D V D C R Y P T

THE MIST

Directed & Written by Frank Darabont
Based on a short story by Stephen King
Cinematography by Ronn Schmidt
Music by Mark Isham
Cast: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden, Andre Braugher, Jeffery Demunn & William Sadler

2007/126 mins/Color/Dolby Digital 5.1
1.85:1 anamorphic/English/US/NTSC Region 1

Review from Dimension Films/ Genius Products DVD

After a violent thunderstorm, a thick and rather menacing mist envelops a small reclusive Maine town. Movie poster artist Dave Drayton (Thomas Jane), his son and dozens of others are trapped inside a supermarket not knowing exactly what there is outside.

Soon enough some discover that within the mist live unearthly monstrous creatures, which are after them. Yet some simply don’t believe it and decide to leave the store thus splitting the shoppers into two camps. Still the worst is only upon them as the local religious brainwashed (Marcia Gay Harden) begins to convince the group that the mist is actually a punishment from God.

Frank Darabont (THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, THE GREEN MILE) serves as director, writer, and producer of THE MIST, an adaptation of Stephen King’s rather long short story, which is considered by most to be his best. Even though for some this film might actually sound a lot like John Carpenter’s THE FOG, there is a more much menacing elements in THE MIST then ghost pirates.

For me the biggest problem with THE MIST is that you can’t really talk about it without spoiling anything. This is good old-fashioned "B"- style genre flick at its best. The tension slowly but nicely builds itself, as the trapped characters are about to discover that there might simply be no escape from it. If you haven’t seen the film yet and plan to, please do not read the following paragraph as I will spoil some very important elements of the actual movie.

The much talked about ending will stay with you for days. When David, his son, and the three others manage to leave the supermarket and drive through the mist for hours until the SUV runs out of gas, you expect that they will make it to a happy ending. But no… they don’t. When there is no more gas, they are still stuck in the mist. David pulls out a gun and tells the others that there are only four bullets left (but they are five including his son which is now sleeping). As the camera shifts away from the SUV we hear four gunshots. David exits the SUV, crying and screaming for the Lovecraftian creatures to get him. Loud and pounding noises are approaching. It is not monsters that unveil itself to David but the Army. They could have been saved but David decided to take their lives. It’s a bleak, dark ending that makes us realize that humans are equally as monstrous as anything supernatural and that there is actually always hope.

The movie is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio and it is anamorphic. As expected the transfer is simply stunning with rich color saturations and no defects whatsoever. This is exactly the kind of transfer you would expect from a new film being release on DVD… flawless. We get the choice of either Dolby Digital 5.1 English or dubbed Dolby Digital 5.1 French. Both sound loud, crisp and clear and make great use of the Dolby Digital 5.1 capabilities. English and Spanish subtitles are available.

There are numerous extras among each disc. The first one features 8 deleted scenes with optional commentary by Frank Darabont. ‘Drew Stryzan: An Appreciation of an Artist’ is an 8 minutes featurette on one of the greatest movie poster artist of all time. Stryzan has done posters for STAR WARS, HARRY POTTER, INDIANA JONES, RAMBO and countless others. There is 3 Webisodes where we follow what happened behind-the-scenes of the making of the film. We also get the original theatrical trailer along with two other trailers made for the film. More importantly we get a very informative and detailed commentary track with Frank Darabont who goes into all the small details behind the making of this new horror masterpiece. I won’t spoil the fun and let you discover all the cool facts about THE MIST.

On the second disc you will find ‘When Darkness Came: The Making of The Mist’ which is a very good 37 minutes documentary on the film. We get interview with the director, cast, crew and Stephen King himself. We get lots of cool behind-the-scenes footage; see how some of the shots and FX were done and more. ‘Taming The Beast: Shooting Scene 35’ is a twelve minutes featurette on one of the most complex scene done for the film.

‘Monsters Among Us: A Look At The Creature FX’ is a cool 13 minutes featurette on the whole creations of the creatures used for the film. Both animatronics and computer generated creatures. ‘The Horror Of It All: The Visual FX Of The Mist’ is an interesting 15 minutes documentary on all the FX created for the film, including the most stunning ones which I won’t spoil for those who haven’t seen the film.

The coolest is that disc two features an exclusive presentation of the film in black & white. There’s a special introduction by Frank Darabont, which explains to us why he always wanted to make the film in black & white. He sure sound passionate about it and as a fan of old classic films like the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, it’s a great idea!

Each versions of the film are separated in 18 chapters stop. The discs features animated menus with music. It comes in a keep case with a cool 8-page booklet with notes from Darabont and King.

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