There's something in The Mist

Dave and I went to our favorite theatre over the weekend to see The Mist. I have never read a single Stephen King book or novella, but I really liked The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption so I was hoping that I wouldn't spend the movie with my face buried in my hands.

No such luck.

This was one of the most gruesome movies I've seen in a long, long time.

That being said, I can't say that I didn't enjoy it. It was not a fun movie. It was not at all a happy movie. And I would never watch it again if given the opportunity (purely because I'm a big scaredy cat), but all in all...the movie was really good.

The premise of the movie is that after a big storm in Maine, a town tries to pick up the pieces the next day. As the day begins, however, a strange mist starts rolling in off the nearby mountain and across the lake. And, as they say in the movie...There's something in The Mist. And it's not very nice.

The majority of the drama (and I do mean DRAMA) plays out in the town grocery store where people are trapped once The Mist rolls in. The movie takes the very best and the very worst of the human condition and throws them into the fire together to see which side makes it out on top. Neither side does very well, though. And although I hated Marcia Gay Harden's Mrs. Carmody with every fiber of my being, she really deserves some kind of award for that role. Andre Braugher (who I loved in Glory and City of Angels) is totally wasted in the movie.

The lead was played by Thomas Jane and he was awesome, as was the little boy who played his son...although I kept wishing someone would give the poor boy a Kleenex. They WERE in a grocery store for goodness sake. Couldn't someone have just popped over to aisle 3 and helped him out? Anyway...

The end of the movie had me crying as we left the theatre. Not in a good "I feel better now" kind of way...but in a "I feel totally violated" kind of way. Not necessarily a bad thing as far as things go, just not what I was expecting for my date night.

Bottom line...if you like horror movies, definitely go see it. The movie was really well done and very well acted. If you don't like horror movies, wait for it to come out on DVD and then watch it with the lights on. And pray that it's not foggy the next day.