The Big Picture
- Stephen King's 1980 novella The Mist differs considerably from the ending of Frank Darabont's 2007 movie adaptation.
- The Mist novella ends on a more hopeful, open-ended note, with the protagonist picking up a radio signal, whereas Darabont's adaptation ending is much bleaker.
- King prefers Frank Darabont's film ending, praising its anti-Hollywood, nihilistic vibe.
It doesn't matter what anyone says, Stephen King is one of our greatest living authors. In a world where some may see him as overrated and others may take him for granted, the record has to be set straight. King is the King. That doesn't take away from the fact that he's a total stickler for adaptations of his books! He has always encouraged filmmakers to bring his works to life, but that doesn't spare them from being criticized if he sees fit. Everyone knows how he feels about The Shining, but don't forget about disasters like The Dark Tower. You can't disrespect the king.
However, if you successfully adapt a Stephen King book, the man himself will sing your praises. Not only that, but if you make a change to one of his stories that makes the story even better, he'll even come out of the woodwork and admit it! Such is the case with the 2007 cult classic, The Mist, a Frank Darabont-directed adaptation of the 1980 novella of the same name. Both the novella and the feature film are some of the more oppressive pieces of horror fiction that you can still digest. Where they differ is in their endings. The book's final moments land with a somewhat optimistic ambiguity, an easy pill to swallow after 100 some-odd pages of oppression. If you really want to test your tolerance for the bleak, then fire up Darabont's film. You'll be hard-pressed to find a movie that could ruin your day harder than this. Depending on the way you like your macabre dished up, there's a Mist ending out there for you.
The Mist
RHorror Sci-FiThrillerA freak storm unleashes a species of bloodthirsty creatures on a small town, where a small band of citizens hole up in a supermarket and fight for their lives.
- Release Date
- November 21, 2007
- Director
- Frank Darabont
- Cast
- Thomas Jane , Marcia Gay Harden , Laurie Holden , Andre Braugher
- Runtime
- 126 minutes
'The Mist' Is One of Stephen King's Best and Darkest Horror Tales
King has written a pretty hefty stack of works in his half-a-century-spanning career. He has loads of killer creations to his name, ranging from The Stand and Salem's Lot to underrated gems like Dolores Claiborne. Even to this day, King has proven that he's still got it with books like Billy Summers and 11/22/63. He is most often acclaimed for his doorstopper-sized novels, but his short stories and novellas are often overlooked when discussing his greatest efforts. You can't forget "The Jaunt" or Apt Pupil, but unfortunately, most people would rather bring up Pennywise the Dancing Clown for the umpteenth time. In reality, King has a bibliography that feels like it will never run dry of great scares.
The Stephen King Scene That Was So Brutal, Actors Turned Down the Movie
Stephen King's scene in the book sent directors and actors running.The Mist lands somewhere in the middle of King's bibliography. Not in a release date sense, but more in its popularity. Devoted fans know it well, but it is still yet to catapult to the heights of something like Carrie. If you're still yet to encounter King's mistiest tale yet, drop everything you're doing and find yourself a copy. This story follows the citizens of a small Maine town as they take shelter in a supermarket after a strange, thick mist envelops the surrounding area. Inside the mist are unfathomable, Lovecraftian creatures from another dimension. However, inside the supermarket, a fire and brimstone-fearing crowd breaks out, claiming that this is the beginning of the end times. The Mist isn't just a fantastic monster story, it's a cautionary tale that warns readers of the dangers of mob mentality. And in only about 100 pages (depending on the edition that you pick up)!
The Movie Version of 'The Mist' Has a Much Darker Ending Than the Novella
If you haven't read or seen The Mist yet, don't go into either version knowing how they wrap up. Spoilers are always a bummer, but both iterations of the story hinge entirely on how our protagonists will get out of this nightmarish situation. King's novella, in particular, wraps up with our lead, David Drayton, his son, and a few others escaping from the supermarket and taking off in a car. They drive throughout more of New England, where the mist continues to stretch indefinitely. After stopping for the night, Drayton picks up a radio signal of somebody saying "Hartford," a moment that makes him and the reader hang onto the idea that all hope isn't lost.
King's novella ends on a pretty open-ended note, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The book takes on a depressing and nihilistic tone for a large majority of its narrative, so wrapping up with a shred of hope is more than welcome. It also leaves the door open for a sequel, which would be more than welcome. Please, Mr. King, take us back to The Mist!
Apparently, super fan and chief King adapter, Frank Darabont, didn't feel that the novella's ending was right for his movie. In The Mist's commentary track, Darabont explained, "Those who know the novella, know that the story ends with them driving off into the mist and hoping that they get somewhere safe, which, for the purposes of a film, always struck me as so open-ended, that it would really not satisfy anybody in the audience."
Instead, Darabont had Drayton (Thomas Jane) and the gang drive away from the supermarket. They go on as long as they can until their car runs out of gas. Everyone in the vehicle understands that this is the end, and without saying anything, they clearly agree that their collective road ends here. Drayton shoots everybody in the car (including his son — sheesh!), only to run out of bullets when he is the last one left. He steps out of the car and into the mist, only for the weather to finally clear and reveal a crew of Army soldiers. Drayton cracks under the realization that they would have saved him and his friends if they waited just a minute longer. It's one of the harshest, saddest, most depressing endings to any movie ever made, and is sure to ruin your day.
Why Stephen King Likes Frank Darabont's Ending of 'The Mist' More Than His Own
Apparently, Stephen King prefers this ending to his own, and not for a bad reason either. In a 2007 interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, King praised the film's final moments by saying:
"When Frank said that he wanted to do the ending that he was going to do, I was totally down with that. I thought that was terrific. And it was so anti-Hollywood — anti-everything, really! It was nihilistic. I liked that. So I said you go ahead and do it. The critics and fans both kind of excoriated him for that. And now, when you read retrospective pieces about The Mist, people are, 'Wow, that’s one of the great ones.' They like it. They just had to get used to it."
Darabont certainly got the ending that he wanted. He didn't aim simply for a dark ending. This movie goes out with a bang — a whole clip of them! But which of The Mist's endings works better? Well, it entirely depends on your appetite. Both Mist narratives line up almost identically until the end. So, if you're worn out after enduring Drayton's hellish time at the supermarket, then you will probably take the novella's final pages with open arms. If you're a true masochist though, and you like your horror to last all the way until the credits roll, then the movie is absolutely going to be better suited to your tastes. In the end, both iterations close out their stories well, so you can't go entirely wrong... the film will just ruin your day.
It takes a true master to outdo a pro like Stephen King, and that, Frank Darabont is. The Mist is a truly great horror story that takes readers and viewers into the most nihilistic and cosmic horror-leaning corner of the famed author's bibliography and cannot be missed by genre fans.
The Mist is available to stream on Starz in the U.S.
