The Mist (2007) is an American science fiction horror film directed by Frank Darabont. The film is created based on the novella “The Mist” by Stephen King which is published in 1980. Though the movie is from a decade ago it is still one of the most well know Lovecraftian horror films.
The Mist Ending Explained in Full Plot Story
* * * Spoiler Alert – If you haven’t seen the movie yet, turn back now! * * *
At the beginning of the movie, a man named David is seen drawing. We recognize him drawing a poster for Stephen King’s “Dark Tower” series. David’s profession is to supply such paintings to spacious studios.
There was a storm last night. That destroyed many of the houses around, including David’s. Woefully the storm destroyed the painting too. David lives with his family. There are only three members in the house, his wife Stephine, son Billy. The house is on the bank of a lake, and the other side of the lake is covered by mountains. After the storm, David notices that there is a dense mist coming from the mountain. The mist almost looks like clouds which seem kind of unusual.
David’s neighbor is Brent Norton, with whom his relationship is not going OK. The reason for the conflict is a little bit childish from my view. Norton has a boathouse, and David has a giant tree near the boathouse. Naturally leaves should fall on Norton’s boathouse and this makes them troubled.
The storm forged some compromises for both of them. It uprooted the tree and fell off the roof of Brent’s boathouse and car. It destroyed both the car and boathouse.
Stephanie told David she needed to stock more food in such weather because she wasn’t assured if she could get out of the house tomorrow. Therefore, David went out to buy food with Billy. David invited Brent to go with them because his car was overturned.
As they start to go to the supermarket, they follow rows of armed vehicles moving towards the mountain. It appears that they were in a hurry.
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After they arrive at the supermarket, three soldiers enter. An armed officer revives the policeman and informed them that their holiday has been canceled and they need to join duty right now. At that moment the city heard an emergency alarm and a man named Dan ran towards the supermarket. His nose is bleeding and looking terrified. He says that John Lee is dead and there is something in this very scary mist.
Suddenly a lot of mist enveloped the whole area including the supermarket. A man rushes to start his car but after a while, his screams are heard. Which means he is gone. At that time a big earthquake occurred which caused the whole super shop to shake. This shocked everyone, especially Billy.
A woman named Mrs. Carmody is seen in the super shop. She says that it is the end of the world. The earth is about to be destroyed. One woman wants to leave the super shop because she has a 6-year-old child alone in her house. She urges everyone to take her home but no one agrees to help, none even David. Next, the woman cursed everyone and went lost in the mist.
Because of a lack of fuel, the Emergency Generator at Super Shop is almost out of commission in the backyard. The door loudly knocks again, and everyone goes inside in fear. When the store’s salesman Norm insists on going outside to fix the generator, the store’s senior enables him to go. In the fog, Norm was dragged by a series of tentacles that twisted his body.
David cuts one of the tentacle heads with a sharp ax to show everyone else that there is something in the mist. Norton still doesn’t believe David, but the store manager and local biker, looking at tentacles, believe that there must be something. After sighting it, everyone started placing something next to the wall of the super shop because the wall was all made of glass.
At this point, Mrs. Carmody is discovered talking to herself. A lady named Amanda wants to uplift her, but Carmody starts shouting at Amanda. Saying that a lady like her is not worthy of talking to Carmody when she talks to God.
Norton doesn’t believe in these things at all and he goes out with this mist with a few others, one of whom is a biker. A rope is attached around the biker’s waist to sanction them know if anything is happening outside. Suddenly the rope pulls hard and after a while, it falls to the ground and then everyone starts pulling. At one point it is inspected that the whole rope is soaked in blood and the upper half of the biker’s body is gone.
During this moment, soldier Joseph and shopkeeper Sally have some romantic moments. However, it does not last long as some insects, such as scorpions, are drawn to the light and sit on the glass walls. After a while, birds like gigantic pterodactyls come to consume the insects. A bird penetrated the glass while consuming the insects and entered the room. This caused a chaotic situation in which two people forfeited their lives. One of them was Sally.
A man tried to slay the pterodactyl by burning it. But accidentally he burns himself out and dies. One of the insects sits with Mrs. Carmody, then she starts to pray and the insect flies away without doing anything to her. After witnessing this, many began to believe that Mrs. Carmody is talking to God. And she is the messenger of God. On that occasion, many people started following her.
Leaving Billy with Amanda, David goes to the pharmacy next door to get medicine. Joseph, Mike, Bobby, Irene, Jim, and Gold Medalist gun shooter Ollie on top go with him. Out-of-doors they recognize the body of the armed officer who was seen at the beginning of the movie. He is trapped in a spider’s web. Then a lot of spider babies came out of his body. A lot of gigantic spiders attacked them and killed Bob and Mike. Everyone else managed the shop.
Mrs. Carmody took almost all the people to her side. On the other hand, Joseph’s friend is strangled to death. Joseph is frightened by this and exposes that there was a government project called Arrowhead on the mountainside where the mist came from. In that project, scientists were researching creatures of other dimensions. Most likely the creatures came here by a dimensional gateway. At the instigation of Mrs. Carmody, everyone became enraged and stabbed Joseph and threw him out of the store. Mrs. Carmody says human sacrifice is needed to calm God’s anger.
The next morning David gathered a team to flee the store. But Mrs. Carmody interrupts them and tells Billy and Amanda to sacrifice. Hearing this, Ollie gets extremely furious and shoots Carmody.
Then they go outside. While David is looking for his car, the strange creature picks up Ollie and the other two. One of them gets frightened and goes back to the store. And the rest of them get in the car.
David is going to start the car when he sights Amanda’s gun lying on the car. As soon as he raised his hand for the captive, a gigantic spider came running towards him. Somehow David got into the car with the gun. At that time they moved towards the south. When they get to David’s house, they see that the spider has not left Stephanie either. David recognizes Stephanie’s body in the cocoon of the spider. David is thoroughly upset and cries a lot.
Then they headed south. The group continues to move forward and feels an earthquake and sees a monster-like figure in front of them. Despite its massive size, the creature has many tentacles and consists of six legs. It is also affecting many pterodactyls.
After a few hours of driving, the car runs out of fuel, and they become frustrated. David checks the gun and sees that the gun had only four bullets, but they are five in number. They decide that David should execute them rather than die at the hands of these creators. Then David shoots Billy and the other three and starts crying. Pulling the gun in his mouth, he kept squeezing the trigger again and again as if somehow a bullet came out of the gun and killed him. But neither does the gun accompany him. On that occasion, he gets out of the car and starts calling that mighty creature to dispatch him.
After a while, David investigates some noise behind him. He sees the military rescuing civilians, including the woman in the car whom David refused to help. David kneels in grief and cries with the thought, “Why didn’t I have a little more patience? And why didn’t I go out in the mist with that woman? Then it is possible I could have saved Billy!”The military is burning the spider’s web with fire and slowly all the mist is gone.
The movie ends here.
What is the Monster in the movie The Mist (2007)?
In the movie The Mist (2007), the monsters that emerge from the mysterious mist are a diverse array of otherworldly creatures. These creatures are depicted as Lovecraftian horrors, inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft, known for his cosmic horror themes.
The monsters are not given specific names in the movie, but they include a variety of grotesque and deadly creatures, such as:
- Giant Insects: There are giant, aggressive insects, including spiders and flying bugs, that attack and kill some of the characters in the supermarket.
- Pterodactyl-like Birds: Enormous bird-like creatures resembling pterodactyls appear and cause havoc in the supermarket, resulting in casualties.
- Tentacled Creatures: Large, tentacled beings emerge from the mist and snatch people, dragging them into the fog.
- Massive Creature: Towards the end of the movie, the characters encounter an enormous, multi-legged creature with tentacles and pterodactyl-like appendages, indicating a hybrid of different monstrous features.
The appearance of these monsters adds to the suspense and horror of the film, as the characters struggle to survive while being surrounded by these nightmarish creatures.
Why did David Shoot at the End?
At the end of The Mist (2007), David makes a heart-wrenching decision to shoot everyone in the car, including his son Billy, and spare them from the horrifying fate they would likely face if left to be killed by the creatures in the mist. This decision is driven by despair, hopelessness, and a desire to spare his loved ones from a more gruesome death.
Throughout the movie, the characters have been trapped in a supermarket, surrounded by deadly creatures from another dimension, and their situation has become increasingly dire. They have witnessed the horrifying and brutal deaths of their fellow survivors, and any hope of rescue or escape seems bleak.
In the final scene, after their attempt to escape by car fails due to the mist and the monstrous creature outside, David realizes that there is no hope for survival. He sees his son Billy and the others, including Amanda, Ollie, and an elderly woman, and decides that a quick death by gunshot would be a more merciful end compared to the agonizing and horrifying fate that awaits them outside the car.
David takes on the role of an executioner, sparing them from a more drawn-out and terrifying demise at the hands of the creatures. The choice is an act of desperation, made in the face of overwhelming despair and hopelessness. It is a deeply emotional and tragic moment in the film, reflecting the extent of the psychological and emotional toll the events in the supermarket have taken on the characters.
The Meaning of the Ending of the Mist (2007)
The ending of The Mist (2007) is one of the most controversial and thought-provoking aspects of the film. It leaves viewers with a profound sense of despair and raises questions about the human condition, morality, and the consequences of extreme situations.
In the ending, after David shoots everyone in the car to spare them from the monsters in the mist, he steps out of the vehicle, fully expecting to be killed by the approaching monstrous creature. However, just as he is about to be attacked, he hears the sound of military vehicles in the distance. The military arrives and rescues the survivors, including the woman David had refused to help earlier in the film.
The film’s ending presents a powerful twist and a moral dilemma for the audience. It challenges viewers to consider the consequences of actions taken in moments of extreme fear and desperation. David’s decision to kill his loved ones and then attempt to end his own life is a manifestation of the depths of despair and hopelessness he experiences after witnessing the horrors of the mist.
The ending raises questions about the value of human life, the unpredictability of events, and the potential for hope in even the darkest situations. It explores the notion that in times of crisis, people may make choices that they would not normally consider, driven by fear, uncertainty, and a primal instinct for self-preservation.
Some interpretations of the ending suggest that it serves as a critique of blind faith and extremism, represented by the character of Mrs. Carmody, whose radical religious beliefs contribute to the chaos and violence in the supermarket. The military’s arrival after the violence and sacrifice indicates that the religious fanaticism and human sacrifices were not necessary to appease or understand the mysterious mist and its creatures.
Overall, the ending of The Mist leaves audiences with a haunting and ambiguous conclusion, inviting reflection on the depths of human emotions, the complexities of moral decisions, and the unpredictable nature of life’s twists and turns.
Good Points
- Darkness and fear dominate the environment.
- The movie was developed from Stephen King’s novel and directed by Darabont, who successfully maintained all of its core elements.
- Definitely one of the best endings ever.
- Scares without jump scares.
Bad Points
- There are some stupid decisions that come from a few characters but they are negligible. Such as not believing the strange things after seeing the tale. Mrs. Carmody is trying to sacrifice Billy and everyone agrees without any logic.
- This is a classic Lovecraftian horror film. As a result, some viewers may feel a little bored.
Recommendation
If you love cosmic horror or Lovecraftian horror then this is a must-watch recommended by Brainless Pen.
Summary
Original Title The Mist
Other Title Stephen King’s The Mist
Genre Sci-fi/ Lovecraftian Horror/ Thriller
Runtime 2hr 06min
Original Language English
Director Frank Darabont
Producer Frank Darabont, Martin Shafer, Liz Glotzer
Release date November 21, 2007 (USA)
Music director Mark Isham
Cast of Characters
| Actor/Actress Name | Character Name |
|---|---|
| Thomas Jane | David Drayton |
| Laurie Holden | Amanda |
| Marcia Gay Harden | Mrs. Carmody |
| Andre Braugher | Brent Norton |
| Toby Jones | Ollie Weeks |
| Nathan Gamble | Billy |
| Alexa Davalos | Sally |
