King devotees will devour this whole while fans of shows like Stranger Things will be immediately at home with its milieu. It’s fun, it’s chilling and it’s strangely comforting, too.
I've only seen the first episode, but I'm intrigued. And there are only 10 episodes (unless there's a second season), so it might be worth the time investment.
I thought this was a great attempt it creating a compelling story from the original novella. I really enjoyed the cast and like how the main story was the human interaction and not the mist itself. I don't want to spoil anything, I think people will really enjoy this show if they give it a chance. My only real beef with it is that it should have ended with one season. There is no real reason to drag this story out. All in all i do believe it was really worth watching.
I didn't read the book, but I did watch the movie on cable when I was younger and I love this TV adaption. It's the first show in a long time, other than Game of Thrones, that I've tuned into every week and I always want to see what happens next. I like the cast, the story and the pacing and I'm looking forward to more.
Bridgeton is too dull, its denizens likewise. The mystery will eventually be settled, some people will get eaten along the way, our heroes will save the day, the fog will disperse, the sun will come out. Ten episodes sure seems like a long road to get there.
So far, The Mist hasn’t given viewers much to care about. It’s all pretty standard plot thickeners. On the other hand, it’s not badly done--atmospheric, so to speak, if unseen horrors are your thing.
The show still feels dated. ... The gore is effective without ever hitting the level of a feature-film bloodbath. But what will determine whether The Mist is the summer hit it aspires to be isn’t the gore: It’s the effectiveness of the psychological terror. It is moderately successful in the first episode, at least.
The scares (and there are some genuine scares) are few and overly graphic. In tone and aesthetic, it feels like a rehash of CBS’s Under the Dome, another King adaptation that attempted to stretch its source material too far.
None of the horror scenes are constructed to evoke any sense of suspense. There are a few jump scares, but even timid viewers who hide behind their hands during PG-13 movies (perhaps this critic) have nothing to worry about here. It’s cartoonish when it’s not ethically gross--and sometimes it’s both.
I like it, is entertaining, great atmosphere, the cast acts very well, the sci-fi effects don’t look bad. Watch the 3 episodes in a row. Will not “change your life” but is very good to spend time so I Disagree with the other reviews
Adapting Stephen King's 134 page novella into a TV show meant to run for multiple seasons already left the door open for final product that would be very different than the source material. Rather than adapting the story and then continuing it on from where King left off, Spike's horror series took a much different route. We have entirely new characters and conflicts. As a matter of a fact, the only things actually used here are that there is in fact a mist enveloping the town of Bridgeville, Maine and there are references to Project Arrowhead. Other than that this is completely different to the point where it's kind of hard to really call this an adaptation of The Mist. What's inside the mist is also significantly different than the novella. It's almost like they attached King's name to the project on the off chance somebody might mistake this as some sort of rip-off. Make no mistake, this is entirely it's own thing.
Think of it like a slower-paced version of The Walking Dead. We watch various groups try and survive an end of the world scenario. As humanity breaks down and we learn more about the threat outside, things do get pretty interesting from time to time. It can be tough to not get involved when there are all these mysteries and hidden secrets are going around. But in order to get some answers one will have to put up with a cast of largely unlikable people, some questionable writing, and a very bleak series of events. At times the stupid and repulsive actions of the characters makes it hard to keep caring. Especially for those long stretches where nothing happens and seems like nothing is going to be revealed.
I respect the show for not being afraid of letting the blood and gore flow. It's a surprisingly violent show. The overall mystery of what exactly the mist is can be quite compelling. There are subplots involving the characters, groups, and their individual conflicts. The show tries to be as inclusive as possible. Incorporating people from almost all walk of life. It adds a little believability to the mix, but may offend more conservative sensibilities.
So there are some positive aspects to The Mist. The real downer is just that we spend so much time with characters that are impossible to like. As an introductory season it's a little weak, although the promise of season 2 looked strong. Still, I can see why it didn't succeed. It won't satisfy King purists out there, but has the chance to appeal to a small portion of viewers out there who like bleak worlds, can put with the crappy characters, and don't mind never getting to see a second season.
6.5/10
'The Mist' is a very lazy adaptation of both Stephen King's book and the 2007 movie. The characters are lifeless and the cast is pretty much terrible, although I have some hope of its improvement.
If you want to see people standing around wearing T-shirts and peering in and out of windows, talking like a first year screenwriting student wrote their dialogue, then THIS IS THE SHOW FOR YOU!
There must be a rule that any series that extends beyond a few episodes eventually turns into a soap opera. The prime example is, of course, the walking dead. Eventually the drama goes into preposterous country when it becomes melodramatic with fake characters under going exaggerated conflicts that keep on getting dished in unending remixed fashion for as long as the viewer base keeps lapping up the series. And that is of course a good thing. If you don't like it, don't watch it. Like I don't watch the walking dead.
The mist seems to be another attempt to start of a new walking dead series, but with big difference that the melodrama starts immediately. The characters are terrible run-of-the-mill. There is the brave teacher, the fearful but ultimately brave teenager, there is the no-good cop, there is the cowardly soldier, the dysfunctional bad mouthed addict. There is the people who start to kill others the moment the mist rolls into town. There is no build up that has people and society fall apart when confronted by a fearful thing that is beyond their means to deal with.
There are many more tell tale signs. The moment the mist appears apparently communications and electricity fail. We know why this is. It is to isolate people from the world. Yet this is so obviously a ploy because sometimes electricity and phones it does work because the story has to have people brave the mist in the forlorn hope that they can get help.
The most notable is with tap water. When one guy wants to wash his face in one scene with tap water, there is non. In the next scene in another building the tap water is fine and runs because the scene requires that it does.
Another tell tale sign is when the teacher, send into a part of the supermarket that is filled with the mist, gets confronted by a stranger that attacks here and whom she eventually kills in a fight. She doesn't tell the others... for reason.
This means that the writing is so weak that they concentrate on what is required for the scene but forget to remain consistent throughout the series.
Now granted, the source material is not much to work with. The mist is a short tale and this has prevented the tale from becoming a snore fest. This should queue you in. If King kept it short, the makers of this series must have added things to it, and even though King is a hack writer who has a limited repertoire when it comes to characters(he fills his books with the same types), the writers are not King. And this shows.
So the low down: a soap opera that turns into melodrama meant to cater to the walking dead audience. If you like that, go and watch it. Otherwise get bored out of your skull. Just saying.