Les Maîtres du Temps Les Maîtres du Temps
Mar
18
2008

THE MIST 2 DISC SPECIAL EDITION

Posted by Canfield at 12:22pm.

Posted in Film & DVD Reviews .

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Man was I happy to get this. The Mist isn’t just a solid adaptation of one of Stephen King’s best works. This film blends political and social commentary with 50s sci-fi horror movie monster archetypes to create something only the makers of Cloverfield have and The Host have gotten right in recent memory. This movie goes all the way with its dark vision of the future and probably suffered for it at the box office but I’m betting that as time goes on The Mist, will sadly, be seen as all too relevant a fable hinting at the dark place we increasingly think of as an inevitable future.

If the film falters at all it’s in the quickness in which characters turn to the completely wonked out faux fundamentalism of Mrs. Carmody. I agree that religious extremism is a dark and evil thing but this needed more fleshing out. I have the same problem with King’s novella. Small minded folks will take such a character as a reinforcement of their narrow minded views on religion but they miss the point. The scary thing, and I’m an Evangelical Christian, is that you don’t have to be nearly as whacked out or even religious as Mrs. Carmody to revert to the sort of character who is basically worthless if not outright dangerous in desperate situations. It’s when religion or any other ideology becomes an excuse for the person in question to indulge their hatred, bigotries, self interest, greed, lust, etc. that we need to worry. And Darabont does a great job showcasing that for the most part. Minor reservations aside this is indeed a landmark modern horror film and one that should be celebrated also as a labor of love.

The extras on the disc are well produced. Audio commentary by Darabont and others, several making of featurettes including a lengthy dissection of Scene 35 which should prove to anyone what a great filmmaker Darabont is, a nice tribute to poster artist Drew Struzan and the other sort of ephemera that one associates with DVD would have done the job nicely. But in addition to those you also get the option of watching The Mist as Darabont initially intended- that is to say in black and white- just like a fifties monster movie. The film hasn’t just been grey scaled here, it’s been painstakingly color corrected and when you see how it looks on that new HDTV via a simple upconvert DVD player you are going to go bananas. It is quite literally the only way you will ever want to watch this film again and I absolutely believe it should get a theatrical release in this format or at least tour the festival circuit. For one thing the documentary feel of the film is ramped up several notches. For another all the efforts of the movie to appeal to a fifties monster movie aestethic get a hefty boost. And lastly, in black and white, the whole film takes on a more surreal tone echoing the aspect that early cinema goers of the turn of the century associated with the unreal feeling they got from watching any cinema at all. The black and white version of the mist plays like a nightmare rooted in the very real anxieties and tensions we all associate with great apocalyptic art.

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Reader Comments

  1. Swarez 03/18/2008 @ 4:06pm

    Great. Can’t wait to see this finally, and in B/W.
    But I’m wondering, why is there are tribute to Struzan on the disc? Did he work on the film or is Darabont just a big fan?

  2. Canfield 03/18/2008 @ 4:25pm

    Should have mentioned this in the review. Struzan is revered by almost anyone who works in genre film for his legacy in film poster art. Darabont is no exception as he makes clear in the featurette. Such a big fan in fact that the entire first scene features a recreation of Struzans studio with several examples of his poster art including one that was especially commissioned for the The Mist depicting a collage of images from Stephen Kings Dark Tower series.

  3. MechaYakuza 03/18/2008 @ 8:57pm

    Great review. I only had passing interest in this film before, now I’m pretty stoked.

  4. Agent Orange 03/18/2008 @ 8:58pm

    Nice review. I watched this film twice in two days it was so good. Can’t wait to pick up the double discer next week.

  5. Mike 03/18/2008 @ 9:54pm

    I might have to check this out now. All the trailers made it look pretty weak.

  6. The Visitor 03/18/2008 @ 10:15pm

    in that opening scene, there’s also the DVD cover of John Carpenter’s The Thing hanging on the wall. i thought it was a nice parallel with The Mist - both are movies about a group of people trapped in one location and the dynamics between them.

  7. superchopper 03/19/2008 @ 12:05am

    Thomas Jane’s character (or at least occupation) was based off of Struzan.

    Chop!

  8. Kurt Halfyard 03/19/2008 @ 6:08am

    That DVD cover putting “one of the most shocking movie endings ever” peeves me. Why do marketing folks chop their own films legs off.  Arrrgh.

  9. Collin Armstrong 03/19/2008 @ 6:53am

    Scored an early copy of this yesterday.  Man, what a great film.  Nice write-up, Canfield - spread the gospel on this one smile Too many people missed it during its run in theaters.  Kind of like Darabont’s SHAWSHANK, I guess.

  10. Gohatto 03/20/2008 @ 12:05am

    I think this was one of the most underrated films of the past 10 years. I just saw “Funny Games” with a dozen friends and alot of them Hated the film because it reminded them of *SPOILER* the ending of Darabont’s film. It’s glad to see a filmmaker take something to the extreme. There is so much “Enchanted” like Hollywood that this film goer can take. I am dying to see this in the B/W format.....I truly wish that was how this masterpiece should of been released.

  11. The Visitor 03/20/2008 @ 1:41am

    i don’t know. i enjoyed the movie a lot, with a very fun crowd in the cinema. but i just didn’t find it memorable enough.

    did anyone else notice *SPOILER* that the ending is quite the complete opposite of I Am Legend’s?

  12. Kurt Halfyard 03/20/2008 @ 6:56am

    I really Enjoyed the MIST, but didn’t find it *THAT* overly memorable either.  Let us agree that Marcia Gay Harden is queen.  The film gets more interesting as it goes along…

  13. anton_es 03/24/2008 @ 6:05am

    saw it yesterday, based on recommendations (from this site as well)
    what a bummer. where could you see any 50s monster movie relation ?
    felt like a tv production with some slapped on “how we are hardcore” moments. the religious happenings were cliche as it could be, no, everything was cliche as it could be. it played like a “i know what gonna happen next” movie and never failed to dull me down. even the *SPOILER*ending*SPOILER* is totally ridiculous.
    I don’t know where those reviewers always spot their “social and political” commentary. it seems to be triggered by movies depicting people confined in shopping malls and having a character talk about “values”.

    the movie isn’t bad, it isn’t good, it’s just average.
    nothing memorable and won’t be watched again. will NOT get better over time.
    there’s just nothing there I haven’t seen in other movies.
    I would argue DOOMSDAY has the same amount of “commentary” besides the “usual” scares.

    how could this site fail at this mediocre “just-another-monster-movie” ?

    (ps: dont take me serious)

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