Welcome to our weekly column by YSN member and movie aficionado Rama Tampubolon. He runs the movie review and discussion blog, Rama’s Screen, and was featured in “United 300,” which won for “Best Spoof” at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards. He’ll discuss the latest hot topics and movie reviews every Thursday on Waste Time Wisely.
Sometimes it’s good to be proven wrong. I’m definitely impressed with THE MIST because I thought it was going to copycat The Fog, but it’s nothing like that. I’ve never read any of Stephen King’s novellas or stories but this movie suddenly creates… a curiosity in me and maybe I’ll pick up the next Stephen King’s book I see at Barnes & Nobles.A small town in Maine engulfed in thick mist and a bunch of people are trapped inside local grocery store only to discover that the mist surrounding them contains creepy creatures ready to attack. The people turn against each other and someone has to figure a way out of the situation before it’s too late.
For me (and you might have a different take on it), this film is about human behavior; it’s more psychological than it is horror. It centers on what would happen if you gathered a group of people in one place and left them in the dark. The master of terror gives us a view of what fear can do to people… of what fear can do to a person when he or she gets cornered.
Director/writer Frank Darabont (Shawshank Redemption, Green Mile) carefully adapted each character to the screen to show us the changes that could happen over a period of time when freedom and hope are slowly stripped away. From the religious bigot to the cowardly soldiers who decide to take the easy way out, the audiences can study each character. You learn a lot from watching the person who seemed to be the strongest or the leader but winds up making the biggest mistake — all because he let fear get the better of him.
The special effects look believable — the things that those freaky monsters can do are downright ugly and lethal! Some scenes remind you a lot of the movie Alien and the movie Arachnophobia.
I think THE MIST is a brilliantly gripping, twisted movie and it would be a cool subject for discussion in college classrooms.
The grade I give this film is: 5 out of 5
