The Mist is a 2007 horror film directed by Frank Darabont, based on Stephen King’s novella of the same name. It tells the story of David Drayton, an artist in the small town of Bridgton, Maine, who seeks shelter in a supermarket with his young son Billy and others when a thick, mysterious mist rolls in, hiding deadly creatures from another dimension.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mist_(film)
The mist arrives suddenly after a violent storm, trapping everyone inside the store. Tentacled monsters lurk just outside, picking off anyone who ventures into the fog. Inside, fear turns people against each other. A religious woman named Mrs. Carmody rises to power, preaching that the mist is God’s punishment and demanding sacrifices to appease it.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S05dXXZQJLY Her followers grow as deaths pile up, showing how panic and despair can break down normal folks.
David tries to keep his group calm and rational. They learn from a bag boy who saw a military sign about “Project Arrowhead” that the mist might come from a failed government experiment opening a door to another world.https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1663640/news/ Skeptics like lawyer Brent Norton leave early and get torn apart by the beasts. Mrs. Carmody pushes for Billy and a young woman named Amanda to be offered up, but the store manager shoots her, letting David’s small group escape in his car.
They pick up survivors along the way, passing wrecked towns and giant monsters. At David’s house, they find his wife dead. With gas running low deep in the mist, David faces a horrible choice. He has just four bullets left in his revolver. To spare them from being eaten alive, he shoots Billy, Amanda, and the other two passengers, then steps out screaming for the creatures to take him.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TEdMfHw6jY
Right then, the mist starts to lift. Army tanks roll in, spraying the monsters with flame and cleaning up the invasion. David sees the woman who left the store alone at the start, now safe with her kids. He drops to his knees in horror, realizing rescue was seconds away. His mercy killings were for nothing.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mist_(film)
This ending shocked audiences because Darabont changed King’s book. In the novella, David drives into the mist with some hope left, spotting possible rescue in the distance but not sure.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S05dXXZQJLY King approved the film’s bleaker twist, which drives home the movie’s point: humans can be the real monsters. Under pressure from the unknown, people choose despair over hope, lashing out in panic or blind faith.https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1663640/news/
The four bullets feel fated, like no matter what David did, tragedy waited. It shows how fear amplifies everyday tensions into deadly rifts. Some see it as an anti-war message, where rash choices in crisis lead to needless loss. The creatures are scary, but the true terror is watching good people crumble.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TEdMfHw6jY
Sources
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S05dXXZQJLY
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1663640/news/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mist_(film)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TEdMfHw6jY
