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THE MIST

 ABOUT THE MOVIE

Genre: Horror/Thriller
Starring: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Andre Braugher, Laurie Holden, Toby Jones, William Sadler, Frances Sternhagen, Jeffrey DeMunn
Director: Frank Darabont
Rating: NC-16 (Some Gore And Horror)
Year Made: 2007

 


 SPECIAL FEATURES

- Interview with Director Frank Darabont, the cast and Stephen King
- Behind-the-Scenes look at filming THE MIST

 


 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Languages: English
Subtitles: English
Aspect Ratio: 4:3 Letterbox
Sound: -
Running Time: 2 hrs 6 mins
Region Code: 3
Distributor: Scorpio East

 

 

SYNOPSIS: 

Based on a story by suspense master Stephen King, 1408 is a gripping "roller-coaster of a head trip" (Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly) that will have you on the edge of your seat. John Cusack delivers "a tour de force performance" (Stephen Farber, Hollywood Reporter) as a skeptical writer investigating paranormal events. When he insists on staying in the reportedly haunted room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel against the grave warning of the hotel manager (Samuel L. Jackson), he discovers the room's deadly secret - an evil so powerful, no one has ever survived an hour within its walls.

MOVIE REVIEW:

It’s not often that local cinema goers roared in cheers (that is clapping out loud). We are often too shy to do that and for a film to be able to cause such rare eruption, it probably done something very well. The Mist was one of those rare films that I witness such incredible feat and Frank Darabont had once again scored another high note with Stephen King’s material.

The scary thing about the Mist is actually not what’s in the Mist. The job of 'the Mist' was to scare people into a confined area and show how people behave in times of uncertain danger. There are foolhardy ones, the cynical ones, the brave ones, the manipulators and they all rolled into one high strung drama in a supermarket.

Although the concept of unseen horror lurking around seems a bit far fetched (in the sci fi realm), the presentation of human behavior reacting to the terror surrounding them felt eerily real. It shows that during times of desperation (or facing possible annihilation), the acceptable measurement of human decency would easily give way to primitive actions. People start doing things that they normally wouldn’t and the scariest part would be how easily they could be manipulated or allow to be manipulated.

The manipulation bit is probably when it will not sit well with my Christian friends. Even though I am not a Christian, the way this movie portray a Christian fanatic (lunatic would be a better word) becoming a despot through the usage of the 'words of God' felt like an utter bashing of Christianity.

But if one can look at the presentation with an open mind and get that hurtful sting out of the way, it’s had an accurate depiction of religion in general and how it could be abused.

Religion (whether it’s Christianity or other religion) is often a refuge for the weak and those who are hurt / desperate. Especially when things in life get out of hand, religion often steps in to comfort with the notion that an almighty is in control of the chaos and eventually, there will be a promised reward (aka the concept of heaven) even if the current situation ends badly (terminally bad). In The Mist, things get progressively doomed and it’s a brilliant depiction on how people started grasping faith from someone they had previously denounced as mad. All this because people are generally self serving ones who look out for themselves and if there’s a promise to get out of the current horrible situation, they will do whatever they are told and hope that last minute desperation acts will grant them entry to 'heaven'.

With folks that are so desperate or blindly faithful, it’s easy to manipulate and exploit these people. As far back as the crusades, the televise evangelist money scams and even to the recent 'reign of terror' war that happening, religion had been abused easily and people done terrible and foolish things in the name of their religion. This movie subtly shows why and how people could be influenced to do things outside their normal way of life. We see people becoming lackey to a mentally disturbed personal who is out to get revenge for how she had been treated and that’s truly disturbing.



In a way, Frank Darabont took a mirror and shows us the reflection of how we might behave in horrifying times. Some might not like such portrayal (understandably that they are mentally protecting their religion at all times) but for those who are able watch the Mist with an open mind and heart, you will be able to see that the Mist was actually trying to depict the behavior of mankind in times of horror and that Christianity was an unfortunate vehicle to deliver that message.

Last but not the least, the finale actually surprised me in two folds.



First of all, I remember watching the Mist in the cinema and at the finale, I kept thinking that a film from the Hollywood industry wouldn’t have the balls to carry out the final notion of the film and The Mist blew me away. Think about it (spoiler starts) when was the last time you saw a kid who is one of the central characters in the movie, get blown away at the end of a Hollywood Movie? (spoiler ends)

And the other part was how the film balances things up with what it had been preaching in this movie. (Spoiler Starts ) The film had set up the crazy preacher as the villain of the show and the protagonist as a levelheaded hero, the ending made the statement that even those with the best of intentions could easily make the wrong choices in life. (Spoiler ends)

Without a doubt, The Mist will be one of the top ten movies in 2008 for me.

SPECIAL FEATURES :

The Mist Trailer

Select Sound Bites



Similar to the Halloween Extra segments, these are vignettes of interviews with the director and various personals involved with The Mist that’s being clumsy slapped together without much editing. This time round, there isn’t even a title scene to point out what the person will be speaking about and the editing cuts felt very crude, cutting off at moments when the speakers haven’t even finish their line.

This badly edited segment is worth sitting through for the interview bits between Frank Darabont and Stephen King, which viewers get to find out that the movie maker actually managed to spook the horror writer with his own works.

B-Rolls



As again, we are 'treated' to some behind the scenes when no one is paying attention to the camera man and it’s presented in a badly edited manner. I suspect these are shots that are made so that it could be used to pad out moments of an actual making of segment.

AUDIO/VISUAL:

Nothing misty about this DVD presentation of The Mist. Everything’s sharp and clean as one should expect from a recent movie. Comes in 4:3 letterbox with English subtitles.

This reviewer is also please to announce that he wasn’t able to find any intermittent flashing of Scorpio East logo during the movie to make fun of.

MOVIE RATING:



DVD RATING :

Review by Richard Lim Jr

 
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This review is made possible with the kind support from Scorpio East

 



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