Plot summary (with possible spoilers): One night a violent thunderstorm sweeps through the town of Bridgton, Maine, leaving extreme wreckage in its wake. The next morning, David Drayton (played by Thomas Jane) surveys the damage to his property and decides that he better head off to town to pick up supplies before the supermarket is cleaned out by other residents. David brings along son Billy (Nathan Gamble) and neighbor Brent Norton (Andre Braugher), leaving wife Stephanie (Kelly Collins Lintz) at home to begin putting things back in order.

On the way to town, David and Brent notice a lot of military vehicles heading in the opposite direction, but they don’t make too much of it. Their focus is simply on getting supplies, which is what lots of other people are doing at the crowded supermarket.

While in the supermarket, the patrons notice a heavy mist rolling down from the surrounding mountains. The mist is dense enough to reduce visibility to zero, which gets the patrons worrying about how they’re going to return home. Then someone runs into the store with a bloody nose, screaming that no one should venture into the mist. The supermarket patrons don’t quite know what to make of the screamer, but don’t really take him seriously — yet.

Things change when a bag boy tries to go outside to fix the store’s only generator. He’s viciously attacked by a tentacled monster that severs his body at the waist. David manages to slice of a piece of the monster, which later serves as evidence that something is indeed out there.

The rest of the films shows the arguments, fights, and killings that take place in the store as the patrons try to decide what they’re supposed to do. Eventually a small group breaks away from the pack and goes on an expedition outside to find out what’s going on. Things look bleak, with no apparent signs of survivors anywhere — which leads to the group taking a drastic final step.

My Reaction: This was one of the few Stephen King stories that I didn’t read in the original prior to seeing the film. As a result, I have nothing to compare the events of the film to. I know that the ending wasn’t faithful to the novella, but I have no idea how the rest compares.

Anyway, I am a bit torn about The Mist. On the one hand, the idea of a monstrous creature hiding in a fog just seems so utterly absurd and laughable that I could hardly work up any tension while watching. I know the film was supposed to be more about the pack mentality than about the monster, but still… it was just hard to get invested in this premise. On the other hand, I actually liked the ending because it didn’t follow the typical pattern of the Army swooping in at the last minute to save the day. Yes, the Army swooped in, but just a few minutes too late, as it turned out.

One thing I don’t understand is why the David’s posse didn’t try to escape on foot once the gas ran out. I mean, there was only one creature, right? And it couldn’t be everywhere at once, right? So they had a pretty good shot of making it to a safe haven without getting torn apart.

Overall, I guess The Mist was about as good as most Stephen King films, which is to say rather average. The events at the end weren’t quite enough to make up for what transpired before, so I give this movie 3 stars out of 5.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Christine Brown’s (played by Alison Lohman) life seems to be headed in the right direction. She has a stable job as a loan officer at a bank and has a cozy home life with boyfriend Clay Dalton (Justin Long), who is himself beginning a new job as a professor at the local university. In addition, Christine is up for a promotion to an assistant manager position, with co-worker Stu Rubin (Reggie Lee) being the only obstacle.

Boss Mr. Jacks (David Paymer) tells Christine that Stu has a slight edge for the promotion even though Christine has been there longer. Christin just hasn’t demonstrated that she can make the tough decisions that the new job would require. This news makes Christine determined to prove that she’s up to the task.

She gets her chance when an old woman named Sylvia Ganush (Lorna Raver) comes into the bank. Mrs. Ganush is way behind on her mortgage payments (again), and has come to ask for an extension. Christine refuses, in an attempt to show Mr. Jacks that she deserves the promotion. Even after Mrs. Ganush goes down on her knees right in the middle of the bank to beg for leniency, Christine doesn’t give in.

Later, as she’s going home, Christine is attacked by a deranged Mrs. Ganush in the parking garage. They fight it out, with Christine coming out on top. Mrs. Ganush, however, does manage to put a curse on Christine.

For the next few days, Christine is bothered by weird happenings. She sees Mrs. Ganush in her dreams, bleeds profusely for no reason at all, and sees strange shadows in her home. Freaked out by it all, Christine tries to go to Mrs. Ganush’s house to make peace, but learns from the woman’s daughter that it’s too late. Mrs. Ganush has died.

The rest of the film then shows how Christine tries to get rid of Mrs. Ganush’s spirit and the curse once and for all, first with the help of Clay and then with the help of a fortune teller who may or may not be a scam artist.

My Reaction: I’m surprised that Drag Me to Hell has such a high rating (7.3 stars as of this writing) on IMDb.com. That rating duped me into seeing it, and I was completely disappointed with how the film turned out. This wasn’t horror so much as it was gross-out crap, and it wasn’t clever enough to be a comedy along the lines of the Scream franchise.

I can’t believe how many disgusting things went into Christine’s mouth during this film. WTF? I seriously just wanted to reach through the screen and clamp her jaws down. Is this the kind of thing that passes for “horror” these days? Give me a break.

The story lost momentum well before the halfway point, so by the time the Mexican lady from the beginning of the film was brought back in, I had already pretty much tuned out and didn’t care what was going on. All I can say is that I’m glad Christine got dragged to hell at the end. Good riddance to an annoying character.

Overall, Drag Me to Hell was a rather boring film with an unlikable lead, stupid setup, and poor execution. Even though the main character got what she deserved in the end, it was too little too late. I give this movie 2 stars out of 5.