Movie: "The Mist" (possible "spoilers")

[JohnRich 4]

Question: At the end of the movie, the survivor-escapee from the grocery store sees Army tanks, trucks and troops coming to the town's rescue. There is a very brief image of some civilians in the back of an Army troop transport truck. Were those passengers the remaining people from the grocery store who stayed behind? In other words, were the remainder of the grocery store people rescued, or was their fate left unknown?

[TheCaptain 2]

One of the women from the truck was the woman in the store at the begining that left to get her two children who were left home by themselves. I did not reconize any of the others in the truck.
Kirk

[skydiver30960 0]

Overall, how was the movie?

I really liked Skeleton Crew, and would love to go see The Mist. But King has a long history of his horror stories absolutely flopping in the theater (i.e. It (oh God it was so bad), the Stand, Christine, and so many more). His dramas have done well, though (Green Mile, Stand By Me, Shawshank Redemption).

One of the best things about the story (just like the original or "real" ending to Shawshank Redemption), is that it's an open ending; you know what the protagonist plans to do but they haven't been successful yet. Your post sounds like they've done what happens so often when such endings are moved to the theater; the public doesn't like it too much and demands a nice neat, complete ending. If so, rats.

So, how was it?

Elvisio "contemplating a matinee" Rodriguez

[slotperfect 7]

John,

If you're going to discuss parts of a movie that might ruin someone's seeing it for the first time, please put *Spoilers* in the subject line.

Arrive Safely

John

[JohnRich 4]

Quote

One of the women from the truck was the woman in the store at the begining that left to get her two children who were left home by themselves. I did not reconize any of the others in the truck.

Aha! I thought she looked familiar, but wasn't sure. There were so many people in that store, it was hard to remember all of them. And the trucks were going the wrong way, towards the store, to have rescued the store people yet.

So that explains it: the woman who left early to get her kids, survived. And the fate of the people left behind in the store is left unresolved.

[JohnRich 4]

Quote

Overall, how was the movie?

Your post sounds like they've done what happens so often when such endings are moved to the theater; the public doesn't like it too much and demands a nice neat, complete ending. If so, rats.

Typical monster movie stuff: Big ugly creatures, and lots of blood and gore. Giant octopus tentacles with claws. Giant bird-like things. Giant spiders and flying bugs. Spiders that shoot out streams of acidic silk.

But there was interesting psychological stuff, amidst the people trapped in the store by the monster-filled mist. At first it was the struggle to believe that the mist was really filled with danger, or was this just some cruel practical joke? And then the debate over what the best strategy would be to survive. Should they make a run for their cars? Or stay put and turn the store into a fortress? Or put their fate in God's hands?

And those debates ended up dividing the crowd into different camps, fighting against each other, to the point where it was questionable whether it was more dangerous to stay in the store, or to take their chances outside...

There IS a somewhat surprise ending, which is psychologically horrifying.

[Douva 0]

Quote

There IS a somewhat surprise ending, which is psychologically horrifying.

[I]The Mist[/I] is an EXCELLENT, faithful adaptation of a very good Stephen King novella, right up until the last three minutes of the movie, when the filmmakers apparently decided that the novella's open ending wouldn't satisfy audiences but that a tragically ironic ending with a depressing "never give up" message would.

When I've just spent two hours rooting for characters to survive, nothing satisfies me like watching one of them shoot the others in a rapid series of mercy killings, followed only seconds later by the passing of the original danger and the arrival of the cavalry.

Even a well-executed unhappy ending can be satisfying. The [I]Dawn of the Dead[/I] remake managed to end a very similar story on a down note, without leaving audiences feeling cheated. Ending a straightforward horror/survival movie with tragic irony is simply a poor artistic choice.

I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

[Douva 0]

Quote

And the trucks were going the wrong way, towards the store, to have rescued the store people yet.

I believe the trucks were coming from the same direction as the protagonist's vehicle, meaning that the danger had probably already passed the town and the store and suggesting that the people left in the store likely survived.

I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

[Douva 0]

Quote

Quote

And the trucks were going the wrong way, towards the store, to have rescued the store people yet.

I believe the trucks were coming from the same direction as the protagonist's vehicle, meaning that the danger had probably already passed the town and the store and suggesting that the people left in the store likely survived.

I finally figured out where I'd seen a similar ending before--the original Night of the Living Dead.

The ending is not without merit; I just don't think it works for this film. It just seemed out of place. It didn't seem to put the cap on an existing theme, as this type of deliberately shocking ending should. The ending feels like it's trying to convey a message not echoed by the rest of the film.

I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

[JohnRich 4]

Quote

The ending is not without merit; I just don't think it works for this film. It just seemed out of place.

It didn't feel right to me either. After fighting for hours to survive against all odds, to just give up and commit suicide at that time, was unbelievable. I could see it happening if they were faced again with overwhelming odds and imminent horrible death. But that wasn't the situation. They were just out of gas in the fog, with nothing immediately threatening them. If I had been in their shoes, I would have just sat and waited. Maybe the fog will lift and rescuers arrive before the monsters find us...

[sunshine 2]

The old people wanted to die and that was their right to decide. I have such a hard time with him killing his son though. I thought it was a great movie and all. I could've done without the over the top religious crap. That lady was ridiculously annoying.

___________________________________________
meow

I get a Mike hug! I get a Mike hug!

[masterrig 1]

when the filmmakers apparently decided that the novella's open ending wouldn't satisfy audiences

Yeah, it didn't work with 'The Sopranos', either.


Chuck

[Douva 0]

Quote

Quote

The ending is not without merit; I just don't think it works for this film. It just seemed out of place.

It didn't feel right to me either. After fighting for hours to survive against all odds, to just give up and commit suicide at that time, was unbelievable. I could see it happening if they were faced again with overwhelming odds and imminent horrible death. But that wasn't the situation. They were just out of gas in the fog, with nothing immediately threatening them. If I had been in their shoes, I would have just sat and waited. Maybe the fog will lift and rescuers arrive before the monsters find us...

If the filmmakers wanted to end the film the way they did, they should have set up the struggle between giving up and pushing forward as a constant theme throughout the movie. If you saw the characters struggle with that choice throughout the film, only to give up moments before they would have been rescued, the ironic ending would have fit. But for these determined survivors to simply decide, after running out of gas, that it would be best to just blow their own brains out doesn't seem to fit.

HERE IS HOW THE BOOK ENDS:

We got to this Howard Johnson's near Exit 3 as dusk began to close in, making driving a suicidal risk. Before that we took a chance on the bridge that spans the Saco River. It looked badly twisted out of shape, but in the mist it was impossible to tell if it was whole or not. That particular game we won.

But there's tomorrow to think of, isn't there?

As I write this, it's a quarter to one in the morning, July the twenty-third. The storm that seemed to signal the beginning of it all was only four days ago. Billy is sleeping in the lobby on a mattress that I dragged out for him. Amanda and Mrs. Reppler are close by. I am writing by the light of a big Delco flashlight, and outside the pink bugs are ticking and thumping off the glass. Every now and then there is a louder thud as one of the birds takes one off.

The Scout has enough gas to take us maybe another ninety miles. The alternative is to try to gas up here; there is an Exxon out on the service island, and although the power is off, I believe I could siphon some up from the tank. But--

But it means being outside.

If we can get gas--here or further along--we'll keep going. I have a destination in mind now, you see. It's the last thing I wanted to tell you about.

I couldn't be sure. That is the thing, the damned thing. It might have been my imagination, nothing but wish fulfillment. And eve if not, it's such a long chance. How many miles? How many bridges? How many things that would love to tear up my son and eat him even as he screamed in terror and agony?

The chances are so good that it was nothing but a day dream that I haven't told the others . . . at least, not yet.

In the manager's apartment I found a large battery-operated multiband radio. From the back of it, a flat antenna wire led out through the window. I turned it on, switched over to BAT., fiddled with the tuning dial, with the SQUELCH knob, and still got nothing but static or dead silence.

And then, at the far end of the AM band, just as I was reaching for the knob to turn it off, I thought I heard, or dreamed I heard, one single word.

There was no more. I listened for an hour, but there was no more. If there was that one word, it came through some minute shift in the damping mist, an infinitesimal break that immediately closed again.

One word.

I've got to get some sleep . . . if I can sleep and not be haunted until daybreak by the faces of Ollie Weeks and Mrs. Carmody and Norm the bag-boy . . . and by Steff's face, half-shadowed by the wide brim of her sunhat.

There is a restaurant here, a typical HoJo restaurant with a dining room and a long, horseshoe-shaped lunch counter. I am going to leave these pages on the counter and perhaps someday someone will find them and read them.

One word.

If I only really heard it. If only.

I'm going to bed now. But first I'm going to kiss my son and whisper two words in his ear. Against the dreams that may come, you know.

Two words that sound a bit alike.

One of them is Hartford.

The other is hope.

I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

[JohnRich 4]

Quote

I could've done without the over the top religious crap. That lady was ridiculously annoying.

Yes, but that was the whole source of much of the drama, with the monsters outside the store trying to kill them, and the crowd inside being divided into two camps, one of which wants to sacrifice the others to appease god...

How many people in your theater cheered when Ollie shot the bible thumper?

[Douva 0]

Quote

Quote

I could've done without the over the top religious crap. That lady was ridiculously annoying.

Yes, but that was the whole source of much of the drama, with the monsters outside the store trying to kill them, and the crowd inside being divided into two camps, one of which wants to sacrifice the others to appease god...

How many people in your theater cheered when Ollie shot the bible thumper?

That actually got a round of applause in the theater where I viewed the movie.

I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

[sunshine 2]

Quote

Yes, but that was the whole source of much of the drama, with the monsters outside the store trying to kill them, and the crowd inside being divided into two camps, one of which wants to sacrifice the others to appease god...

How many people in your theater cheered when Ollie shot the bible thumper?

I know the story line was important to divide the store patrons, but i really thought the woman was a horrible actress and overdid the part.

Yeah, there was a bit of cheering when she died.

___________________________________________
meow

I get a Mike hug! I get a Mike hug!