? Better than average. It's not a classic like The Shining or The Shawshank Redemption but it doesn't suck like Creepshow or Maximum Overdrive.

I had heard of The Mist but I had no idea what it was about. I went into this movie with only a TV preview and it was actually better than I expected. The only thing that bugged me was that the behavior of some people was over the top. This causes quite a bit drama since people personalities are so extreme. As with some movies, you have to suspend disbelief at times and just go along for the fun ride. I failed to suspend disbelief in some cases for example our hero sees creatures crying to break down a door.

He goes to warn some people and they immediately dismiss him. They open the door and one of them is killed by a creature in the mist. Our hero is covered in blood trying to save the guy. They manage to cut off a piece of the monster. When our hero tells his neighbor about what just happened his neighbor thinks it is some kind of joke. The blood and monster tentacle must be fake. The religious woman manages to get half the survivors believing this is the end of days and they want to make human sacrifices to please God. That is not very Christian-like and yet half of them fall for her crazy preachings.

One man gets burned badly so they attempt a trip through the mist to the pharmacy to get medicine where many more die. Stupid.




Later the survivors turn against each other instead of working together. Our hero and four other people manage to escape in his car but they run out of gas. I guess there weren't any gas stations along the way. I don't want to ruin the ending since I actually didn't expect it. I had to ask myself if I was in their position, what would I have done? I don't know if the novella ends this way but if it does, I have to applaud Stephen King for not taking the easy way out. Instead what happens at the end is unhappy and unpredictable.