Cast:
Thomas Jane as David Drayton
Nathan Gamble as Billy Drayton
Laurie Holden as Amanda Dumfries
Andre Brauer as Brent Norton
Marcia Gay Harden as Mrs. Carmody
Toby Jones as Ollie
Alexa Davalos as Sally
David Jensen as Myron Lafleur
William Sadler as Jim Grondin
Jack Hurst as Joe Eagleton
Chris Owen as Norm
Frances Sternhagen as Irene
Sam Witwer as Wayne Jessup
Directed by Frank Darabont
Movie:
“The Mist? I don’t know isn’t that just like The Fog?”
I heard the above words from enough non-genre fans prior to The Mist‘s theatrical release last year to know that this Frank Darabont adaptation of Stephen King’s novella was going to have trouble attracting a wide audience. Especially when the people saying “isn’t that just like The Fog?” were referring not to John Carpenter’s 1980 classic but to the dismal 2005 remake. I admit, the lack of interest or just the lack of basic awareness towards The Mist somewhat surprised me (some other comments I heard included: “So that’s about, uh, giant mosquitoes or something?” and “The whole movie’s in a supermarket? That sounds stupid!”). With horror and sci-fi having become so central to pop culture, it’s natural for fans to start assuming that the general public’s interest in this material must approximate our own. But the truth is, even though horror and sci-fi properties have more and more become the stuff of mainstream entertainment, it still doesn’t mean that the average moviegoer is necessarily a fan. For followers of the genre, The Mist was a project that had been on the radar for years How would the story be expanded? How would the creatures look? Would it be shot in black and white? but for nearly everyone else looking for a night out at the movies last November, The Mist was an unknown (and largely unappealing) property.
