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Jan 29, 2015Nursebob rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Frank Darabont’s haphazard screenplay, based on yet another Stephen King novella, tries to be too many things at once; sci-fi thriller, claustrophobic horror movie, psychological study, and pseudo-religious potboiler. Borrowing very heavily from such films as The Fog, Alien, and The Birds as well as some of the more esoteric writings of H. P. Lovercraft, it concerns a random group of people who seek refuge in the local supermarket when their town is besieged by a most unusual fog bank. It would appear the soupy mist is crawling with all sorts of unpleasantness, from big meat-eating bugs and screeching pterodactyls to huge nasty tentacled things resembling a cross between an octopus and a Venus flytrap. Of course there’s the usual assortment of King mainstays; hysterical women, hero jocks, a cute kid (the movie’s best performance) and, for good measure, a schizoid chick with messianic delusions (Marcia Gay Harden making a fool of herself). As the little band of consumers slowly become the consumed a few hatch a desperate escape plan while the rest succumb to the aimless ramblings of the crazy lady who assures them that the final days are at hand. To be fair, there are some amazing CGI effects and wild visuals in this film which had my skin crawling more than once. The pervasive mist is a wonderfully disorienting device that adds a macabre overtone to all those twisted, half-seen shapes slithering in and out of focus. But even if we forgive some of the film’s more blatantly illogical devices its underlying premise involving secret military mischief is just plain silly. Furthermore, Harden’s guru character is poorly written and her murderous tent revival subplot is harebrained at best. The film’s unexpectedly bleak ending, filled with horror and brutal irony, did come as a surprise though and was effectively paired with the mournful vocalizations of Dead Can Dance. But it was poor consolation for two hours worth of disappointment.