FAQ for
The Mist (2007) More at IMDbPro »

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags are used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for The Mist can be found here.

The Mist is a 1980 short story by American horror writer Stephen King, featured in the King collection Skeleton Crew (1985). The story was adapted for the movie by director and producer Frank Darabont.

The Arrowhead Project is a top secret military experiment taking place in the military base up in the mountains. The experiment's purpose: finding universes other than our own. The three soldiers who come to the supermarket in hopes of a little R&R are stationed there. They end up trapped in the supermarket along with the rest of the survivors. When two of them commit suicide in order to hide the truth, we're led to believe that the Arrowhead Project is the source of the disaster and that the freakish thunderstorm is the result of an experiment gone wrong.

We don't see what happens to them. They walk out into the mist, along with the Biker (Brian Libby) who tied the rope to his waist and went out with them to get the shotgun. All the focus is on the inside of the store, feeding the rope through the door. The biker gets killed moments later, which leads us to believe that whatever got him also killed Brent Norton (Andre Braugher) and the others. Later, when some of the characters are discussing escaping, they refer to 'ending up like Norton and his group'. So the people in the film believe he was killed. The possibility that Norton may have survived is suggested when the woman who left the store after the initial outbreak to go to her children is seen in the military convoy with her kids at the very end of the film. If she survived, there's a chance Norton might have survived as well.

No, that was the Military Police officer who was seen coming into the grocery store to tell Private Jessup (Sam Witwer) and the two other soldiers that all leaves were canceled. He mentions that he is going to check the pharmacy and tells the soldiers to meet him at his jeep. He leaves, then moments later the mist clouds the town.

The source of the mist and the creatures coming from it remains ambiguous in the movie. Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden) believes it to be a punishment from God, while the majority of the group initially thinks that there is a simple and logical explanation for it. When the large insect lands on Mrs Carmody's abdomen and flies away without stinging her, she believes she has stood the test of God's Judgment. However, it could simply be the same principle as with a wasp -- she stood completely still and did not anger it, so the insect did not feel the need to sting her. A second possibility is that the insect landed on her clothing and did not sense her living flesh. A third possibility is that the insect simply did not like her smell. Who knows what motivates giant insects, especially supernatural ones.

The book's ending is much more ambiguous than the movie. In the story, only four people make it out to the car alive: David, Billy, Amanda Dumfries, and Irene Reppler. After leaving the supermarket, David attempts to return home but large trees have blocked the driveway. David convinces himself that if his wife were quick enough, she could have secured herself in the house, but her fate is ultimately unknown. After driving a while, Irene recommends David try the radio. After stopping at an abandoned motel for the night, David continues listening to a portable radio and thinks he hears a single word on one station, which he knows broadcasts out of Hartford. He estimates how much gas he has left with plans on making it to Hartford, but also states the danger of being outside the car to siphon fuel, and does not rule out how the movie ended as an option. (In the story, the gun only had three bullets remaining.) The novel closes and is revealed to be David's written recollection of the events in the grocery store, which he left in the hotel.

"The Host of Seraphim" by Dead Can Dance.

A complex and intriguing tale that's more about humanity than a bunch of monsters. -- David Levin, Reel.com

One of the scariest King films since Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. -- Tash Robinson, The Onion's A.V. Club

Good and creepy, The Mist comes from a Stephen King novella and is more the shape, size and quality of the recent 1408, likewise taken from a King story, than anything in the persistently fashionable charnel house inhabited by the "Saw" and "Hostel" franchises. -- Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

If you want an explanation for the insect monsters (and this is not really giving anything away), there is speculation that they arrived through a rift in the space-time continuum. Rifts in s-t continuums are one of the handiest inventions of science fiction. -- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Screw-loose doomsday thriller works better as a gross-out B-movie than as a psychological portrait of mankind under siege, marred by one-note characterizations and a tone that veers wildly between snarky and hysterical. -- Justin Chang, Variety

A MASTERPIECE! One of the most shocking movie endings EVER! -- Pete Hammond, Maxim

A wickedly entertaining thrill ride! -- Richard Roeper, Ebert and Roeper

The Mist is not only one of the best movies of 2007, it's one of the best horror movies ever made. Period. --Maryann Johanson, The Flick Filosopher