The Mist Analysis & Recap: Noir 36

Can you imagine having a crush on someone all

throughout high school and you think there's

a chance that the feeling could be mutual? You

make eyes at them. They make eyes at you. You

flirt a little bit. But the elephant in the room

is that you both know that they're waiting on

you to make the first move and you don't for

some reason. Maybe you're scared that they don't

actually like you back. Maybe you're scared that.

Things won't work out and the friendship will

be ruined or your relationship won't be the same.

So you're just left with this big ass what if.

But then fate smiles upon you because like five

years later, you're given another opportunity.

The two of you find yourselves all alone in a

back room with the lights low and you start feeling

a little bit tingly. And this time that person

takes the ball out of your hands and they make

a move. They kiss you. Wow. Incredible. You have

been fantasizing about feeling their lips on

yours for damn near a decade. And now it's finally

happened. You're thinking about your future together,

what your lives could look like. But there's

one tiny little problem. Scientists at your local

military base have been secretly experimenting

with interdimensional doorways and have let otherworldly

creatures into your town and you are under siege

and your lover gets stung in the neck by some

fucked up wasp and dies. Holy shit, that sucks.

I'm Brandon O. This is Terrorific and we're chopping

up 2007's The Mist. Welcome back to the place

where it's perpetually spooky season. This episode

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We have now entered the back half of season four.

And if this is your first time listening, this

season is all about breaking down the horror

film adaptations of the works of Stephen King.

Be sure you're following at Terrorific Podcast

on IG because every Thursday leading up to a

new episode, I post a clue to what movie that

episode will cover, and if you guess correctly,

I will shout you out in that episode. This week's

clue was a photo of the open chamber of a revolver

with a few bullets left, a reference to The Mist's

infamous ending. It was also designed to misdirect

and apparently it worked pretty well because

literally everyone who guessed, guessed Silver

Bullet. So for the first time this season, we

don't have anyone who guessed correctly. So I

guess we'll just dive right into the movie. The

Mist was adapted from Stephen King's 1980 novella

of the same name. His inspiration to write the

story came from a trip that he took with his

son to their local supermarket the day after

a big thunderstorm. And while looking for hot

dog buns, Stephen King, the OG glizzy gladiator,

he imagined a big prehistoric flying reptile

flapping around in the store and giant insects

converging on the building. The film was produced,

written, and directed by Frank Darabunt. He also

wrote 1987's A Nightmare on Elm Street 3, Dream

Warriors, 1988's The Blob, and 1989's The Fly

2, as well as developing and producing the first

season of The Walking Dead. His relationship

with Stephen King began at the age of 20 in the

early 80s when the first film he wrote and directed

was a short adapted from King's story, The Woman

in the Room. This film was one of the first dollar

babies. which was an arrangement where Stephen

King would grant permission to students and aspiring

filmmakers to adapt one of his short stories

for only one dollar. The short made the semifinalist

list for Oscars consideration in 1983 and this

resulted in King granting Darabont the handshake

deal rights to another one of his novellas, Rita

Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. Darabont would

go on to write and direct the Shawshank Redemption

the 1994 feature -length adaptation which landed

seven Academy Award nominations. But unfortunately,

it lost every single category it was nominated

for because there was a certain movie that year

whose main character was a dude in love with

a woman who doesn't love him back until she gets

AIDS that dominated the awards circuit. Darabont

also wrote, directed, and produced the 1999 film

adaptation of The Green Mile, which nabbed four

Oscar nods. And he held the rights to two other

Stephen King stories that eventually were produced

by other people, The Long Walk and The Monkey.

Personally, I love The Monkey. That was my most

enjoyable, fun film of 2025. And on the flip

side of things, I could not stand The Long Walk.

So maybe if Derrick Bunt had been at the helm

of that, I would have liked it more. But The

Long Walk, I just felt like it was a Trojan horse,

bro. I haven't read the story. I hadn't seen

any trailers. So I went in there with no expectations

other than knowing that Stephen King, you know,

was based on his work. So I thought there was

going to be more horror elements and don't get

me wrong, a totalitarian dystopian state that's

forcing kids to walk 300 miles or whatever the

fuck. And if they stop, they get shot. Yeah,

that's some scary shit. But that aspect almost

seemed secondary to me. From my perspective,

the primary storyline was like the two main dudes

just making eyes at each other, flirting and

falling in love. That's cool, but I think that

order should have been switched. Like, give me

more of the dystopian shit and y 'all can flirt

in the background. But I digress. The Mist was

filmed in Shreveport, Louisiana on a budget of

about $18 million and grossed about $57 million

worldwide. An unnamed studio initially offered

a $40 million budget in exchange for changing

the film's overwhelmingly bleak ending. Holy

shit, that ending. But Darabont refused and stayed

true to his creative vision. And I can only imagine

what kind of film we would have gotten with that

full budget, because my biggest knock on this

film is the poor CGI quality. And dog, like $22

million difference. That's huge. Like you could

have had some crazy effects, maybe afforded more

practical effects. Even with the poor effects

I still think this is a very good movie but had

that quality been better this could have been

like a legendary joint. A new adaptation of The

Mist is in the works for Warner Brothers with

Mike Flanagan at the helm. Flanagan confirmed

his take will be a completely different direction

rather than a remake of the 2007 version. The

film holds an average rating of 3 .4 on Letterboxd

and I rated it a 3 .5 myself. As I said, the

CGI was ass. It aged like fucking milk, which

detracted from the overall quality of the film

and was somewhat distracting at parts. But this

is a good ass movie. So let's discuss The Mist.

The film is set in Bridgeton, Maine. It opens

with a man painting in his studio during a thunderstorm

outside. Hanging on the Wall is a finished painting

of the Thing movie poster, and he's currently

working on his next project. It's a cowboy looking

fella with the tower in the background. And as

Stephen King fans know, his magnum opus is the

Dark Tower series. So this is a little Easter

egg or nod to Roland, the protagonist from that

story. The storm worsens, so this man, his wife,

and their son head down into the basement for

shelter, which is a really good decision because

a tree comes crashing through the window in the

studio, which unfortunately destroys that painting

of Roland. But this is the Drayton family, consisting

of dad, David, mom, Stephanie, and son, Billy.

The next morning they assess the damage. Trees

are all fucked up. There's no power. Stephanie

comments that the food is going to go bad so

David plans to hit the grocery store to stock

up. Stephanie then notices a strange mist rolling

in from the mountains across the lake but they

don't think much of it at the time. Their neighbor,

Norton, had a large dead tree on his property

that David had been trying to get him to cut

down for years. Before it blew over and damaged

his property, well, it finally did blow over

during this storm and destroy the Drayton's boathouse.

So David heads over to have a chat with him to

get his insurance information. But they've apparently

had some contentious property disputes in the

past. Lawsuits were involved, so things are a

little bit awkward when they communicate with

one another. And whoops, I just realized I didn't

mention the cast, which includes Thomas Jane

as David, Marsha Gay Harden as Mrs. Carmody,

Lori Holden as Amanda, Andre Brower as Norton,

and Toby Jones as Ollie. So as David and Norton

are having their conversation, we see that a

tree has fallen on Norton's car, so he reluctantly

asks David if he can join him when he heads into

town for supplies. So they roll out along with

Billy. On the way, they pass a military convoy

from the local base and Norton mentions something

called the Arrowhead Project. Rumors swirl around

what the project actually is, with some conspiracy

theories saying there's some alien shit going

on, but David and Norton laugh it off as nonsense.

As they arrive at the store, David notices he

has no cell signal and the payphones aren't working

either, which seems hella ominous. A few military

dudes walk in and they are about to go on leave.

So they're just here to get a few things before

their bus to wherever leaves. But a military

policeman comes in shortly afterwards saying

that all leave is canceled and they need to report

back to base immediately. And then the emergency

sirens begin to blare as a dude with a bloody

nose and shirt, Dan, comes running in from the

parking lot shouting that something in the mist

snatched up another dude and that he could hear

him screaming. So let me pause there for a second

so I can ask you, what would you do in this situation?

Are you a panicky person? How much credence are

you putting into a random person coming in screaming

about something in the mist, snatching his friend

up and he could hear him screaming? Me personally,

I think I'm putting a lot of credence into that.

You know, when people start running, I'm not

asking questions. I'm just running too. We can

ask questions while we run. So if this dude is

running into the store, that tells me I have

no business running out of it. Okay. But not

everyone shares that same mindset because Dan

warns everyone to stay inside. But one brave

soul, or you could probably substitute brave

with another word, is like, fuck that and makes

a break for his car. The mist comes rolling in

right as he reaches his door handle and he's

enveloped. Then he also begins to scream. So

everyone else is like, oh, shit. All right. I

guess Dan wasn't capping. So they shut the doors

to the grocery store as the mist surrounds the

building before an earthquake seemingly hits

and rattles everything and everyone. Mrs. Carmody,

who is the local religious zealot, starts prattling

on about how the mist is death and marks the

end of days. one woman is like hey guys like

i can't stay here because i need to get home

to my kids everyone else is like um no that's

a dumb ass idea you can't go out there like didn't

you just hear that dude screaming like shit's

crazy she's like no really you guys don't understand

i left my eight -year -old daughter in charge

of her little brother and sometimes she forgets

she's supposed to be watching him bruh If you

already know this, if your child has already

exhibited a penchant for forgetting that she's

supposed to be watching her younger brother,

why would you then leave them? It makes absolutely

no sense. David brought Billy to the store. Why

could you not bring your kids to the store? But

whatever. She then has the audacity to ask someone

to help her get home. What? Nah, nah, son. Nah,

son. Like, love thy neighbor and all that shit

is great. But when your neighbor is out here

doing dumb shit and ask you to help them fix

their dumb shit. Nah, son, you got yourself into

this situation. You can get yourself out, my

boy. I'm sorry, it is not my job to help you

rectify your questionable parenting decisions.

And then when no one volunteers, she has the

further audacity to tell them she hopes they

all rot in hell before stepping outside into

the mist. But we don't hear her scream, so her

fate is unknown. However, Billy is absolutely

cracking up. This dude is crying and sucking

his thumb for the first time since he was two

years old and he looks like he's about eight

now. But while he's crumbling, his daddy is exchanging

flirty looks with Amanda, the hot new teacher

in town. Like, what are you doing, bro? Do you

not understand what's going on right now? Your

son is in shambles. You're trapped in a grocery

store. Where's your wife, by the way? Can't contact

her, but here you are making flirty eyes at this

new blonde in town. Mance is out here surrounded

by cans of creamed corn while creaming his pants.

Absolutely unhinged behavior. And I understand

he probably needs to keep a calm demeanor or

present one outwardly in order to keep Billy

from wiling out more than he already is. But

there is a fine line between appearing to be

calm and trying to have a meet cute. But David

wants Billy to get a little cozier. So he asks

Ollie, who is the assistant store manager, are

there any blankets? And he's like, no, but there

are some furniture pads out at the loading dock

that you can use. So David heads back there and

notices that the generator is working too hard.

It's being overloaded or it's not being able

to vent properly. There's like smoke coming out

of it. It's kind of rattling, you know, pretty

loudly. So he shuts it down, which also shuts

down the surrounding lights. So now in the dark,

the gate begins to groan and creak as something

outside presses against it. David freaks out

and runs back to the main area of the store to

tell folks and they basically say he was just

being a pusio afraid of the dark. David and like

four other dudes go back to check things out.

They turn the generator back on and not only

does it start smoking again, but it also smells

like ass. They deduce that something is clogging

the exhaust from the outside. Now, for me personally,

if I was trapped somewhere because there was

some fucked up spooky ass shit going on around

me outside, the last thing I would be concerned

about is how manly I'm coming across because

trying to prove my manhood is only going to result

in me being killed. However, these dudes do not

share that same mindset because the young guy

in the group, Norm, volunteers to go outside

to fix the issue if they can raise the door enough

for him to slip under and this kicks off a dick

measuring contest when the other dudes start

volunteering to do it and norm's like hey no

it was my idea i want to do it bro what the fuck

If that's me, by all means, if you want to volunteer

and take this shit off of my plate, be my guest.

If you want to go out into this mysterious mist

where we've already heard one person screaming

and we were told about a second person screaming,

be my guest. And David is like, um, are you guys

being this dumb on purpose? This is no ordinary

mist and no one should go out there because it

can let whatever is out there. in here and the

older guy jim pipes up with one i don't think

you really heard spooky shit bro and two just

because you're a big shot movie poster artist

doesn't mean you're any better than us small

town folks so shut the fuck up and let's raise

this door And David's like, Jim, I don't think

I'm better than you, but you're saying some real

dumb shit right now. And I really don't think

you should try to go outside. And he keeps protesting,

but Jim threatens to knock his teeth out with

his insecure ass. So David tries to tell Norm

one last time that he's making a mistake and

to not go out. And Norm literally calls him a

pussy. So they raise the gate a little and almost

immediately. A tentacle wraps around Norm's leg

and this is not an ordinary tentacle. It has

like a mouth and spikes and some shit on it and

other tentacles come through and they start tearing

Norm's ass up, my boy. David and Ollie try to

grab onto him and try to pull him free, but Norm

is just getting gashed and Jim is standing there

doing absolutely nothing after talking all that

cash shit. What happened to knocking people's

teeth out, bro? I mean, these tentacles have

teeth. Knock them shits out. But nah, he's just

being a pusio. More tentacles come under the

door, so they have no choice but to restart the

generator and shut it. And they do as Norm is

dragged under and off into the mist. Now shit

is awkward as hell. Jim is like, hey, David,

I'm sorry about the kid. How was I supposed to

know what you meant? All you said was you heard

something. You should have described it better.

What the fuck did you expect him to say? Like,

hey, guys, I'm pretty sure there's some giant

tentacled creature outside. That's what I heard

pressing against the door. So we shouldn't open

it. Yeah, let's be that specific next time. But

David punches him a few times, which is well

-deserved. And he also says that he thinks they

shouldn't tell anyone else about what happened.

Not yet, at least because he wants to avoid a

panic. Ollie thinks they should tell people so

they don't go outside, but David doesn't think

they have a way to even convince anyone that

what happened really happened. David, Ollie,

Jim, and the other guy in the group, Myron, decide

to tell Norton first because as a high -powered

city attorney and maybe even a future judge,

they figure his word would hold more weight with

the masses. But surprise surprise, he doesn't

believe them. He thinks it's a prank orchestrated

by David as revenge for the lawsuit Norton filed

against him last year. But this ain't that and

the group actually does have tangible evidence

of what transpired because before the tentacles

could fully retreat underneath the gate, David

grabbed a fire axe and chopped one of the tips

off. chopping tips, alien circumcision. Anyway,

Norton remains dismissive and he accuses Jim

of not liking quote unquote out of towners. And

the way he says this definitely sounded like

a euphemism for black people. I only counted

two black people in this entire movie. One was

Norton and the second was the military police

officer. And I just looked up the demographics

for Bridgeton, Maine, and I'm seeing 94 .2 %

white, 0 .6 % black, 0 .8 % Native American,

and 0 .4 % Asian. And as of July 2025, the population

of Bridgeton, Maine was about 6 ,000 people.

So multiply that by 0 .006 and you get 36 black

people in this town so yeah i have trouble faulting

him for not wanting to go back into this dark

loading dock area with a group of people that

he doesn't really know and one of whom he's already

had a contentious relationship with and i'm not

saying maine has a bunch of people running around

in pointy hats but it doesn't hurt to be cautious

that's all i'm saying Anyway, Mrs. Carmody is

preying on the toilet, which is weird as fuck

and disgusting. Like, what? You're on the ground

on your knees leaning onto a toilet in a public

supermarket. Wow, that really grosses me out.

But Amanda walks in because she has to use the

toilet. and she tries to be nice to mrs carmody

and say hey it's okay to be scared and you know

you can talk to me if you need someone to talk

to and carmody is basically like bitch why the

fuck do i need you to talk to when i have god

stop mocking me and mrs carmody cooks amanda

with the most absolute bonkers insult she's like

the day i need a friend like you i'll just have

a little squat and shit one out oh my god this

motherfucker is crazy but probably the overarching

theme of the mist is what happens when people

are scared what do they do how do they react

how do they interact with one another how much

Do they still respect laws and order and things

of that nature? And here is where we first begin

to see that theme play out because the store

splits into two factions. We have Team Norton,

who allegedly stand on logic and reason, a .k

.a. denial, and Team David, who are trying to

tell everyone, hey. There's some monstrous shit

out there, y 'all. Like, we need to deal with

this. And Ollie had called for everyone in the

store to gather around so David could tell them

about the tentacle thing. But people are still

unbelieving until a couple of them go to the

back and they see that shit squirming on the

ground. One dude pokes it with the rod and it

twitches a little bit before it starts to melt.

And now they've converted a couple of more believers

to their side. So they start piling up stuff

at the front of the store to guard against the

easily breakable glass. However, Carmody doesn't

fall into Norton's camp nor David's camp. She's

just preaching from somewhere in the middle.

David's group begins doing weapons checks. They

have some makeshift torches, some knives, and

Amanda has a revolver in her purse. They put

Ollie in charge of that because he was the state

shooting champ back in 94. One dude mentions

that he has a shotgun in his truck, but it's

not a good idea to risk making a run for it.

Norton decides he's going to lead his band of

deniers outside to find help. Speaking like an

attorney about all of the evidence, even though

he refused to go look at the evidence back in

the loading dock, David is like, okay, fine.

If you insist on doing dumb shit, at least tie

this rope around your waist so we know how far

you make it before you get snatched up out there.

And again, I don't think Maine is home to a bunch

of people who run around wearing white bedsheets,

but if you are part of a population that only

comprises 0 .06%, 36 of you in total, And one

of the members of the 94 .2 % delegation comes

at you with a rope in their hand. I mean, I'm

not saying he was right, but I understand. So

instead, a badass biker dude volunteers for the

rope instead. Best case scenario he figures he

can grab the shotgun from the other dude's car

and worst case scenario he'll give the other

survivors an idea of the distance between them

and whatever the fuck is in the mist using that

rope. So Norton's posse and the biker dude venture

out into the mist and things seem to be going

pretty smoothly. Until suddenly the rope starts

getting pulled rapidly through David and his

team's hands and it's like leading up into the

sky. Eventually the rope goes slack and they

drag it back and it's attached to the biker dude's

lower torso. Fuck that bro. Obviously he didn't

successfully retrieve the shotgun but he did

provide some... good information to the team

so now they know there are at least some sort

of flying things out there that are capable of

ripping a human being in half so yeah we should

probably stay inside night falls and the survivors

are trying to find different ways to relax so

sally who's one of the cashiers as well as billy's

babysitter She's back like in the locker room

for the employees. And one of the soldiers who

was on leave comes in. His name is Wayne. And

they have been kind of making eyes at each other.

And apparently Wayne totally fumbled. Sally was

like, hey, why did you never ask me out in high

school? You know, we flirted all the time and

you never did anything. And he said, well, it's

probably because I'm stupid. And she's like,

you know what? Fuck it. And she makes the move.

She kisses him and they're making out. Things

are getting hot and heavy, but she stops and

is like, wait, I don't want it to happen here

in this dirty ass locker room under these circumstances.

So Wayne's like, all right, I understand. Let

me just tuck my boner up into my waistband and

we can just have a conversation and try to ignore.

all the scary shit going on outside well in hindsight

they probably should have ditched all that romanticism

and just smashed because a swarm of big ass bugs

with big ass stingers come and land on the glass

at the front of the store they're attracted to

the flashlights and lanterns that the survivors

have And those bugs then attract some larger

pterodactyl looking ass shits that crack the

glass when they run into it trying to grab the

bugs to eat. And this fucking guy Jim runs around

turning on all the lights he possibly can while

David and Ollie are trying to turn them off.

The glass breaks and some bugs get in. Amanda

smacks one out of the air with the rake and stomps

the shit out of it. But however, Sally is not

quite as smooth with it and she takes a sting

to the neck. And as she lays on the ground, that

shit swells up like a balloon and she dies. But

one of the pterodactyl shits hops onto the back

of a dude and pulls like a ton of flesh out of

his neck. Chaos has now broken loose. The group

was soaking mops in gasoline for their makeshift

torches, so one goofy ass dude grabs one, lights

it up, and then clumsily kicks the bucket over.

And then to add to this comedy of errors, he

then slips on the spilled gas and lights himself

on fire in the process. So now he's running around

in flames and people are like, yo, what the fuck

is happening? As these big ass bugs and big ass

pterodactyl bird fucking things are flying around

the store and flames are raging everywhere. David

lights a pterodactyl on fire. So now this motherfucker

starts flying around like a flaming pinata and

David is swinging at it with his mop stick trying

to finish it off. Oh my, it's pure comedy, bro.

Pure comedy. A bug then lands on Carmody's chest

and she prays and it flies off without stinging

her so she takes that as a sign that she's earned

God's favor. Ollie has been trying to shoot one

of the pterodactyls and he hits it once before

Billy puts himself in harm's way trying to get

to his dad. So we have Ollie on one side, the

pterodactyl in the middle. Billy on the end the

pterodactyl wants a piece of Billy but David

runs up at the last second pulls him out of the

way and grabs him and then Ollie delivers the

kill shot. Things calm down after they kill all

the creatures but a new faction coalesces around

Carmody. She had been preaching that something

would come for them at night and a blood sacrifice

would be made. So now that those things have

come to fruition, people are starting to believe

that she is some sort of prophet. So this theme

of what do people do when they're afraid? What

do people do when they're afraid within a life

or death situation? Well, some of them turn to

something or someone else to help alleviate the

burden of how to solve the problem. And oftentimes,

God or religion is what they turn to to help

alleviate that burden, because what is more capable

of carrying such a burden than the most all powerful,

all knowing force that, you know, many people

believe exists out there? The issue with that

is that there's not really a tangible way to

make contact with that being. And so people.

can sometimes view these self -proclaimed emissaries

or prophets as truly being powerful people, ignoring

the fact that just calling yourself something

doesn't make it so, and following a person like

that. can lead to some really fucked up shit.

You might end up drinking a cup full of poison

Kool -Aid or you might end up wilding out in

a fictional main supermarket, which we will come

to see here pretty soon. But being trapped in

this fictional main supermarket for like 12 hours

is apparently all it takes for David and Billy

to forget all about Stephanie, their respective

wife and mother. Because Amanda is out here lying

down cuddling with Billy. She is his like pseudo

mom now, which is really strange behavior to

me. Like what happened to stranger danger? And

David, isn't that your job to comfort your own

son? Why are you farming out these responsibilities

already? Plus the look on his face while he watched

Amanda cuddle with Billy. Dude was like, yeah,

I'm into this. I get used to this, bro. It's

been 12 hours, dog. Come on. You don't know your

wife could still be out there just fighting for

her life and shit. And you're out here just thinking

about your next family. Crazy work. And you know

what else is also crazy work? The mob, dude.

joe survived being lit on fire and this dude

is super fucked up he looks like fucking two

-faced bro like absolutely charred and they're

in the middle of a supermarket not exactly like

a burn trauma center so he's just lying here

in absolute agony and wants to end it but david

says hang in there a little bit longer bro what

the fuck do you think you're capable of doing

for him you can't even take care of your own

son right now but he comes up with the plan that

he and his group can head over to the pharmacy

next door to grab antibiotics and painkillers

that is some selfish ass hero complex shit And

seeing this dude look like Anakin Skywalker on

the fucking lava planet is really bringing group

morale down. Amanda asked another woman named

Hattie to watch Billy while she goes to the bathroom.

Side note, Amanda is like the only one that ever

needs to go to the bathroom in this movie. That's

pretty interesting. I wonder why that is. Anyway,

Hattie, unfortunately, is lying there dead with

an empty pill bottle next to her. People are

losing hope and they don't want to be torn apart

by the monsters in the mist. Hello, foreshadowing.

And side note, as always, if you or anyone you

know is struggling with thoughts of self -harm

or suicide, please call or text 988 ASAP. You

are not alone. You do not have to suffer in silence.

Please speak with someone. But while David and

his group wait for an opportunity to make the

pharmacy run, he comes up with another plan.

Where they can all hop into his car, which holds

eight people, and drive as far south as they

can get before Carmody gains too many followers

and decides to sacrifice one of them to the creatures.

But Amanda, she wants to believe the best in

humanity. She wants to believe that people are

inherently good and civilized and human sacrifice

won't happen. And boy, oh boy, is she naive as

f - Fuck, civilization goes out the window when

infrastructure crumbles and fear takes over.

This is the argument that Ali makes. And he says

that people are fundamentally insane. Put more

than two of us in a room and we pick sides and

start thinking of ways to kill each other. Why

do you think we invented politics and religion?

Damn, mic drop. That is cynical as fuck, but

I mean. He's not wrong though. Eventually the

moment comes for the team to make their run to

the pharmacy and Billy tearfully tells David

he doesn't want him to leave because the monsters

will eat him up and David basically says I gotta

do what I gotta do hero complex and he leaves

him in the care of Amanda. He gives her his car

keys as well and says if anything happens to

him take care of Billy. The best she can for

as long as she can. Just hop in the car and drive.

Okay, there's a lot to unpack here. Number one,

you're making this pharmacy run against the wishes

of the person you're trying to get the meds for.

Because even if he was to survive, what kind

of quality of life would he have afterwards?

Number two, you have an eight -year -old son

that you are leaving behind. to risk your life

to make this run for someone who doesn't want

it to begin with. And number three, you're placing

the burden of caring for your child onto a stranger

that you've known for literally half a day in

case anything goes wrong and you die doing something

that you shouldn't be doing in the first place.

Wow. and again i ask what about your wife bro

like didn't even mention hey like before you

head out can you pull by my house though just

to make sure my wife's okay and pick her up if

she is still alive he's just like nah just drive

with billy and stephanie will figure that shit

out on her own absolutely savage And Mrs. Carmody

has been on some batshit crazy stuff this entire

film, just preaching about Old Testament and

fire and brimstone. But she does have a point

when she says that the pharmacy run will either

result in David's group's deaths or bring back

the creatures to the supermarket if they try

to run. That is a very logical stance to have.

yeah just another reason why this shit shouldn't

take place but she then undercuts her own argument

by preaching about hubris and all this other

biblical shit and people just like roll their

eyes and mrs repler who was another teacher in

david's group throws a can of peas right at her

dome son just pop square in the forehead and

then mrs repler is like stoning people is okay

because they do it in the bible don't they got

him and repler spots jim and says she taught

him and his sibling in school where they were

both underachievers so now is the time to make

up for it by coming with their group to the pharmacy

and apparently even during And Apocalypse, you

still have to respect your elders because this

motherfucker says yes. Like, why on earth would

you ever agree to that? You do not owe this lady

anything just because she taught you arithmetic

in the first grade. Kick rocks, you off brand

Betty White. David and crew weapon up and they

head on over to the pharmacy and they make it.

But when they get there, they notice that the

doors are propped all the way open, meaning that

anything could be lurking inside. As a few folks

grab the meds, others hear what the closed caption

described as soft scurrying noises. Yikes. And

they notice there are spider webs on the ceilings

with people's arms and hands hanging out of them.

Hell nah, bro. Are you kidding me right now?

But wait, it gets worse because the MP from before

they find him wept up, but he is still alive

asking for help. And this dude looks totally

fucked up. He looks totally incubated. He has

like all these boils all over his skin and shit.

And I don't know, let's see a little bit racist

here. You space spiders. All right. We got 36

black people in the town and somehow you pick

one to lay your eggs in. And keep him alive as

a human incubator. That's a little fucked up

there. I guess alien spiders also have a distaste

for out of towners. So the spiderlings burst

out of this dude's body. As he says this is all

our fault. And he was webbed upright. But he

comes loose because the gang was trying to free

him. And as he hits the ground, his body like

pops open and spiders come flooding out of his

back. What the actual fuck? And this visual is

crazy. It's a mix of CGI, but also with some

solid practical effects. I mean, this dude popped

open like a water balloon. Absolutely insane.

But it gets worse because the fully grown spiders

then pop up. And these motherfuckers shoot acid

web, bro. Acid web. One dude, the burned dude

Joe's brother, ends up taking a strand of that

acid web to the thigh and his skin slides down

like a pair of pants before he dies. Another

dude takes a web straight to the face. Ouch.

And Mrs. Reppler has a spider come sliding down

its web in front of her face, but she takes a

can of bug spray and a lighter and torches that

bitch. Everyone else makes it back to the supermarket,

but they did all that for nothing because Joe

ended up succumbing to his burns and died anyway.

And if that's not a metaphor for our political

system, I don't know what is. We have David here

who is basically like an elected representative

who has taken it upon himself to go against the

wishes of what one of his constituents wanted

and ended up making things catastrophically worse.

Instead of just letting one person die who wanted

to go anyway and was on the way out anyway. They

sacrificed that dude's brother and another person

as well. Plus, they got to see a dude burst open

like a spider -filled piñata. Man, that's tough.

Once David's group makes it back to the relative

safety of the supermarket, Mrs. Repler tells

him that if he's still trying to leave, she's

in, but Mann's has lost his nerve. He feels responsible

for the deaths of the two dudes at the pharmacy,

plus the long, drawn -out death of the burned

dude, Joe, and he doesn't want any more deaths

on his conscience. Ollie says maybe he should

reconsider that because Carmody's numbers have

grown significantly, including Jim crossing the

lines, because his mind has snapped since returning

from the pharmacy. And honestly, I understand

if I saw someone fall on the ground and a bunch

of alien baby spiders came rushing out of their

carcass. Yeah, I would probably want to change

some tactics myself. I don't know if I would

lean all the way into religious fanatic, but,

you know, to each their own. David ends up relenting

though and his squad agrees that it's better

to die out in the mist trying to escape rather

than waiting to die in the supermarket. But David

wants to talk to the soldiers first to get a

better idea of what they're up against. They

remember the MP in the pharmacy saying that he

was sorry and that everything was all their,

meaning the military's, fault. David finds Wayne

sulking somewhere by himself and asks where his

other two military boys are and he says I don't

know haven't seen them. They check the store

and can't find them so that only leaves the loading

dock as the place that they could be. So they

head back there and they see them hanging from

the rafters and Wayne's like oh shit. You know,

they said they were going to do it, but I didn't

really believe them. But hey, I guess they really

did it. So now David's like, all right, bro,

stop playing games. Tell us what the fuck is

going on here. What is the Arrowhead project?

But before they can get an answer out of him,

Jim, who has been sneaking around and kind of

listening into this conversation, grabs Wayne

and drags him before Carmody and the rest of

her mob. And they basically put him on trial.

Here he explains that the Arrowhead project was

an experiment by the military to create a window

to peek into parallel dimensions. However, the

freak electrical storm from last night caused

the gateway to like rip open or not close properly,

allowing those creatures to enter our world.

And what's another thing that tends to happen

when people get frightened in life or death situations?

the mob mentality kicks in someone says some

wild other people latch on to it and all of a

sudden that wild becomes normal because it's

not just you who feels that way a lot of people

do so carmody points the finger at wayne and

they're like hey this dude gotta go so someone

in the crowd grabs a big ass chef's knife and

stabs him in his stomach a few times and they

pick him up and toss him outside into the mist

and lock the door behind him and bro is like

pounding on the glass with his bloody hands and

leaves a bloody handprint on the window before

he's snatched up by some big ass starship troopers

looking monster r .i .p wayne bro wayne had it

tough like let's recap here so first of all he

was excited about his vacation that ended up

getting cancelled Then after like nine years

of a will they won't they he finally is able

to kiss Sally and maybe he'll be able to get

it in. But before that happens she's attacked

by an alien wasp that stings her in the neck

and she dies. And while he's mourning her his

other friends hang themselves and then he's dragged

out and put on like a witch trial basically.

Stabbed in his gut and tossed out into the mist

where he's devoured by some giant thing. Yikes.

In my opinion, there were only two people in

this entire film that had it worse than Wayne.

One would be the MP who had alien acid spiders

lay their eggs or their babies inside of him

and have them hatch out of him while he's still

alive. And then also David, for reasons we will

get into shortly. But after Wayne's death, Carmody

tells her congregation that the beast will be

satiated for the night and that they should all

be fine. But we'll see what happens tomorrow.

Before they go to sleep for the night, Billy

asks David to promise that he'll never let the

monsters get him, no matter what. And he agrees.

Morning then arrives and the gang prepares to

make their exit. Ali has prepared five bags of

groceries for them to take. However, Carmody

found the stash and is waiting for them. And

she won't allow them to leave because she says

it's against God's will. Has she not proven enough

that she is God's messenger? They need to fall

in line or get fucked up. She starts to preach

again and says the gang's refusal to believe

her is a refusal to bend to the will of God.

So everything is their fault. She says the group

must provide the next sacrifice. And she nominates

little Billy before progressing to kill the whore,

who is Amanda, apparently. And then eventually

she's like, you know, I just kill them all. And

then weapons are drawn. Ollie says, you know

what? I've had enough. Fuck all that noise. And

he shoots Carmody in her gut. And then as she

falls to her knees, he shoots her once more in

the dome. And that instantly snaps her crazy

ass followers out of their trance. And they all

drop their weapons. And I think this serves as

a very interesting commentary on human nature

as it relates to faith and belief. Because if

your faith is extinguished immediately, As soon

as the person who is telling you to believe in

that thing is no longer there, then clearly you

were not a true believer to begin with. So that

makes me wonder, in today's society, with religion

basically being instilled in us from such an

early age by our parents, grandparents, whomever,

if those people were no longer there, if that

reinforcement wasn't happening throughout, continued

lives and existences how powerful would religion

truly be if people were able to just make the

determination on their own without having it

force -fed to them since like birth and i guess

that's somewhat of a rhetorical question because

i don't think it'd be very powerful at all and

this doesn't apply solely to religion i think

you can take any number of like concepts and

man -made constructs like sexism racism misogyny

xenophobia islamophobia whatever phobia or negative

way of thinking you want to substitute for religion

a lot of these things if not all of them are

taught to us by people who we trust and value

in our lives parents grandparents elders etc

and all they're doing is just regurgitating what

the elders in their lives taught to them so it's

this vicious cycle that perpetuates itself because

people are afraid to think for themselves and

that's how we end up with pieces of shit in the

most powerful leadership positions in the world

but i digress the gang ends up making a break

for it Ollie reaches David's car first and he

gets snatched up by a big crab looking thing

which rips him in half but conveniently the pistol

he was holding falls perfectly onto the hood

of David's car. Myron somehow breaks his ankle

running on flat ground and has an acid spider

jump on his face so he's cooked. The store manager

loses his nerve and runs back to the store and

surprisingly, they let him in. Another dude gets

lost in the mist and ends up being ambushed by

a gang of acid spiders, which leaves just David,

Billy, Amanda, Dan, and Mrs. Repler as the ones

who successfully make it into the vehicle. David

takes a risk to grab the pistol off the hood

of the car. Before he gets attacked by a spider

and he narrowly manages to get back into the

vehicle and shut the door. Before the spider

just walks over the car and continues on its

merry way. Probably going to lay some more eggs

in somebody. So the gang hits the road and they

drive to David's house. And unfortunately they

find Stephanie all webbed up. Those acid spiders

came through the broken window that the tree

crashed through at the beginning of the film.

So like, what's the appropriate mourning period

here before David and Billy officially welcome

Amanda as the new wife slash mother in their

family? I don't know. Amanda is married herself,

too, by the way. She like casually mentioned

so in passing, but. She never brings him up again

after that. She's leaning totally into her supermarket

love story. But after David sheds some tears

for the loss of Stephanie, he puts the car back

in drive and they hit the road again until eventually

the vehicle runs out of fuel. But unfortunately,

they're still in the mist and hear monsters roaring

in the distance around them. So David remembers

his promise that he made to Billy earlier that

he wouldn't let the monsters get him no matter

what. And he pulls out the pistol, looks at Amanda,

looks at Dan, looks at Mrs. Repler, and they

all grimly nod. But there's only four bullets

left in the gun, which is pretty awkward considering

there are five people. So David takes it upon

himself to carry that burden. One by one, he

shoots everyone in the vehicle, including his

son, Billy. But there's no bullet left for him.

So he steps outside, ready for the monsters to

tear him apart. And as he yells into the air,

like, come on, come on, trying to get them to

come kill him. Something large emerges from the

mist. But it's not a monster. It is a tank at

the head of a military convoy. That's right.

The military has gained control of the situation.

They have flamethrowers. They're clearing out

all these random alien spiders and bugs and shit.

They have rescued other survivors. He sees the

woman from the beginning who left her kids at

home and ran out to get them. She's on one of

the vehicles with her kids, so she successfully

completed her trek. Man, David sees all this

and collapses to his knees and just screams as

the film ends. Holy shit, what a bleak ending.

One of the bleakest endings in cinematic history.

Wow. That shit is a total gut punch. But shout

out to Frank Darbunt for standing on business,

not sacrificing his creative and artistic vision

for the sake of $22 million. Eating that horrible

CGI to give us this ending. It's definitely memorable.

And I can appreciate something that doesn't have

a happy ending because so many things do. It's

good to have a little bit of balance there, a

little bit of realism that sometimes things don't

go well just because we want them to. The quote

unquote hero or protagonist doesn't have to end

up saving the day or walking away relatively

unscathed. Like as human beings, we all have

damage. We all have trauma. We all have things

that we wish turned out differently and turned

out better. So when it comes to movies or other

works of fiction or different artistic mediums

that are utilized as vehicles for escapism, I

think it is useful to occasionally sprinkle some

in there that keep it real, that remind us that.

You know, everything can't be escaped. We shouldn't

try to escape from everything. Sometimes in order

to get over something, we just have to go through

it instead of pretending that it doesn't exist.

So yeah, that's my interpretation of The Mist

and its overarching theme about what fear can

cause people to do. And to expand upon that a

little bit more, I think fear is capable of Removing

the veil that has been placed upon society and

reveal what people's true intentions are. That

deep down, people can be the real monsters, even

when you're surrounded by literal Lovecraftian

monstrosities. Fear can erase logic. It can erase

compassion. It can erase empathy. It can turn

people into religious fanatics and create this

herd slash mob mentality where violence becomes

a viable solution to perceived problems and threats.

I mean, how many wars have been fought in the

name of one God or another? And it begs the question,

when it comes to religion, where do you draw

the line between comfort and control? But the

film's ending differs significantly from the

source material because in the novella, David

and his group, they continue driving. They don't

run out of gas and mercy kill themselves. They

stop at an abandoned hotel and David is listening

on the radio and hears through the interference

that possibly someone says Hartford is safe.

which gives him a little bit of hope that they

can continue on and make it out of this alive.

So because of that divergence, I think the film

carries an additional theme, one related to parenthood,

or specifically in this case, fatherhood. I thought

about covering The Mist for episode 34 that came

out a couple days after Father's Day because

David... had to make a choice like how far was

he willing to go for his child and his well -being

you know he doesn't want him to suffer by being

incubated by acid spiders or torn in half by

crab alien shits so he basically crushes his

entire soul insanity by mercy killing him But

I want to know your thoughts. What do you think

about the ending? What do you think about David's

decision? Did he, pun not intended, jump the

gun too early considering the military showed

up like two minutes later and there wasn't like

any monsters currently pressing or surrounding

their car? You know, maybe they could have sat

there for a little bit longer. But, you know,

you can also make the argument that. Why drag

it out? At that point, hope is lost. So how long

is someone reasonably expected to remain optimistic?

I'm not sure there's any right answer to that

question. But that's all for me. I'm out of here.

Don't forget to follow and subscribe to the show

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that helps the show continue to grow. And I'll

see you in two weeks for the next Stephen King

adaptation breakdown. But in the meantime, remember,

always keep it spooky. Thank you.

The Mist Analysis & Recap: Noir 36

What's This About?