Stephen King's The Mist

"There's something in the mist!" Writer/director Frank Darabont returns once more to his favorite inspiration wellspring to adapt the Stephen King novella about a small town engulfed by a mysterious cloud. This unnatural fog creeps into a small Maine town, not on cat feet but on the monstrous claws and spiky tentacles of creatures straight out of an H.P. Lovecraft bestiary. It's classic King territory, the isolated group beset by forces beyond their comprehension, and their common cause assaulted by fear, doubt, distrust and the religious hysteria of a sanctimonious Bible-thumper (a perfectly cast Marcia Gay Harden) who recruits a cult of rabid true-believers ready to blame the entire nightmare on the sins of anyone who disagrees with her "End of Days" apocalyptic rantings. Darabont is out to make an old-fashioned monster movie on a budget. He's no master of tension or action but he is good with actors, and his down-and-dirty handheld shooting style is better suited to group drama than creature attacks. Thomas Jane toplines the cast as a dad protecting his son while trying to unify the survivors, who include Laurie Holden, Andre Braugher, Toby Jones, William Sadler and Jeffrey DeMunn.

Darabont's commentary tracks (joined in spots by co-producer Denise Huth) is fairly conventional but does offer insight to his inexpensive solutions to budget challenges. Also includes eight deleted scenes with optional commentary and a featurette on movie poster artist Drew Struzan (whose work is featured in the film). The "Two Disc Collector's Edition" features an alternate version of the film. It's the same cut digitally turned to black and white, which Darabont claims is his preferred version and original vision. The effect isn't so striking until the mist moves in, which looks more ominous in the high contrast monochrome tweaking. If you're interested in the nuts and bolts of making the film, which was shot quick and cheap by Hollywood standards, go straight to the meaty featurettes on the second disc. After the 37-minute overview "When Darkness Came: The Making of The Mist," check out "Taming the Beast: Shooting Scene 35," the portrait of a big, busy special effects scene that is reinvented on the spot when a central effect is removed. For the monster effects, see "Monsters Among Us: A Look at the Creature Effects" (on the physical effects and creature design) and "The Horror of It All: The Visual Effects of the Mist" (on the computer effects).