The third time, (The first being “Shawshank Redemption” and the second being “The Green Mile.”) is still the charm as Writer/Director Frank Darabont continues his streak of Stephan King goodness with yet another faithful, quality adaptation of one of the author’s lesser known novellas. “The Mist” comes from King’s book of short stories, called “Skeleton Crew,” about an assemblage of eclectic townsfolk from a small New England town; (big surprise) stuck in the local supermarket after a huge storm the night before left them without supplies when a mysterious Mist rolls in. Causing panic, the townsfolk start to turn on each other as they gradually realize the cloud outside is not the work of Mother nature. Darabont has assembled a fine group of actors all doing excellent ensemble work; from the top with Thomas Jayne as David Drayton, the protagonist who tries not to be a hero, but also tries to keep a sane perspective and protective his young son, Billy against this insane situation. Supporting work from William Saddler, who goes from prospective bully to squealing coward. Andre Braugherre as Drayton’s neighbor, Brent Norton underscores the stereotype of scumbag lawyers who do not rise to the occasion as he uses his skills and talent to work against him. Some lesser known and unknown faces are sprinkled throughout, but all make their marks with their limited roles. The stand out is Oscar winner Marcia Gay-Hardin as the religious, acid-tongued zealot, Mrs. Carmundy who spooks the sane and converts the weak with her hate-filled prophesying and biblical Armageddon. The real star is Darabont who once again sees through the superficial trappings and gets to the heart of King’s story. Very much in the tradition of Rod Serling and Robert Heinlein; who were both so good at setting up a genre premise and exploiting the audiences expectations to the hilt by dissecting real world themes; Darabont does the same and gives us several things to ponder while he’s scaring us stupid. Much to his credit, he changes very little of King’s story, except for the ending, which has the author’s blessing. Scenes are rearranged or added, but nothing is deleted, the power of the story remains which has fun with it’s themes of paranoia and religious zealotry leading up to a nut puncher of an ending. Movies like this area always fun to watch, because like in real life crisis situations, there are always the heroes, the cowards and the opportunists. Although written in the early 80’s, it’s strangely relevant as if reflecting a political microcosm of the current state of America. The heroes are kicked around, shouted down and threatened, the cowards save their asses while the opportunists, here, Mrs. Carmundy, the bible-thumping nutjob, creates panic by swaying those ready to make a move without thinking it through, thinking for themselves and using logic and the facts to solve their crisis. Her influence reaches a scary, suspicious religious apex with the murder of a rebellious servicemen and Carmundy’s well deserved comeuppance. In this era of torture porn and remakes, “The Mist” is a sneaky little gem, perhaps a soon to be horror classic, that is better than it should be on such a thin premise. One of the most talked about endings in recent memory took great big balls of steel to pull off, in this politically correct era; I was surprised to see it. It pronounces what the movie was saying all along- don’t panic, stay calm in a crisis and think it through! If only Drayton had waited it out… Without sounding cliché, the adjectives are correct, it is one powerful mother of an ending that belongs in the 1970’s era of horror/sci-fi and bless Darabont for sticking to it and seeing it happen giving it a twist so neat that M Night Shama-Lama-Ding Dong would covet with envy. Under the mentorship of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, Frank Darabont has certainly shown he is one of our finest working directors today. I regret missing this during its theatrical release, but thanks to DVD, this uncompromsing good film is a welcomed surprise and can be enjoyed for years to come.