The Mist

It is not simply the presence of genuinely terrifying creatures that gives the film its considerable potency. Nowadays we have come to expect realistic creatures and The Mist does not disappoint. But where Darabont succeeds in endowing his movie with-above-average shock effect is in his equally vivid and believable human characterisations. Notably, Marcia Gay Harden’s increasingly hysterical religious utterances, beginning with “It’s death out there. It is the end of days!” turn many of the trapped townspeople murderously against their fellows as their situation worsens. 

The key performances are uniformly effective, with British actor Toby Jones impressing as a store clerk with a surprising sharp-shooting skill.  They hold their own — dramatically, at least — with the mounting thrills and out-and-out shocks of a superior horror movie which grips like a deranged strangler and ends with the most bleakly chilling dénouement I have ever seen.