# The Mist (2007)



## Bikewer (Aug 1, 2007)

Word from Comicon is that they are working on a screen adaptation of the Stephen King short story. 
This was one of King's better (and scarier) stories IMO, and more in the science-fiction vein than many of his others.

Of course, Hollywood has a long record of severely mangling King's stuff, so we can only hope.


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## roddglenn (Aug 1, 2007)

It is in production.

Links to more information.

Quint on the set of THE MIST: Day 1!!! -- Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news.

The Mist (2007)

The cast as I understand it is...

David (Thomas Jane) – The lead character, everyman type. He’s a Drew Struzan-like poster artist.
Billy (Nathan Gamble) – The kid from BABEL plays David’s young son.
Amanda (Laurie Holden) – Pretty girl in the market. There’s a chemistry between her and David.
Norton (Andre Braugher) – David’s dickish next door neighbor. 
Irene (Frances Sternhagen) – The sweet old lady from MISERY plays this character, a school teacher.
Ollie (Toby Jones) – Like I said before, Ollie’ll be an audience favorite. He’s a manager at the store.
Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden) – Creepy religious zealot.
Sally (Alexa Davalos) – Check-out girl. There might be something between her and…
Jessup (Sam Witwer) – A young army man who enters the store, about to go on leave.
Jim (William Sadler) – A mechanic.
Norm (Chris Owen) – The bagboy who doesn’t have a good day.


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## Nesacat (Aug 1, 2007)

Am quite wary about this. Have been hearing about it off and on for a while now. 

I really like the short story but then, as has been said, Hollywood does not do well when turned loose on Stephen King's work.

I hope they stay with the story and leave everything suggested and understated. It is so much more frightening then.


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## roddglenn (Aug 1, 2007)

Yep fingers crossed.  I was really excited about Desperation (especially with Ron Pearlman as the Sheriff), but was bitterly disappointed when I saw it.  Having said that, there have been a few good adaptions of his work - Shawshank, Green Mile, Dreamcatcher (I thought it was good - I know I'm in the minority on that one!), IT, The Stand, Salem's Lot etc.  But then there have been plenty of awful ones too...


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## Nesacat (Aug 1, 2007)

I liked Shawshank Redemption and Green Mile too but they were different and rather unlike his usual stories. They were more like the sort of thing Hollywood can do well. 

They seem to stumble when it's a pure horror tale and you get a sort of gore fest or an over-the-top-in-your-face-tale.

But Shining was amazing. Jack Nicholson fits being deranged.


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## roddglenn (Aug 1, 2007)

Yes, The Shining was excellent - Jack Nicholson was made for that role.  I quite liked the mini series version too - a lot closer to the book.


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## Nesacat (Aug 1, 2007)

Will agree there. The mini series are a lot closer to the book. The Shining and again with Salem's Lot. 

My grouse with Salem's Lot as far as the mini series goes is the way the vampires looked. Entirely not like they are in the book and far less frightening for that.


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## roddglenn (Aug 1, 2007)

yes - a good point.  Rob Lowe was a strange choice too, but he actually did a decent job.


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## Nesacat (Aug 1, 2007)

Yes - I was quite wary when I saw his name but was very pleasantly surprised. He did carry it off rather well. Now all we need is elegant, understated vampires with cultured nonchalant voices.


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## Lucien21 (Aug 1, 2007)

roddglenn said:


> Yes, The Shining was excellent - Jack Nicholson was made for that role. I quite liked the mini series version too - a lot closer to the book.


 
Famously, Stephen King hates the movie version. It's why he pushed for the mini series.


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## roddglenn (Aug 1, 2007)

Yes I'd heard that because it was such a major departure from the book.


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## HoopyFrood (Aug 1, 2007)

Sigh, it was indeed. As good as the film of The Shining was, it missed out the best bits (the hedges!) and _completely_ changed the ending.

I haven't read The Mist (might have to track it down and do so, methinks!) but I hope they've done a good job with this. It rather angers me when films mess up Stephen King stories


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## Nesacat (Aug 1, 2007)

It was a major departure from the book. There's no doubt about that. 

But it's also a good film in its own right and I know several people who read the book and other King books after watching this movie.


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## j d worthington (Aug 1, 2007)

Well, for those who liked *The Shawshank Redemption* and *The Green Mile*... the same director who is doing *The Mist* wrote the screenplays for both of those, as well as the screenplay for this one....

Frank Darabont


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## roddglenn (Aug 1, 2007)

Yeah, that is certainly good news and keeps me hopeful that The Mist will be a good effort too.


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## ravenus (Aug 2, 2007)

Oh no. I find Darabont's films to be quite boring. I thought Del Toro was supposed to be doing *The Mist* at one point...or was that *At The Mountains of Madness*?


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## Nesacat (Aug 2, 2007)

Del Toro is meant to be doing At The Mountains Of Madness. Am keeping my tail crossed that he makes it as Lovecraft intended it to be.


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## ravenus (Aug 2, 2007)

I'd rather not, because that'd mean a film where protagonists walk on for hours through snow and stare at a set of friezes which tell them about the life of the Elder ones, hardly stimulating stuff from the cinematic POV. Even Lovecraft was generally stretching plausibility with the premise and it is mainly his descriptive power here that saves the day.

I'd rather the basic premise be taken and a film be made which is reminiscent of the spirit of Lovecraft's work than slavishly adherent to the letter. I don't want a film-maker to waste his time and demean his own creativity by rote executing another man's vision.


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## Nesacat (Aug 2, 2007)

But  don't want it to go the way of the new Cthulhu movie either, which is just totally off the mark and bizarre (not in a good way).

I'll agree that Mountains cannot be directly translated into a movie as is but I'd like the spirit of the piece to remain and not have all sorts of extras thrown in willy-nilly to jazz it up.


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## ravenus (Aug 2, 2007)

Yep, precisely why I didn't like Darabont's movie of *Rita Hayworth...* that opera over the PAS scene completely violated the spirit of the lead character in King's book.


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## j d worthington (Aug 2, 2007)

Well, I've heard from someone who's seen some of the artwork for *At the Mountains of Madness* that they're going to be taking a rather unconventional (for Lovecraftian film... or art, for that matter) approach. I do know that Del Toro really cares about this film, and those he's genuinely invested in tend to be well worth watching. But I've also seen that he intends to attempt to stay true to the spirit while making it more cinematically effective. So we'll have to wait and see...

As for *The Mist*... I've got admit that I'm somewhat curious about this one, and it's got better prospects than 99% of the stuff done from King's work....


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## Lucien21 (Aug 3, 2007)

Rumour has it that after doing "The Mist" and "Farenheit 451" Darabont will return to Stephen King territory with an adaption of "The Long Walk".

The book is about a walk where the winner gets anything they want for life but the loser is punished by death. If you walk too slow on the walk you get a warning… four warnings and you are shot.


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## HoopyFrood (Aug 3, 2007)

[Brief interlude] 

Ahem...while on the subject of film adaptations of King books...For UK viewers, there are two films being show consecutively on Monday night on Channel five. *Secret Window* at 9pm and then *Misery* straight after. Just thought I'd mention it for anyone interested!  

[And now back to the main feature...]


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## roddglenn (Aug 3, 2007)

Thanks for that, Hoopy - both good films.

The Long Walk sounds interesting - hadn't come across that one before.


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## j d worthington (Aug 7, 2007)

Well, it seems a bit premature, but:

Stephen King's The Mist at WorstPreviews™


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## roddglenn (Aug 7, 2007)

Now I'm more excited about The Mist than ever after reading that very promising article.  Thanks for sharing, JD.


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## j d worthington (Aug 8, 2007)

You're welcome; though I'll admit that I'm still more than a bit cautious, considering it was by no means the final cut of the film... but it does sound more hopeful, anyway....


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## HoopyFrood (Sep 2, 2007)

Just had this passed along to me by Irishwriter (thankee!). 

Stephen King's The Mist trailers and video clips on Yahoo! Movies

The beginning looks promising, but I hope there isn't gratuitous showing of all the beastly creatures in the Mist...for me it's the age-old idea of what you can't see if a lot more terrifying and eerie than what you can see, and too much CGI annoys me. But I shall hold off other comments until I see the film. 

Additional comment...is that a Cthulhu tentacle I spy at the end of the trailer? That Great One sure gets around


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## roddglenn (Sep 4, 2007)

The initial interviews etc all suggested that it would be more about what you can't see than what you can, so I'm hoping that's the case too.


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## Brigitte (Nov 5, 2007)

I just saw a preview of "The Mist" on TV for the first time.  I never even knew Stephen King made a book on this topic (it's just one I somehow haven't read), so I'm pretty excited.  Just the preview made it look pretty good.  And yes, I think they'll be sticking with scarying you with what you cannot see.


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## McMurphy (Dec 2, 2007)

I have a The Mist thread going on in the Stephen King forum of this site for further reference.  I saw the adaption some weeks ago, and I must warn against having hopes too high for the film.  The effects are a little on the cheesy side (but, perhaps, that is more due to the creature designs), and the incredibly different ending from the original story is terrible.

There is a good chunk of the film that keeps close to the short story, and it retains several true strokes of Stephen King.


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## Vincent Tauscher (Dec 9, 2007)

I saw The Mist recently and thought, for the most part, it fell exactly on my expectations.  I never expected it to be a blockbuster, but I did not think it would be bad.  In my opinion, the creatures were not too bad (in terms of realism).  The only thing I did not like was the ending they chose to go with (the book's ending would have been better, sadly).


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## dustinzgirl (Dec 9, 2007)

The Mist looks like a pretty good scare, but I really want to watch it because I adore Thomas Jane (hush up) and Frank Darabont, who while he doesn't really do excellent at perfect adaptations, he does very well at bringing through the spirit of the story with a new viewpoint (Young Indiana Jones, Frankenstein, The Blob). Probably one of the better choices. Also, you know, I really don't like perfect adaptations. I've already read the damn story, I want to see something new and exciting about the story, not the tale puked back up onto a screen, but like a pretty little caterpillar turning into a new butterfly. 

Um, yeah so thats my take on it. 

Yeah, I know...I need to chill.

PS: Yes, I still watch Young Indiana Jones when it comes on the tele.

PPS: This is Darabont, what effects of his are not on the cheesy side? Seriously, The Fly 2 and Nightmare on Elm St 3---all he makes are cheesy visual effects. Which I adore because they make me laugh.


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## KateWalker (Dec 17, 2007)

I was pleasantly surprised with this movie. (but I haven't read the story it's based on) 

I really enjoyed the "monsters" and the twist ending. It was a good little monster movie for my tastes.


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## Jigoku Neko (Dec 22, 2007)

i liked this film a lot. the symbolism was quite easy to read but no less enjoyable for all that. i liked how characters played out the archetypes of superstition, voice of reason etc. there were a couple of scenes that really scared me, even if i already knew how the story would generally go. i could argue that people's actions were sometimes even scarier than the monsters in the mist, which i suppose was the whole point.
my only complaint is that the ending left me with a bitter aftertaste. perhaps it would have been better to leave it as in the original SK story but somehow i don't think it would translate very well on screen. all in all, i felt kind of cheated of the post-apocalyptic grandeur that King's story conveyed.


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## roddglenn (Jul 25, 2008)

I couldn't see a thread for this, so here goes...

Finally got to see this. I have loved the original novella since first reading it as a kid (it was published in Stephen King's story collection The Skeleton Crew). It was a huge early inspiration for me. 

The story is of a mist that descends upon a small town in Maine which holds unseen horrors.  A group of people are stranded in the local supermarket and as horrors are revealed and time goes on the group starts to segregate and deep rooted frictions arise.  

This film adaption delivered on EVERY level. It is directed by Frank Darabont (Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile) stuck to the story in all the right places and delivered a brilliantly shocking ending that was at once completely different from the original story, but at the same time cleverly in keeping with it. Acting from EVERYONE was absolutely first class. In fact the only aspect that wasn't 100% perfect was the special effects, but they were still more than adequate (it was made on a pretty low budget).

There's also some brilliant touches that movie or Stephen King fans will notice (the main character is a movie poster artist and some of his posters can be seen at the start of the film.  One is of the John Carpenter classic The Thing and another is for The Dark Tower - a picture of the gunslinger and the rose. Brilliant!).

I can't say enough how good this film is and that is quite an achievement given how good the novella is.


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## Pyar (Jul 25, 2008)

I loved this movie, it was so dark and the ending was so unbelievable.  I've never read the story though so I can't compare them.


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## Heebie (Feb 20, 2009)

*Stephen King’s The Mist*

I don’t normally dare recommend films as everyone’s taste is so diverse.  I’ve always watched the Hollywood translations of King’s work onto the big screen with a ‘take it or leave it’ attitude.  They’re normally okay, but I probably wouldn’t watch a ‘Stephen King’ film again since Pet Sematery or The Langoliers.  

However, The Mist completely blew me away.  It was one of the creepiest films I’ve seen in a while, plus the acting was top notch (a rare surprise in a horror flick).  

I’ve just checked it out on IMDB.com and found that opinion is split there (largely to do with the ending – which I loved).  I was just wondering what other people thought of it?


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## Moonbat (Feb 20, 2009)

*Re: Stephen King’s The Mist*

I enjoyed this, I'm a big fan of the story (which being at the front of Skeleton Crew means I always end up reading it first) and thought the film might be good.

I loved bits of it, and was very pleased with the decent into mob behaviour, I thought the ending was just about as harsh as they could have made it. Brilliant!

Loved it and recommend it to anyone with eyes (regardless of how well they work)


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## dask (Feb 20, 2009)

*Re: Stephen King’s The Mist*

Read "The Mist" in DARK FORCES and loved it. Probably the best King story I've read yet. Makes my top five horror reads to get in the mood for Halloween. 

Haven't seen the movie though I want to. (Maybe next Halloween...)


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## biodroid (Feb 23, 2009)

*Re: Stephen King’s The Mist*

I agree it was a brilliant movie even though it went straight to dvd in my country, for some reason our cinema company that brings in movies always brings in crappy chick flicks that screen for a week only. I thought Babylon AD was the biggest load of dog turds but The Mist was absolutely brilliant and should have been seen on the big screen. Glad SK doesn't think of brutal endings like the way the movie ended.


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## Heebie (Mar 5, 2009)

*Re: Stephen King’s The Mist*

Yeah, I didn't want to mention the ending too much for people who hadn't seen it, but it was certainly in a league of its own.


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## Susan Boulton (Mar 5, 2009)

*Re: Stephen King’s The Mist*



Heebie said:


> Yeah, I didn't want to mention the ending too much for people who hadn't seen it, but it was certainly in a league of its own.


 
Not really, it was well sign posted. Once you reach the point of the group leaving, there was only a few different scenarios possible. And with the bleakness of the whole film, I guessed which it would be.


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## Heebie (Mar 28, 2009)

*Re: Stephen King’s The Mist*



SJAB said:


> Not really, it was well sign posted. Once you reach the point of the group leaving, there was only a few different scenarios possible. And with the bleakness of the whole film, I guessed which it would be.


 
Guess I must have just been trying to look on the bright side of life.


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## BookStop (Mar 29, 2009)

*Re: Stephen King’s The Mist*

Loved the movie, but prefered original ending. I have a pretty active imagination and really like stories that are oeft al  bit open.


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## Gav (Apr 21, 2009)

*Re: Stephen King’s The Mist*

I watched this the other night and I have to say I was impressed.  It's not often that a King adaptation come over this well.  I was particularly impressed by how Darabont handled his tiny (by Hollywood standards) budget.  I had to watch something a bit lighter before I went to bed afterwards - I am such a wuss.


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## Fried Egg (Apr 21, 2009)

*Re: Stephen King’s The Mist*

I have both the book and the DVD sitting on my shelf and I've been wondering which to read/watch first. Book or movie?

Usually, if I read the book first, it whets my appetite to see it on film but then I am invariably disappointed. However, if I watch the film first, I usually feel no compunction to read the book afterwards.


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## pete_scifi (Apr 24, 2009)

*Re: Stephen King’s The Mist*

For me a large reason for this film's greatness is Tom Jane. He's a severely underrated actor who just happens to have made some bad decisions.


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## Bikewer (May 2, 2009)

*Re: Stephen King’s The Mist*

I too had read the story years ago in Dark Forces.  The film was well done, but I must say I preferred the original rather ambiguous ending.   
The film's ending was more "horrible", to be sure, but to my taste a bit overdone.

I understand someone found a quote from King to the effect that he liked the film's ending....


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## AE35Unit (May 2, 2009)

*Re: Stephen King’s The Mist*

Excellent film,really well done. That bible bashing woman would have been out the door tho,so annoying! And we said to ourselves,she's gonna incite a riot,and sure enough,she did!
The ending really got to me. I'm hypersensitive to such stuff as it is but now I have kids of my own I found it unbearably emotional!


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## Heebie (May 12, 2009)

*Re: Stephen King’s The Mist*



AE35Unit said:


> That bible bashing woman would have been out the door tho,so annoying!


 
Yeah, I'd have fed her to those things if I was there.



AE35Unit said:


> but now I have kids of my own I found it unbearably emotional!


 
I know, it's never nice to see the kids get it when you have them - same goes for Planet Terror and From Dusk Till Dawn.


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## pete_scifi (May 15, 2009)

*Re: Stephen King’s The Mist*

Yeah the Marcia Gay Harden mentalist character wouldn't have held sway in my manor. Straight out the shop door with a boot in her back.


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## Karn Maeshalanadae (May 15, 2009)

*Re: Stephen King’s The Mist*

As a movie, this was the worst piece of tripe I've seen since Cloverfield, and that's saying something.

It couldn't even get the ending right. Why does Hollywood always have to tear a good story apart?


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## AE35Unit (May 16, 2009)

*Re: Stephen King’s The Mist*



Manarion said:


> As a movie, this was the worst piece of tripe I've seen since Cloverfield, and that's saying something.
> 
> It couldn't even get the ending right. Why does Hollywood always have to tear a good story apart?



I've not read the story so I can't comment other than to say i thought it was brilliant. Enjoyed Cloverfield too,quite an intense experience,almost like it was really happening!


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## Karn Maeshalanadae (May 16, 2009)

*Re: Stephen King’s The Mist*

You liked Cloverfield? I felt like, after seeing that one, "Whoever made that movie should be drug into the street and shot."

I felt the same way about The Mist. First off, in the story, there was no suicide pact, and there was no military personnel burning the mist away. I won't say anything more because that would be spoilers. AE, get Skeleton Crew if you want to read The Mist, it's the first story in it.


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## AE35Unit (May 16, 2009)

*Re: Stephen King’s The Mist*



Manarion said:


> You liked Cloverfield? I felt like, after seeing that one, "Whoever made that movie should be drug into the street and shot."
> 
> I felt the same way about The Mist. First off, in the story, there was no suicide pact, and there was no military personnel burning the mist away. I won't say anything more because that would be spoilers. AE, get Skeleton Crew if you want to read The Mist, it's the first story in it.



 Yes i have that book on its way


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## Michael01 (Aug 22, 2009)

*Re: Stephen King’s The Mist*

I'd say Manarion has good points.  The ending was horrible, and not at all true to the story.  However, as a whole I thought it was a great film and enjoyed it very much - until the end.  The ending was pretty much the ONLY thing I didn't like about it.  But it was SO bad, it almost makes me want to hate the entire film as much as Manarion does (haha).


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## hectic (Aug 24, 2009)

*Re: Stephen King’s The Mist*

Yeah, but come on, try and name 3 good King film conversions? I'll kick off with Shawshank Redemption...

...no schlock irony allowed...


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## Michael01 (Aug 26, 2009)

*Re: Stephen King’s The Mist*

*The Shining*.  I know it was nothing like the book, but if it weren't for that movie I never would have read any Stephen King books.  Now, since I can't think of anymore...


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## biodroid (Aug 26, 2009)

*Re: Stephen King’s The Mist*

The Green Mile was amazing and the The Shining mini series was closer to the book than the old version with Nicholson


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## Urien (Aug 26, 2009)

*Re: Stephen King’s The Mist*

Stand by Me.
Carrie.
Misery.


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## Michael01 (Aug 26, 2009)

*Re: Stephen King’s The Mist*

Good show, Urien! All three were pretty good. But with *Misery*, I actually liked the movie more than the book. I couldn't get into the book. It was one of those I actually put down.


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## Daisy-Boo (Dec 2, 2009)

Thanks for the review. I've been debating whether or not to watch the movie because I adore the novella and I didn't want to watch a bad adaptation of it.


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## biodroid (Dec 3, 2009)

It was a really good movie. Keeping the monsters almost out of sight makes it way scarier, watch it and you will see what I mean. It's the whole going into the unknown thing that really makes it freaky.


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## Fried Egg (Dec 3, 2009)

I thought the book was quite mediocre but I have the film lined up to watch. I have high hopes for the film as it will lose King's leaden prose. It can't help but be better in my opinion.


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## Daisy-Boo (Dec 18, 2009)

I watched the movie last Saturday (I think I mentioned this in another thread, or possibly even another forum...*sigh*...my memory's going) and I have mixed feelings.

*Marcia Gay Harden* was superbly hateful as Mrs Carmody. I itched to chuck her out of the supermarket to see how she fared with the beasties.

*Andre Braugher* didn't have much to work with in his role as Norton, the cranky neighbour. 

*Thomas Jane;* in my opinion he was the weak point. He's an actor I want to like but I simply don't find him believable. I've seen him in a few films and I think his acting is wooden and contrived. Apologies to all Thomas Jane fans but this is how I feel.

*Toby Jones*, who played Ollie Weeks was the most memorable character for me. He gave Ollie a depth and sensitivity that I don't think any other character matched. I was sad that he got chomped so close to the end.

The ending was certainly hard-hitting and I felt sorry for poor old David Drayton. However, I wonder if the ending wasn't a commentary on David's own hubris. 

Throughout the film Mrs Carmody is clearly the bad guy, gathering her followers through the force of her conviction (and her insanity). The ugliness and stupidity of mob mentality is laid bare. But David, as the flip side of Mrs Carmody, and supposedly the good guy, leads his little group of followers to their doom. We don't know what happened to the people left in the supermarket but there is a possibility they survived. So who did the most harm? Mrs Carmody or David Drayton?


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