I shouldn't have read this. I assumed the spoilerishnessicity would be the ending that Stephen King wrote, which I already knew.

Although now of course I have to go shuffle my Netflix queue around a bit... :o)

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I saw this movie and as I'm watching it I was struck with a few things. The crazy Christian woman was over the top. That character seems to be in every Stephen King horror movie I've seen. I don't know what King has against overly zealous religious people, and even though the character always freaks me out, it seems like he overuses it. Though admitedly I'm not a big enough fan to say that it's definintely the case. Part of me wants to believe no one would be so niave to believe her; that the people in the story were extreme examples of certain types of people but crazier shit has happened in the real world so who knows how far people would be willing to go when faced with the kind of crazy crap going on in that movie.

Moving on, as I was watching the movie and I saw the 4 gun shots I at first assumed he had used one bullet to kill both his son and the woman so that all 5 of them had been killed. Then when he walked out all I said to myself was, there is only one way this movie can end that would satisify me and that's if the mist clears at that very moment and their deaths were for nothing, or even better if the military folk come to the rescue. So to see that happen mere moments later I was both shocked and extremely impressed they not only thought up the exact ending I would have done, but then actually executed it.

Also I thought some of hte plot was similar to Half-Life games. It was as if the movie was told from the prospective of the towns people in the Half-Life. In the sense that the military opens a portal to another dimension and weird alien things filter in.

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I thought the ending was perfect. Its what made me recommend this movie to so many people. Most don't like the ending because they don't think they could ever do that to their child. But the alternative was definitely worse.

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I like you're reading here a lot. A lot of people have derided the film's ending while celebrating the rest of the goodness. For me though, Darabont made a very bold choice, and I would much prefer that filmmakers make bold choices (and be supported by their studio counterparts) then have everyone striving to try to make the largest possible number of audience members happy.

Personally, I more or less fell into the original camp that you outlined that viewed the final twist as a rebuke to the party's seemingly fast loss of hope. I wouldn't go so far as to call the group nihilistic, because Darabont never went so far as to say they didn't believe in anything, but they did allow their hope to evaporate quite quickly, and in that final shot David pays handsomely for having doubted. I guess in some ways that actually mirrors what you lay out above, in that the hope they lost was hope in the resiliency of man. Having walked through the fires they walked through (particularly with their interactions with the soldiers), it's not all that shocking that they made the choice they did.

http://bloodygoodhorror.com/bgh

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The ending was perfect...i was actually shocked that it ended that way...but this movie scared the hell out of me because it made me wonder what i would do if I promised my son's not to "let the monster's get them" and I had 4 bullets in the gun...one of the best movies of last year...

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I fully agree with your take. It is an utterly depressing ending -- but exactly the right one, given what the characters (and audience) had gone through. Bravo to everyone for not copping out. Although I understand that the DVD has an alternate ending? Hmmm....

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After I heard the final four gunshots I thought to myself, "what happened to poor Frank Darabont?" For a man that made a movie about the importance of hope in the human spirit (the main idea I took from Shawshank) he had made one of the bleakest films I'd ever seen. I was sure he was going through a messy divorce or the loss of a loved one. Then the mist cleared and it hit me like a ton of bricks: Never give up hope. The downfall of our main character is that he forgot that sometimes hope is all we have, and we have to hold on to it no mater what. Thomas Jane's character thought he was out of options (he was without hope) and forgot to consider; What if the mist suddenly clears? Mr. Darabont (and Mr. King) taught us that hope can save a lost soul in Shawshank, and this time with The Mist, taught us to never give up hope. Well done gentlemen.

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I loved the ending. I thought it was exactly what most people would do in that situation, whether they would admit it or not. I think after spending days (weeks?) cooped up inside that store watching all manner of horrible fates befall your fellow man, eating a bullet would seem like a very reasonable way to go. A quick, easy, and relatively painless death.

...although I probably would have waited a few moments until I saw the creature coming with my own eyes. heh

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First, I am a huge fan of Mr. King, (and Mr. Darabont) and know for certain that they could have never ended the movie the same as the story--it was too open ended, and that's what a lot of people hate about King--he leaves a lot wide open at the end of his tales.

Second I am a huge fan of this movie. I don't scream in horror movies, jump, etc. because most of them just don't creep me out-- not only did this movie creep me out (I'll never look at spidrs and pharmacies the same way again) but the ending floored me. I thought what is the worst thing that could happen-- and then it happened. I don't know about the metaphors that can be associated with such an ending, to me that was the horror of the horror movie-- not blood, not guts and gore, not even the creepy crawlies, but the horror of humanity. Because even though the main characters left the grocery store--they end up in the same place-- they have killed when it wasn't necessary and now they have to deal with the consequences. I am still processing the ending, and I can't wait to buy the DVD for both the commentary and the deleted scenes.
Lastly, this made the second!!!!!! good Stephen King movie last year. I can only hope the streak continues (and please let Frank Darabont do "The Long Walk"!!!)

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theres a directors cut i didnt know that but it truly was 1 of the greatest endings ive seen in a long time

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As a Brit still waiting for this to arrive at cinemas I was lucky enough to watch this on DVD without any hype or any emphasis being placed on the ending - needless to say it floored me. Possibly the biggest Doh! in movie history.

Had this film just ended like Shaun of the Dead, with the army turning up just in the nick of time (spoiler there, sorry) had the ending been all smiles and sunshine, then The Mist would have been good, but instantly forgettable. We wouldn't be reading this blog for sure.

Too often directors are required to dip their toes in the muddy waters of horror then take them out so that by the end they can reassure everyone that everything is OK. This is lame!

I was brought up on films like The Fog, Carrie, Salem's Lot - films that ended with the horrors still very much alive. Only Se7en sticks out in modern times as being bold enough to end on a downbeat, and David Fincher had to fight for that I believe.

If anything I hope the Mist paves the way for a break from the standard formulaic movie making we've been forced to chew on recently.

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I had no problem with the ending, what I had a problem with was that it came seconds after he kills everyone, he couldn't have wandered for a minute in the Mist to then see the tanks? It seems to me that all that commotion they were making would've made some noise for them to hear. My main grip was that you get to care for these people and it seems like an unnecessary kick in the nuts to the guy.

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I agree. The movie is about showing you to cling to life, to whatever little you have left, to never surrender, no matter what happens, no matter how worse things are. Keep on going. It may just fade away.

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I just watched The Mist last night, and overall I thought it was good, but it reminded me too much of a Stephen King mini-series that I started to feel like I was watching a King mini-series.

Apparently, Darabont used the same crew that shoots the TV show The Shield, and I think it shows: The Mist definitely doesn't feel as cinematic as Darabont's masterwork, The Shawshank Redemption... it just feels like you're watching TV.

In regards to the ending: it's one of the better twist endings I've seen in a while. Nowadays, I feel like twists or reveals have become cheapened by how frequent they have become in movies, and most of them just happen to trick the audience. But with The Mist, the twist ending was surprising AND thought-provoking. I spent the whole movie thinking, "oh, this is a story that's based on the cynical notion that human-beings are inherently savage and self-destructive" but after it finished, I realized that Darabont had completely turned that assumption on its head. The tragic flaw of most of the characters was that they had too much faith in the worst in humankind and no real faith in the best of humankind.

And you could also do all these socio-political allegorical readings of the ending, which I think is great too.

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This was by far the greatest horror ending I've ever seen. These movies always tend to go one way or another: We WON! (Any movie where we beat the aliens) or We'll NEVER win! (Any movie that ends in "...of the Dead"). I'll tell you this: I was riveted by the look on Thomas Jane's face when he realized the woman that no one would help at the beginning, who just wanted to get home to her kids, survived and so did her kids. If he'd gone with her, maybe his family would still be alive. Again, not faith in God, but in doing what's right from the start and not after being pushed.

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I loved the ending! Glad it was changed from King's ending, of course some changes need to be made considering in the movie you don't know the creatures are coming from the Dark Tower Series.

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