Point by Point: The Mist 8/10

A strange fog rolls into town, trapping a group of eclectic characters that are sure to have all sorts of interesting conflicts. Luckily for them, The Punisher is trapped with them so there's at least SOMEONE that knows how to handle the tentacly monsters lurking in . . . The Mist!!!

The Good: A good story told well. The intensity never dies, with the last 30 minutes turning it up to 11. The story brings up some interesting ideas about what makes a true monster.
The Bad: Marcia Gay Harden as a crazy über-Christian rubbed me the wrong way. This is of course the point, but she's still grating. The story can get a bit dialog-heavy and is admittedly a cookie-cutter horror movie in many ways. Nothing ever drops below the "competent" line, however.
The Ugly: The feeling you get in your stomach as you watch the credits roll. Wishing to unsee things never really works.

Points Pondered

• If you have all your monsters shrouded in mist, you can have fairly cheap special effects while still being highly creepy.


• Cheap movie trick #2: Shoot all your action in one main set that you have complete control of in re: lights and sound. Location shooting equals time and money spent.


• NEVER trust secret Army projects. Although the idea that they could keep any of it a secret for very long while employing local soldiers as guards seems unlikely.


• [AMF: after adopting the moniker "heartstricken.moose", from a line in Moby Dick, I realized that I had no real idea what a heartstricken moose would sound like. I think Thomas Jane has given me my answer. He nails it.]