It’s a hot, lazy day, perfect for a cookout, until you see those strange dark clouds. Suddenly a violent storm sweeps across the lake and ends as abruptly and unexpectedly as it had begun. Then comes the mist…creeping slowly, inexorably into town, where it settles and waits, trapping you in the supermarket with dozens of others, cut off from your families and the world. The mist is alive, seething with unearthly sounds and movements. What unleashed this terror? Was it the Arrowhead Project—the top secret government operation that everyone has noticed but no one quite understands? And what happens when the provisions have run out and you’re forced to make your escape, edging blindly through the dim light?
Dark bleatings everybody! The Mist has been my favourite Stephen King story since the first time I read it, in my teens. The apocalypse is my favourite, and this particular brand of it turned out to be right up my street. I’ve read and watched a lot of end of world stories, but I think there’s something special about this one.
The main setting – a store full of survivors – is perfect apocalypse fodder. It’s the kind of scenario you find in zombie fiction, and one I love. I think all horror fans have daydreamed at some point or another about where they’d hold up (hole up? What IS the correct phrase?!), and how they’d gather resources. The supermarket becomes more claustrophobic with each turn of the page, the inhabitants veering closer to panic with every new thing they learn.
The mist itself is one of the most wonderful framing devices for a horror story. Like in a zombie narrative, it’s not safe to go outside, but this thick, weird mist has the added caveat that you can’t even see what’s out there. And what’s out there is… well… not of this world. There are other worlds than these.
In terms of the movie, I think Frank Darabont did an excellent job of putting this story onscreen. What they lacked in CGI budget, they made up for with the script and the cast – holy crap, what a cast. The story itself is pretty faithful, but Darabont added things. Where King makes us ask “what if”, Darabont went one further and showed us exactly what happens if (insert scenario ABC). I also think that Darabont really made the most of the characters too. The movie version of Amanda has much more agency, as does Dan, who is only seen once in the book. And Mrs Carmody is given much more weight.
During the scene when a flying beastie gets inside, all hell breaks loose, but Mrs Carmody is fine. In the movie version, she’s not just fine, but “spared”. The thing lands on her and then flutters off, adding weight to a claim she made previously that the beast would take one sacrifice and then leave them alone (someone had already been killed before it landed on her).
I could talk forever and ever about The Mist (and in fact, I did once with the fabulous Erik Smith – you can view that conversation HERE if you like). It’s a book (and film) that I can’t recommend enough, and I think about it all the time. It’s very likely one of the first apocalyptic tales I ever read, and probably why I love the subgenre so intensely.
If you’d like to get your own copy (if you want it as a standalone – it’s included in Skeleton Crew) or check out the author (lol as if you need help finding Stephen King), the links you need are below:
Happy Goat Horror 
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