"Something in the mist's got John Lee!" cries an old-timer as he staggers into the Food Store. This is not what the folks inside want to hear. They just want to grab some supplies and head on home.
 
Everyone’s got the jitters because an overnight storm has knocked out the electricity and a weird pea-souper is rolling in from the hills and is about to engulf the town. Beginning with John Lee…

Leading the call for calm is pragmatic artist David Drayton (Jane). He’s all for sitting tight until help arrives - especially after seeing what just happened to Norm the bagging boy out in the loading bay.

Despite hick mechanic Jim (William Sadler) and braver-than-he-looks shop assistant Ollie (Toby Jones) confirming Norm’s grisly demise, David’s prickly neighbour Norton (Braugher) is convinced it’s a wind-up.

But people who venture into the murk don’t come back. Or if they do, it’s not in the same state as they left.

The tense situation isn’t helped by religious nut Mrs Carmody (the terrific Harden) putting the fear of God into everyone. But David, more concerned about the best course of action, tells his young son to ignore the crazy lady.

When night falls, however, it appears that she may have a point…

Darabont’s previous films (Shawshank, The Green Mile, The Majestic) are about hope and keeping faith in human nature. The Mist tears that worldview to shreds.

As Laurie Holden’s naïve schoolteacher quickly learns, fear brings out the worst in people, as exemplified by cowardly Jim and the irredeemable Mrs Carmody, an evangelist from Hell who gradually converts her flock into a blood-crazed lynch mob.

It certainly delivers in the jumps and jolts department, hand-held camerawork adding to the jittery atmosphere.

And Darabont is to be applauded for having the guts to keep it grim to the bitter end. The Mist is guaranteed to leave you under a cloud.

Elliott Noble