The following article contains spoilers.
The Mist is not only one of the best Stephen King adaptations, but has one of the most shocking endings in movie history. For those looking to relive the horror, or experience it for the first time, the 2007 movie is streaming on Tubi – or will be on October 1st in some regions. The 2007 Frank Darabont film is a classic chiller to get everyone in the mood for the beginning of the spooky season. It works as a fine introduction to the horror marathons everyone will be indulging in throughout October.
Fans of the author will be able to stream The Mist for free on the streaming service, although they will have to suffer those sometimes dubiously placed ads. While Tubi offers every kind of genre there is, horror has become one of their specialties, and surely, their servers will be running hot during the Halloween season.
What is The Mist About?
The Mist is the story of residents in Bridgton, Maine, who are recovering from a horrible thunderstorm from the night before. David Drayton, his wife Stephanie, and their son Billy live on the outskirts of town, and make a fateful decision to visit the local supermarket for supplies. While there, they find the building being surrounded by an unworldly mist and soon discover that there are things lurking in the gloom, but the dangers don’t all come from the Lovecraftian creatures.
The movie is based on the 1980 novella of the same name published in an anthology called Dark Forces. Then, in 1985, King added an edited version to his own collection of stories called Skeleton Crew. Frank Darabont had been on a quest to adapt the film to the big screen even before he made another King classic, The Shawshank Redemption. After more than a decade, he finally had the chance to not only adapt King’s story, but give it the iconic ending that the author did not.
The Mist Ending: One of the Most Heartbreaking Moments in Cinema History
There’s only one reason why The Mist is considered King’s most devastating adaptation. And we’re dealing with the author of works that inspired Misery, Apt Pupil, and Thinner, movie adaptations with horrific endings that felt anything but hopeful. But curiously, it wasn’t always like that for The Mist. The story’s original ending has David driving off with the other survivors and receiving one shred of hope over the radio: There are more survivors out there, and humanity has a shot.
Nevertheless, Darabont decided to get rid of the ending for the film adaptation. He did not do so without running his plan past King first, and the author was more than happy with it. If anything, Darabont’s fight came from the studio,who were not sure about the dark tone of the movie’s conclusion. The Shawshank Redemption‘s ending scene with Tim Robbins’ Andy reuniting with Morgan Freeman’s Red was added when test audiences hated the original ambiguous ending of Red “hoping” to see Andy again but not actually meeting up with him – which was how King’s story ended. When it came to the last ten minutes of The Mist, Darabont was adamant that he would not change it for anyone. This leads to a truly horrifying finale that will remain with you long after the movie ends.
In the film’s revised ending of the story, when things take a turn for the worse in the supermarket as psychopathic communal behavior creeps in, David and his son are forced to leave, and are accompanied by three others. After discovering his wife is dead, and with their vehicle running out of gas, the group are stranded in the mist, with what appears to be gargantuan Cthulhu-like monsters coming for them. David realizes that there are only four bullets left in his gun, and rather than allow the others to suffer a horrific fate in the maw of the monster, they decide that he will kill the four passengers, including his own son.
After four shots are heard, David leaves the vehicle, wailing at what he has done and waiting for the monster to take him. However, the killer twist comes when, instead of being torn apart by a creature, the growling sound turns out to be army personnel rolling into the town to save everyone from the threat. David is left on his knees with the knowledge that he killed his son for nothing.
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The Mist Ending, Explained
Stephen King may have originally written The Mist, but Frank Darabont gave us a complex and devastating ending. Allow us to explain.
This gut-punch of an ending was the film’s ultimate attack on the senses of an audience who was already distressed by such a tense film. Ending it like that was a jab that no one expected because the original story ended on a somewhat more hopeful and ambiguous note. Additionally, Darabont’s previous movies all turned the darkness of their tales into something with a glimmer of hope at their conclusion. What is certain is that it was an ending that ensured very few people who have seen The Mist ever forget it.