Wednesday, November 07, 2007

A New Stephen King Movie

As I said last Tuesday in my Heads or Tails post, Stephen King is one of my favorite authors. So, of course I'm excited to hear that a new movie, The Mist by Stephen King is coming out on November 21. I think that misty looking picture I used for that Stephen King post would have been totally appropriate for this one.

The movie is about a dad, David Drayton, and his young son Billy, who are trapped by an otherworldly mist in a local grocery store, along with a group of other people. Soon, they realize that there are creatures lurking in the mist, and the only way to survive is for everyone to pull together. As fear and panic begin to take over, people get more desperate, and reason crumbles. David soon begins to wonder what is scarier - the monsters outside the windows or the people he is trapped inside with.

Once again, Stephen King takes something otherworldly and impossible (is it really?) and makes it seem real. I think the reason is that he takes human nature and human reactions and plays them out against the most extreme conditions. The part that is real? Those human interactions. That's the part that really affects me, like in The Long Walk, The Stand, and Cell. I catch myself thinking, "This could really happen. What would I do if it happened to me?" It was the first half of The Stand that affected me mostly, while everyone was dying from the super flu, or doing their best to survive. That really could happen, so easily. And then, of course, there's the confrontation between good and evil.

I really need to read a Stephen King book, or better yet, see a Stephen King movie! The Mist is directed by Frank Darabont, who also directed Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. I loved both of those movies. Check out the official The Mist website. Watch the trailers, read some cast bios - be sure to read director Frank Darabont's - and watch some of the extra videos, too.