50 Greatest Horror Movies Of The 21st Century

28. The Mist

Get Out Daniel Kaluuya
TWC

Plot: An artist (Thomas Jane) and his son get trapped inside a supermarket as a mysterious mist, filled with monsters, cloaks their town. Unfortunately, it soon turns out the people in the supermarket may be more dangerous than what's out in the mist.

Forget the ending, which is what this movie is most often remembered for. Yes, the ending is ballsy and emotionally shattering, but in retrospect maybe it's a little too shock for shock's sake, and there is so, so much more to Frank Darabont's bone-chilling vision of societal collapse.

Having once made one of cinema's most inspiring, feel-good films in the form of The Shawshank Redemption, Darabont ironically delivered one of the darkest, most nihilistic horror films of the modern era just over a decade later. A film with absolutely no faith in humanity, The Mist is no easy watch, but when a film is this haunting, this emotional, this thought-provoking and this well-written, acted and directed, the effort is more than worth it.

The CGI is hideous, but otherwise, The Mist is another one of the few genuinely great American horror films of the 2000s.

Contributor

Film Studies graduate, aspiring screenwriter and all-around nerd who, despite being a pretentious cinephile who loves art-house movies, also loves modern blockbusters and would rather watch superhero movies than classic Hollywood films. Once met Tommy Wiseau.