The Mist (2007) (aka Stephen King's The Mist)
In writer/director Frank Darabont's (and Dimension Films') science-fiction horror-thriller film, it was an adaptation of Stephen King's 1980 novella. Its main premise was to illustrate how people would begin to act irrationally in the face of a massive and life-threatening disaster.
Its tagline was:
"FEAR CHANGES EVERYTHING."
On a budget of 18ドル million, it grossed revenues of 25ドル.6 million (domestic), and 57ドル.5 million (worldwide).
It told about a strong thunderstorm and a subsequent massive power outage that affected the small town of Bridgton, Maine. Then, a mysterious, unnatural fog or mist full of otherworldly, monstrous inter-dimensional creatures, pterodactyl-like animals, tentacled snake-like worms, spider-like monsters, and giant flying insects enveloped and trapped a few dozen people in the local supermarket known as Food House, and then assaulted them. Unseen forces inside the mist attacked some of those who left the store and dragged them into the mist. The monstrous creatures were also able to gain access into the store and wreak havoc.
One of the store's baggers named Norm (Chris Owen) was grabbed by a tentacle and dragged out into the mist to his death. Other deaths of those who ventured out into the mist proved that it was absolutely true that there were bloodthirsty monsters out there inside the mist. Cashier Sally (Alexa Davalos) was stung in the neck by one of the flying insects. One giant insect also landed on frenzied religious fanatic Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden), but it didn't harm her. Some hypothesized that her preachings and rantings about being punished by a divine God were credible and true, and she attracted followers to her beliefs about a "Judgment Day." The emboldened Mrs. Carmody also began to urge human sacrifices to appease the monsters and drive them away.
Shortly later in a nearby pharmacy where medical supplies were being sought by a group led by painter-artist David Drayton (Thomas Jane), the group found dozens of sticky, cocooned and webbed victims of spider-like creatures hung from the ceiling. They were attacked by huge venomous spiders who sprayed them with acidic webbing.
One explanation given for the onslaught of creatures within the mist was that it was the result of a chemical leak, or a botched military experiment to find other dimensions in the nearby Arrowhead military base. Under pressure, one military officer Private Wayne Jessup (Sam Witwer) admitted that a top-secret project had attempted to open a portal to another other-worldly dimension, but had unwittingly unleashed the creatures into the world. For his admission, Jessup was personally attacked and stabbed, and forced outside to be one of Carmody's sacrifices to save the group - he was grabbed and devoured by a praying-mantis creature.
To save himself and others from the same fate (feeling threatened by Mrs. Carmody), David and a group of others attempted to leave the supermarket. They were blocked by some of Mrs. Carmody's devout followers with knifes and other weapons, but were saved when the supermarket's assistant manager Ollie Weeks (Toby Jones) shot Mrs. Carmody point-blank in the chest and forehead, instantly killing her. Her murder shocked the others out of their mindless and crazed devotion to her, and they backed away.
The group was able to sneak off, but a few members of the group lost their lives in the parking lot before the other survivors were able to flee in David's SUV. David's wife Stephanie "Steff" Drayton (Kelly Collins Lintz) was found dead in his destroyed home. She was a victim of cocooning by the spider-creatures. Besides David, the four others in the vehicle, as they drove through an apocalyptic scene of death and destruction, were:
After driving many miles, the car ran out of gas in the midst of a monster-ridden mist-shrouded, winding forested road. The film's highly controversial final few minutes (not in the Stephen King novella, although King approved of the addition) was a sadistic, tacked-on, bleak, nihilistic and sacrificial ending. The stranded group, with no hope of rescue or escape, decided to commit suicide - for their quick and merciful end.
David realized that there were only four bullets left, so he opted to mercy-kill the four occupants of the car (with bullet shots to the head), leaving himself as the only survivor. After four blasts, he agonized about killing himself by placing the gun in his mouth. He then stepped out of the van and screamed in anguish for one of the unseen blood-thirsty creatures to come and kill him -- "Come on!" -- but then, the mist began to lift. A military caravan of tanks and trucks pulled up and emerged from the mist, in a deus ex machina moment.
The military police torched the remaining creatures with flamethrowers, and helped any remaining survivors. The sight caused a weeping David to collapse to his knees in dazed disbelief at the pointlessness of his inane murderous sacrifice. The camera rose up to display the large-scale recovery-salvage effort.
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