The Mist: Movie Vs Book

[terrain]

I've been a looooong time fan of Mr King, and I think this may have been one of the best adaptations of his books to screen.
The whole movie was so true to the written story, and that's got to be difficult to cover in such a surreal invasion of our world, with no in-depth investigation of why it happens. We hear a character talk of a rumour of army experiments, but other than that, we're expected to just deal with the situation.
Sure, it's a horror story, but as usual, it's King's handling of people's relationships, especially under torment, that binds the horror together into something more.
Some of the more "emotional" novels have crossed brilliantly into film (Green Mile, Shawshank, Hearts etc), but some of the "scarier" ones can really lose their feel if not handled properly. Pet Semetary, Misery and Cujo were all great adaptations, but some others have crashed and burned for me.
The second that I saw the painting of Roland in the house in one of the first scenes in The Mist, I knew we were in for a good one. How much did Stephen King have to do with the direction of The Mist, does anyone know? I think I remember an extra segment on the DVD- with him and the director chatting about the film?
The Mist movie ending was really risky but worked perfectly for me. Nice twist on a book that was pretty much open ended from memory (it's been a while), and it kept the sombre feel of the whole story. Thoughts?

[Moderator]

Steve approved the script which director, Frank Darabont, had written and then trusted Frank to bring it to the screen so was mostly hands off for the day-to-day aspects of the production. He has said that he wished he had thought of the ending that Frank came up with for the film but he knew that many fans would react negatively to it and that they were taking a huge risk with that change.

[smpflueger]

I loved the movie too. I've never been satisfied with the scary novels as movies. The Stand never was a scary novel for me and I liked the miniseries for telling the story even though it was just okay. The Mist, a short story/novella, ended up being very strong as a scary movie. I loved the ending. I want to write an opera based on the novel with that ending.

[michal]

He has said that he wished he had thought of the ending that Frank came up with for the film but he knew that many fans would react negatively to it and that they were taking a huge risk with that change.

I am one of those fans I'm afraid. I preferred the slightly more optimist open-ending of the book over the complete pointless and to my opinion tacky ending of the movie. But of course, it's just an opinion

[Pucker]

What I like specifically about the movie ending is that David thought he had plumbed the darkest depths of horror and was finally ready to face whatever came out of the mist for him.

But he was wrong, wasn't he?

I can well believe that Mr. King wished he had thought of that.

It was perfect.

[Asatru]

I'm torn. I loved the novella's open endedness, but I'm sure if I'd seen the movie 1st, I'd have been happy with it. I am glad King approved, I was wondering about that!

[JellybeanJay]

I saw the movie when it first came out and was really disturbed by the ending. I found that I was still thinking about it days later. I just recently finished the novella and was much more satisfied by the ending as it was written. I like the open ending because it left me free to use my imagination to end the story how ever I wanted.

[Doktor_Slyus]

I think that book is always better than movie.
But in this case I can tell you that movie is great, especially the final scene

[Sigmund]

I read the story long before a movie was even thought of. I liked the ending in the story.
The ending of the movie was a punch in the throat which made it fantastic IMHO. Imagine, as far as you know the world is coming to a quick . grisly end. you have only four bullets, your little boy and three virtual strangers looking to you to fix things and you step up to the plate and put everyone out of a future of misery, horror, pain. You take the hit and are alone in the world of hell and then......here comes help.(Punch to the throat)

[blunthead]

I liked the movie. I felt it portrayed the experience described in the book very well, including the very intense drug store scenes, and it was high quality through and through, especially in terms of the special visual effects. I prefer the short story ending, though, especially as the movie ending lacks believability, imho.