31 DAYS OF HORROR: STEPHEN KING'S THE MIST

31 DAYS OF HORROR continues. I am still listing my 31 favorite horror films of all time and enlightening the masses of what to watch for this month of ghosts and goblins leading up to that darkest of days... no, not the Presidential Election... I mean Halloween!

Remember, I don't claim these to be the BEST horror films of all time... these are just the ones I enjoyed and remember the most. I recommend each one of these films (although some are not quite what you might expect) as great viewing leading up to and for Halloween. Some of these films will not be familar to the average movie-goer... but ALL of them (with the exception of one I think) is available on DVD. These are in no particular order, so take 'em as they come. Got it? Badges? We don't need no stinkin Badges!

NOTE: See postings below for previous "31 Days of Horror" installments:
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS
EVENT HORIZON

Stephen King's The Mist (2007)
Directed by Frank Darabont.
With Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden, Andre Braugher and William Sadler.

Ok, let's start of by me saying that I love Stephen King. LOVE. An embarrasing type of a love I would normally reserve for my wife, my children, or David Wright.

His writing is always amazing. A chunk of my overall favorite books of all time are King's (The Stand and The Dark Tower Series, especially, The Gunslinger, The Drawing of the Three, and Wizards and Glass) . Even when he's off his game a little (The Tommyknockers, Dreamcatcher) I still very much enjoy the read.

However, I have not always loved movie adaptions of Stephen King movies. This is not King's fault however, but the fault of the directors and producers of films based on his work (well, unless you count Maximum Overdrive which King wrote and directed, but as bad as it was, I still liked it in the same way you like bad movies like Flash Gordon and have seen it at least four times... go figure) .

There have been some really bad adaptions of King stories, like The Running Man, Graveyard Shift, The Mangler, Dreamcatcher and Riding the Bullet). Oh, There have been good ones too... don't get me wrong... films like Misery, Stand By Me, The Green Mile, The Shawshank Redemption, Apt Pupil, The Dead Zone, Carrie to name a few.

However, only two made my list. The first is the single best short story King has ever written. Actually, The Mist is longer than the average short story.. it's basically a novella, but hey... that's just semantics.

Basically my point is, that some people get Stephen King... and some don't. Director Frank Daraboont? He gets King. Before taking on The Mist, Darabont directed The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, both critical and commercial hits and oscar worthy films. So when I heard Darabont was going to be helming the Mist, I had a massive geekasm. Seriously... it was messy.

When it came time for the film to open, I had built it up in my head that it was going to be an amazing and chilling film. I hate it when I do that because when I build something up so much, I totally wind up being disapointed. Rarely do films stand up to my internal build up.

So, when I sat in my seat on opening night with my friends Tom, Dave and Shawn (my wife wouldn't see it... she usually HATES horror movies) my expectations were high.

And boy was I satisfied.

The plot is a fairly simple one. The day after a violent thunderstorm, artist David Drayton (Jane) and his wife Stephanie (Kelly Collins Lintz) witness a thick and strange looking mist advancing across the lake bordering their property. Deciding to run into town to get some supplies, David and his neighbor Brent Norton (Braugher), along with David's five-year-old son Billy (Nathan Gamble), go to the local grocery store which, like the rest of the community, was left without power. While inside the store the mist spreads all over the town and soon it's impossible to see more than a foot or two in front of you.

An increasing amount of police activity in the streets draws the attention of the patrons, culminating with a man running into the store with blood on his face and shirt warning of something dangerous in the oncoming mist. Unable to see into the parking lot and hearing the screams of a man who ventures outside, the store patrons heed the man's advice and seal themselves within the store, which is soon shaken by a violently as if by an earthquake.

With the visibility reduced to near-zero outside and uncertainty surrounding the fate of the man heard screaming before, a siege mentality takes hold of the patrons and staff inside the store.

As time goes on, a small group winds up in the storeroom and while attempting to clear a blocked vent to allow the generator to run a stockboy is grabbed and dragged, bloody and screaming into the Mist. The realization that there are lovecraftian-like creatures outside in the Mist spurs Drayton to try and convince the patrons that no one should go outside for any reason. A small group of patrons (including Norton) does not believe Drayton and despite his begging, go outside to leave. What happens next starts a series of events that become more and more terrifying as time passes.

However, Drayton and a chunk of the partons have more than the horrible creatures outside to deal with. Inside, a deeply religious Mrs. Carmody (Gay Harden) suspects the onset of Armageddon and while at first her ranting and preaching to the scared people in the store got her nothing but jeers and shouting for her to shut up, as time goes on and things get worse and worse, she begins to convert a large stringent of people who start hanging on her every word in the belief that the world is ending and a human sacrifice is needed to save them from the wrath of God.

Between the monsters outside and the all-too human monsters forming inside in the increasing mob-mentallity that is forming, Drayton, his son and the small group of friends he's gathered are in danger from all sides.

This film is not just a horrifying film when it comes to the creatures that comes out of the Mist... and trust me... they are like nothing you have ever seen before and are beyond description... but also it's a facinating study of what happens to people when faced with terror beyond their comprehension and how it turns normally good people into a raving mob who will embrace any possible solution that could save them.

Darabont puts it perfectly himself: "The story is less about the monsters outside than about the monsters inside, the people you're stuck with, your friends and neighbors breaking under the strain."

He's right. However, trust me, the monsters outside are pretty fricking terrifying.

As things sprial out of control Drayton and his band are faced with a horrible and terrible decision in an ending that was absolutely gut-wrenching. Seriously... the ending is a mixture of horrible, ironic and mind blowing. If you see this film and are not affected by it's ending... then... well... you scare me as much as this movie should scare you. For those of you who have read the story... it is NOT the same ending... Darabont changed it much to the delight of King who thought the new ending was very chiling and unsettling. King said, "The ending is such a jolt... wham! It's frightening. But people who go to see a horror movie don't necessarily want to be sent out with a Pollyanna ending."

This is one the best horror movies I've ever seen. Think Lord of the Flies with horrifying monsters.

The Mist appeared in King's short story collection Night Shift.

31 DAYS OF HORROR: EVENT HORIZON

As was explained in the first "31 Days of Horror", I am spewing forth my 31 favorite horror films of all time. I don't claim these to be the BEST of all time... just my favorite. I recommend each one of these films (although some are not quite what you might expect) as great viewing leading up to and for Halloween. Some of these films will not be familar to the average movie-goer... but ALL of them (with the exception of one I think) is available on DVD. These are in no particular order, so take 'em as they come. The Captain has turned off the no smoking sign and you are now free to roam about the cabin.

NOTE: See postings below for previous "31 Days of Horror" installments:
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS

Event Horizon (1997)
Directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. With Sam Neill, Laurence Fishburn, Kathleen Quinlan and Joley Richardson.

At first sight, Event Horizon seems to be a regular Science Fiction film. The year is 2047, and Earth's space command has just received a signal from the starship Event Horizion from the outskirts of the planet Neptune. The kicker? The Event Horizion vanished without a trace on it's first mission seven years before, in 2040.

A rescue mission is dispatched and the starship Lewis and Clark heads towards Neptune with Captain Miller (Fishburne), Dr. William Weir (Neill) who was the Event Horizon's designer, and a full crew. While traveling, Weir tells the crew that the Event Horizon's actual mission back in 2040 was to test a secret, experimental stardrive that would create an artificial black hole to bridge two points in space to significantly reduce travel time. While on this mission, it vansished without a trace. Since it's reappearance, just one single garbled transmission was received , which is a series of confusing screams and shouts, followed by the Latin phrase liberate me (which means "save me" for those of you not versed in Latin... I wasn't).

Once they arrive to the rediscovered starships decaying orbit, the Lewis and Clark can find no definitive trace of human life forms. With inconclusive sensor readings, the Lewis and Clark's crew decide to enter the Event Horizon to search for survivors. Inside, with the crew splitting up, Medical Technician Peters (Quinlan) discovers a frozen human corpse floating on the bridge, with both eyes gouged out. Engineer Justin (Jack Noseworthy) finds a blackish, liquid-like mirror within its core drive and stupidly reaches out to touch it. Obviously he had no idea he was in a horror film, or he might have thought twice about doing that. When he does, it sucks him inside and emits a large shock wave that damages the Lewis and Clark. Another crew member manages to pull Justin out of the core by his tether, but when he comes out he is catatonic.

Due to the damage to the Lewis and Clark, the remaining crew transfer to the Event Horizon, which only has a remaining 20 hours of air left on it. From there, things go from bad to worse. Justin emerges from his catatonia and attempts to commit suicide in an attempt to escape the memory of what he saw inside the black mirror. The crew begin to experience hallucinations of their personal fears and regrets and it becomes obvious that something horrible is on board the ship.

The knowledge that the crew is trapped and really has nowhere to run, or are even sure what they are running from is the real kick to this film. Despite the sci-fi setting, the film is an excellent horror story that mixes in both psychological and physical terrors. Once the Lewis and Clark discovers the fate of the Event Horizon's crew, things step up a notch. The scenes of what happened following the Event Horizon's testing of the new star drive is a mash of chaos and evil.

The movie follows a forbidding feeling throughout and there are some excellent twists and surprises as things go along. The ending is a little un-nerving as just when you think you have a grasp on the resolution, the film throws another quick and effective shock your way.

Highly recommended. The end will get ya, I guarantee it.

31 DAYS OF HORROR: INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS

Here at Rocket Ramblings we try to cater to our readership (all six of you) in new and exciting ways. First there was the "Did You Know?" feature which ran a whole total of one time (with more coming soon though!) and now we present you with "31 Days of Horror" which is basically a guide to the author's (that would be me) favorite horror movies of all time... all for you, the readers (all five of you, cause I think I lost one during this long winded intro) to use as a guide to picking some fine viewing for Halloween. Each day (actually more than once per day since I'm seven days behind on the list... today being the 7th of October) you will see a new movie listed throughout the month of October. I do not claim these are the BEST horror films ever made... just my favorite (in fact I will not even cover some of the more standard stuff people would think of like Friday The 13th, The first Halloween, Dracula, etc). There is no particular order to this list. Please fell free to comment and agree or disagree in the comments section, because the author (again, me) is a total comment whore and craves feedback like a junkie needs his "H"...' kay? Kay.

Now, without further adu...

Invasion of The Body Snatchers (1956 AND 1978 versions)
1956 Version: Directed by Don Siegel. With Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter and Larry Gates.
1978 Version: Directed by Philip Kaufman. With Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum and Leonard Nimoy.

Ok, this is one of the VERY rare instances that I love both the original AND the remake. Both follow the same basic storyline: A group of people discover that the population of their community is being replaced by seemingly emotionless exact duplicates. Both have an everyman main protaganist who tries in growing desperation to alert people to what is going on. In each case it is discovered that plant-like pods actually can grow exact replicas that look and sound like the original people and as time goes by, no one seems to 100% be sure just who is human and who is not.

Both have rather dark endings (I am TOTALLY discounting the lame 'tacked on' happy ending the original used briefly but thankfully rejected and returned to the original ending) and both do a fantastic job creating a mood of deep paranoia.

I don't really consider the 1978 version to be a 'remake' as much as it is a continuation. It's not an exact sequel per say... but it has a very distinct connection to the 1956 version by basically inserting the ending of the original as a scene early in the remake and using the same actor (Kevin McCarthy). While the 1978 version never actually give you the characters name, it's fairly obvious (to me at least) he's playing the same character.

The theme for both films is a chilling "Whom do you trust?" done in a very effective way. The feeling that no one you see is what they seem is an effective way to elicit a feeling of dread from the viewer and the somber mood the comes from the two films is much more of a horrific feeling than most slasher and monster movies manged to project to their audiences.

Not surprisingly, the popularity of both films sparked enough interest over the years to spir two addtional "remakes": Body Snatchers - Directed by Abel Ferrara and Starring Gabrielle Anwar, Billy Wirth, Forrest Whitaker and R. Lee Ermey came out in 1993 and The Invasion - Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel and starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig came out in 2007. Both were fairly well done movies using the same ideas in totally different settings.

All of the movies were based upon the sci-fi novel The Body Snatchers, by Jack Finney.