Metascore
58 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 29 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 29
  2. Negative: 1 out of 29
  1. Good and creepy, The Mist comes from a Stephen King novella and is more the shape, size and quality of the recent "1408," likewise taken from a King story, than anything in the persistently fashionable charnel house inhabited by the "Saw" and "Hostel" franchises.
  2. 88
    What a horror film SHOULD be - dark, tense, and punctuated by just enough gore to keep the viewer's flinch reflex intact.
  3. There's a grim modern parable to be read into the dangerous effects of the gospel-preaching local crazy lady Mrs. Carmody (brilliantly played by a hellfire Marcia Gay Harden) on a congregation of the fearful.
  4. In the parlance of the kids today, the movie totally goes there.
  5. 83
    What is surprising is how he (Darabont) rebounds from his weak, awkwardly compressed opening to produce one of the scariest King films since Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining."
  6. 80
    I think this one of the first King movies to legitimately give me the creeps.
  7. Reviewed by: Tom Ambrose
    80
    Criminally overlooked in the States, this is one of the best horror movies of the last few years.
  8. 75
    It's a B-movie with A-list aspirations, and it's at its best when it's not trying to be something it isn't.
  9. While it's riveting throughout, The Mist is a bit bloated.
  10. At its best, The Mist just wants to make you jump.
  11. 70
    Darabont doesn't match the sly cultural commentary of "The Host," a recent Korean import that also revamped the giant-monster genre, but his grocery-store survival drama, dominated by Marcia Gay Harden as a shrill fundamentalist, serves as a crude but effective allegory for post-9/11 America.
  12. Unlike King, Darabont ends this story with a drop kick to the cerebellum, a change from the original that shocks the viewer and leave little doubt that Darabont thinks we're all headed to hell in a hand basket.
  13. Reviewed by: Andy Spletzer
    67
    The scenes that really work are the ones that take place outside the supermarket, in the beginning and at the end of the film. In fact, the "Twilight Zone"-inspired ending nearly makes up for all that comes before.
  14. 63
    The movie has a monster problem -- the more you see of them, the less scary they are -- most of the characters are standard-issue types, and Harden seriously overdoes the pious psycho bit.
  15. Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    63
    More thought-provoking than frightening. Its stubbornly cynical attitude makes it worth watching, more than the monsters or the impenetrable mist (which looks spewed from a fog machine) engulfing a small town in Maine.
  16. Reviewed by: Eric Alt
    63
    This one aims for bleak and hits it.
  17. More political allegory than horror movie.
  18. 60
    The Mist is itself a supermarket of B-movie essentials, handsomely stocked with bad science, stupid behavior, chewable lines of dialogue, religious fruitcakes, and a fine display of monsters.
  19. Less horrific than it is horribly didactic.
  20. 50
    If you have seen ads or trailers suggesting that horrible things pounce on people, and they make you think you want to see this movie, you will be correct. It is a competently made Horrible Things Pouncing on People Movie. If you think Frank Darabont has equaled the "Shawshank" and "Green Mile" track record, you will be sadly mistaken.
  21. The brutally ironic ending, I might add, won't make anybody very happy about having chosen The Mist for their evening's entertainment.
  22. 50
    A pretentious left-wing monster movie with about 15 minutes of alarming creatures and a whole lot of bickering, is a pre-9/11 story which Stephen King wrote eons ago. It operates in the post-9/11 era about as well as a Studebaker at the Daytona 500.
  23. Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    50
    The Mist doesn't provoke further thought; it provokes active annoyance at being punished in the service of a pulp morality tale with pretensions.
  24. I wouldn't say this is laugh-out-loud risible, but there are definitely moments. Still, you might want to consider sitting through the uneven thing just to get to the ending, because that's quite something. You may love it, you may hate it, but forget it you won't.
  25. 50
    The Mist contains nary a dollop of wit and irony. As adapted and directed by Frank Darabont, there's no ambiguity either.
  26. Until the director Frank Darabont decides that he's saying something important instead of making a nifty horror movie, The Mist isn't half bad.
  27. Reviewed by: Justin Chang
    50
    Much nastier and less genteel than his best-known Stephen King adaptations ("The Shawshank Redemption," "The Green Mile"), Frank Darabont's screw-loose doomsday thriller works better as a gross-out B-movie than as a psychological portrait of mankind under siege, marred by one-note characterizations and a tone that veers wildly between snarky and hysterical.
  28. A derivative horror picture that somehow rises to the level of a primal scream. The premise is simple, by which I mean both easy to understand and feeble-minded.
  29. Reviewed by: Chuck Wilson
    30
    A lumbering and depressing movie.
User Score

Mixed or average reviews- based on 215 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 93 out of 145
  2. Negative: 40 out of 145
  1. AndrewL
    10
    Once again i was almost fooled by the critics, the movie was brilliant. its actually very hardcore, not in a violent sense, although it is quite graphic. for a modern horror movie im surprised how little it makes you jump, this was a good thing, it didnt need cheap scare tactics to totally creep you out, it does it through the people in the mall and how they react to the situation. the movie really was great, scary, fun, intense, suspenseful, really just a great horror flick. the Ending, by far, is one of the most powerful pieces of cinema ive seen, ever. Full Review »
  2. 9
    I definitely enjoyed the movie. It was better than what I expected, yet, I know it was not brilliant. It works in its genre, although there was room for improvement. I think it is not easy to describe the feelings that this movie inspires to me; but I know this is a movie that I would recommend to those who enjoy horror films where violence and gore are justified. The story is interesting and it takes a while for the mistery to be unfolded. Although some may have already thought where the answer was, the way it was done in the movie, is to be applauded. Good performances and good cast. It had an interesting perspective, that made me reflect-again- in how dangerous religious fanatism can be to the world ( be aware I mean, fanatism, for there is nothing wrong with religion itself) and how easy to manipulate are human beings under certain conditions. Great ending, although sad. Overall, a good movie but i am disappointed to se the low score, especially considering how many good reviews it got...I wonder if the metacritic system is working for I don't see it changing much days after some comments are post..strange indeed. Something that they should ckeck...for it is not only the percentage, but the number of 'positive' doesn't add after my friends or I write a review...! Full Review »
  3. The only good part of this film was the ending. The story made no sense, The cast was average at best, and it wasnt that interesting either. Pretty disapointing, Especially when other Stephen King based films are a lot better then this trash. Full Review »