World's Shortest Movie Review: "The Mist"

Warning! Some minor spoilers ahead (marked in red)

Much Like: Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Storm of the Century

Summary: A heavy mist crawling with bizarre, nasty creatures enshrouds a small Maine town as a result of military experiments in interdimensional travel. The mist traps artist David Drayton (Thomas Jane) and his young son in a supermarket with a couple dozen other people. Among them, unfortunately, is a Bible-belting wackadoo named Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden) who makes Carrie's mom look normal. She insists the Endtimes have arrived and only "expiation" can stave off destruction.

Upsides:

• An old-school monster movie that's more story than gory, The Mist combines character-driven tension and suspense with a classic hint of the absurd. The local-yokel Stephen King touch remains intact; characters like tiny-but-tough grocer Ollie Weeks (Toby Jones of Infamous infamy) and a tough old bird named Irene (Frances Sternhagen, best known as Charlotte's mother-in-law on Sex & the City) take this beyond your average creepy-crawlies flick.
• Mrs. Carmody's end actually drew applause.
• While this is a conventional monster movie, I gleaned a few timely insights from it:
  - In hard times, sheer lunacy starts to sound logical. Beware the person who knows exactly what's going on and what to do about it - he/she is nuts, full of it, or both.
  - Messing around with interdimensional portals is bad, mm'kay?
  

Downsides: A sad-ass ending that jarred with the rest of the film; some over-the-top music

CGI tentacle graphic by Richie L. Roberts