Frank Darabont's been around a lot longer than most people think or give him credit for.  After his '83 short "The Woman In The Room," from the Stephen King short story, he worked with Chuck Russell on a couple scripts (Nightmare on Elm Street 3 and the kickass Blob remake in '88) and wrote the original script for Kenneth Branagh's overblown Frankenstein - remember, with Robert DeNiro as the monster?  But then Darabont came out of the gate swinging with his feature directorial debut, The Shawshank Redemption.  To say that the movie is well-thought of and admired is to abuse understatement.  His follow-up, The Green Mile, wasn't as universally beloved but was a solid hit and gave him a perfect .1000 batting average when it came to adapting King's period prison tales.  After 2001's disappointing The Majestic, Darabont has returned to script and direct yet another King story, but this one. . .well, an uplifting, feel-good triumph of the human spirit this ain't.  No, he's decided to tackle a straight up horror flick this time out; The Mist is an unapologetic monster romp and Darabont proves yet again that he's got the goods to bring the master's works to the big screen with consistent skill and style.

There's a big storm coming to Castle Rock, Maine.  Artist David Drayton (Thomas Jane) finds this out first hand, when the nor'easter tears into his lakeside home late one night and causes all sorts of damage.  The next morning, David takes his young son Billy (Nathan Gamble) and their seasonal neighbor, big city lawyer Brent Norton (Andre Braugher) into town to get food as well as supplies to clean up.  Once they reach the crowded supermarket (apparently there's many similarly affected folks in town with the same idea as David), it isn't long before a hysterical, bloody man runs into the store, screaming "There's something in the mist!" 

The customers look outside and see that there is, in fact, a large, creeping wave of mist overtaking the street. . .the parking lot. . .and finally enveloping the store.  Then some kind of massive earthquake strikes, ripping loose overhead lights and overturning shelves.  The inhabitants of the store wonder what, exactly, is happening.  An attack of some kind - biological, perhaps?  A natural disaster?  No one knows, and most are too frightened to venture outside to find out.  Those that do, don't return.  Assistant manager Ollie (Toby Jones) only wants to help and keep folks calm.  The pretty new teacher Amanda (Laurie Holden) tries to help David keep Billy from being scared to death.  And local spinster Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden) - well, she decides in no time at all that this situation is a punishment from God; it's the end of days, and right now.

Of course, there IS something in the mist, something ravenous and bloodthirsty that starts picking people off in escalating, horrible fashion.  But as hours turn into days, and every seemingly good idea ends up on the far side of worse, what's inside the store becomes as dangerous as what's awaiting outside.  Because when you put the human animal in a corner and give him nothing but the most terrible of options, things have a way of falling apart with sickening ease.  Neighbor can turn on neighbor, and your best friend becomes something entirely different when his sanity is stretched just a little too tightly.

I'm just going to state right now that as a horror movie, as something that threatens you and makes you feel truly uncomfortable as you sit safely in the dark, The Mist is without a doubt a great movie.  As a FILM?  Superb as well, no question.  Again, you will not leave feeling secure in the abilities of human behavior under pressure; you will step out into the light and be thankful that you don't have to confront such terror in your life.  Darabont's approach is claustrophobic and right in your face, milking every tense situation for all it's worth - be it confronting a monster from your worst nightmare or the utter disgust at realizing exactly what people are capable of in the most undesirable of circumstances.  The crew Darabont worked with on his episode of The Shield last year (cinematographer Ronn Schmidt especially) create an immediate, you-are-there docudrama feel to the film that helps to immerse you even deeper into it.  The makeup FX by KNB - still the greatest effects house in the entire business - is phenomenal, helped along immeasurably by the input of famed artist Bernie Wrightson with the creature design.  Sure, some of the CGI is obviously that - CG - but you cannot deny the effectiveness with which it is used.

Acting across the board is top-notch.  Thomas Jane proves once again that whatever IT is, the man's got it and then some.  Laurie Holden exudes strength and despair in equal measure - I dug the chick in Silent Hill, sure, but I had no idea she had these kind of chops.  Braugher is righteous and indignant precisely as the character he plays would be.  Young Nathan Gamble plays the terrified child without once becoming annoying or overbearing as sometimes happens in flicks like this, no; he breaks your heart with his fear and concern for his father, and above all makes you want everything to turn out alright - for his sake at least.  The character actor Hall Of Fame is well represented with William Sadler, Jeffrey DeMunn and Frances Sternhagen, all of whom do exactly what it is they do - create believable, realistic characters that you're sure you've met at one time or another in your life.  And finally, Marcia Gay Harden.  Given the hardest part to play, she's the one who makes it all work; because if you don't buy it - and it would be VERY easy to overact in this part, I'm sure - everything falls apart.  The threat inside the store just doesn't play.  But she makes it seem all too possible, sadly, and to chilling effect.  She is simply outstanding.

With his script, Darabont proves exactly why his King adaptations are so successful in that he knows when to step back and let the story and the source material do the work.  Of course he realizes when it's the time to throw his influence on things, but - as he's done previously - he allows King's characters to simply BE, to merely exist as King intended.  It's been said before (and forgive me for repeating it) that the reason Stephen King's stories work so well is because you care about the people.  You put a living, breathing, ordinary human being into the extraordinary situations that King does and suddenly it's all right there for you, the fear.  You WANT them to get away from the threat.  You WANT them to be okay.  And when they don't - when they fail or are betrayed or just plain lose - it hits you hard.  Darabont understands that as no other director before him ever did; not three times out, anyway.  Just like in Shawshank and Green Mile, Darabont brings the characters whole into cinematic being, using chunks of dialogue - verbatim - from the original story.

Which leads us to Darabont's greatest and only major deviation from the source material:  the ending.  This will make you squirm, this new ending, and it should also (I would imagine) get you talking.  It's not mere hyperbole to say that it's nothing short of shocking.  To be truthful, I saw more than a couple people leave their seats with less than 3 minutes to go after the TRUE denouement came.  It's divisive; it's going to piss some people off who aren't going to be able to handle it and as a result they're going to hate the movie.  But those of us who realize that this is the inevitable outcome in terms of what Darabont's trying to say with it will understand.  Maybe we won't like it either - but we'll understand. The bottom line?  It's simple.  The mere fact that he had the rock solid balls to end his movie this way is what makes it as good as it is.  It's what makes it a true blue horror movie.  It's what makes The Mist a classic.