I caught this movie on scyfy one night, or at least the last three quarters of it. On another night I caught the beginning up to the halfway point. I was very impressed. It seemed like something out of Weird Tales from the 30s or 40s. Alien dimensions opened up, things unlike anything in this reality coming through. Except this was modern day, and the rift between dimensions was big, maybe world swallowing huge. I tried to find it on Netflix and had no luck, so I immediately ordered the Blue Ray combo pack from Amazon. I also found out that it was based on a novella by Stephen King, so I went and bought Skeleton Crew, the book containing the novella and many short stories, for my Kindle, so I could start reading it right away.
I love this movie, and the novella was also really good. In fact, the movie and novella meshed pretty well up to the end. I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen it, but let’s just say that the ending was considered to be one of the most shocking ever. It was very different from King’s ending, more hopeless and hopeful as well, and very much less ambiguous. When King was asked about the movie ending he replied that he liked it, maybe a little better than his own. How unusual is that for a movie? The Blue Ray combo pack also came with a black and white version of the movie, which has an old horror movie kind of appeal, though I personally like the color version better. Great effects, really imaginative creatures out of a nightmare, and a really good storyline. I am very hapy with my purchase.
So, what genre was The Mist. I think most people would put it in the realm of Horror, and not be wrong. The creatures and the suspense were definitely horror, and so was the blood and gore. But is also had the feel of science fiction from an earlier age, with portals opened into other dimensions. Sort of like the old black and white Outer Limits. The creatures were other worldly, insectoids with eyes and teeth, tentacles with mouths, hard claws and spikes all over the place. The only real complaint I had as a scifi writer was that the ecology of the other dimension seemed to consist of nothing but carnivores. They could have had some herbivores, that like some of those in our world were just as dangerous as the meat eaters. If you haven’t seen this movie I highly recommend it. Get your hands on it in some form, and you will be glad you have this little gem on your collection.