No one can deny that Stephen King is one of the most prolific writers working today. He has over forty-five published novels, nine collections of short-stories, and dozens of credits for films, TV shows and TV mini-series. While the success and worth of his various film adaptations is debatable, his impact on the entertainment industry is certain. One of my favorite movies to bare Stephen King’s name is Frank Darabont’s 2007 adaptation of The Mist. The set up for the film is easy enough to follow. Thomas Jane plays David, a professional artist living with his wife Stephanie (Kelly Collins Lintz) and five-year-old son Billy. (Nathan Gamble) After a vicious storm knocks out the town’s power and knocks over several trees onto people’s cars and boat houses, David’s vacationing neighbor Brent (Andre Braugher) who is a New York attorney and has a bit of a history with David, asks David for a ride into town do buy some supplies. Before leaving, David and his wife notice a strange thick mist rolling off the nearby mountains, and on the way into town Brent, David, and his son see several emergency and military vehicles on the streets. At the local grocery store, all hell breaks loose when an air raid siren goes off and people can be seen running from the approaching wall of mist. After the mist reaches the grocery store, the ground shakes briefly, then silence. Now everyone is stranded inside the store, and almost the entire movie takes place inside this one location. A few of the workers try to go outside quickly to unplug the exhaust for the store’s generator, but the bag boy Norm (Chris Owen) gets attacked by some crazy tentacles and dragged off into the mist, and we never see what’s controlling those tentacles. This lets everyone know that there are some strange, dangerous things out in the mist.

While one would expect that all of the danger is outside the store, although the many things could very easily break through the front windows, the group of people inside the store begin to fight amongst themselves. This is where the movie gets very interesting, you know, beyond it just having a bunch of slime beasties trying to eat people. The major division starts with old Brent, who has convinced himself and a few other people that there are no creatures in the mist. He and some of his supporters of the no monster theory leave early on. While all this is going on, an odd and some what annoying woman named Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden) has been trying to convince everyone that this event is actually the biblical apocalypse and is trying to save the souls of as many people in the store as possible. Now, in theory, this doesn’t seem like a very destructive idea, but Mrs. Carmony goes pretty Old Testament with this plan and starts convincing most of the people in the store that she knows everything about what’s going on. So, we have giant bugs and pterodactyls and tentacles outside and a religious zealot directing a group of scared and desperate people inside. In the middle of all this sits David and his son, just trying to find a way out. The monster effects here are well done considering the relatively low budget the film had (around $18 million) but are still obviously computer generated. The monsters look much better when they are obscured inside the mist. Now, many people I know say that this movie was ruined for them due to the ending, and I’m not going to spoil the final scene, but it has a polarizing effect on audiences. At the very least, I will say that this is not a “feel good” ending, but keep in mind that this is a horror story, so deal with it.

Environmentalists will tell you that cars are evil. Now, almost all motor vehicles are inanimate objects, incapable of making any kind of moral or ethical decisions of their own, but when they do, cars usually are evil. Christine comes to us from the mind of Stephen King, which makes sense as the story is basically the same one as Carrie, but with a little Maximum Overdrive flare. The film is directed by John Carpenter, and stars a lovely 1958 Plymouth Fury as the titular character.* It is never made clear in the movie why the car is magically alive and has such a bad temper, but Christine’s murderous rampage apparently began as soon as she rolled of the production line, smashing one man’s hand with her hood, then killing another factory worker in her front seat. After this opening scene, the film jumps to 1978 in some random, all-american neighborhood where Arnie (Keith Gordon) and Dennis (John Stockwell) are on their way to school. The two are good friends in spite of Dennis being a popular and normal looking football player and Arnie being a socially awkward and generally greasy guy with huge glasses. In general Stephen King fashion, almost every other character introduced into the story aside from Arnie and Dennis is a shallow and hateful prick, particularly Buddy, (William Ostrander) leader of the student thugs and professional John Travolta lookalike. He and his gang corner Arnie in the shop classroom when Dennis rushes in to save his little pal. Buddy ends up pulling a knife on them, but is stopped by the principal and expelled from school.

Because of he constant abuse he feels he takes form the student body and his own family, Arnie starts to sink into a deep depression, until he finds a beat-up Plymouth Fury for sale outside someone’s house. Arnie pays $250 for the junker that the scraggly old geezer selling it calls Christine. As Arnie spends time fixing up the old girl, he starts to change. He constantly refers to the car by her name and talks to it as if it were alive, feeling as though he and the car have some kind of connection. Strangely enough, the car actually returns this affection by murdering the bullies that have been tormenting Arnie, as well as anyone else that Christine perceives as a threat to her and Arnie’s relationship. The movie really focuses in on the rise and fall of Arnie due to his demon-car. He starts of meek and helpless, then, after getting his sweet ride he starts sanding up for what he wants. He even manages gets himself a hot girlfriend named Leigh (Alexadra Paul). But all this confidence he gets soon warps into a crazy power trip when he realizes that Christine will do anything for him, and he develops and deep and unhealthy love for his monster machine, forsaking his former friends and family in the process. The film does have some great and very believable practical effects, even for being over two decades old.  To his credit, John Carpenter managed to infuse a lot of personality and menace, through a creative use of music and strategic body damage, into a villain that is otherwise incapable of delivering lines or using facial expressions.

*During the films production, several 1958 Plymouth Furies (as well as Belvedere and Savoy models “dressed” to look like Furies) were used for various shots.  Four of the cars used during the shoot are still around today in the hands of private owners, one of which I got to meet “in person” at Screamfest in Orlando.