Based on a Stephen King novella, "The Mist" is the latest in a very long line of films adapted from the work of Maine's master of horror.
The movie, which opened Wednesday, puts the gross back in grocery shopping. A cross-section of Mainers find themselves trapped in a supermarket by monstrous creatures lurking in the namesake meteorological phenomenon.
"The Mist" may not be at the bottom of the King movie list, but it's down there. Of course, it has some pretty stiff competition. This is something of a puzzle, actually: so many popular novels and stories, yet so many dud movies adapted from them. Not all King adaptations have been bad. Like tentacles emerging from the, well, mist, here are 10 that stand out.
"The Shawshank Redemption" (1994)
King's favorite director is presumably King (he directed "Maximum Overdrive," 1986). Frank Darabont, who directed this redemptive story of Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman trying to escape from prison, has got to be runner-up. He also directed "The Mist" and "The Green Mile."
"Apt Pupil" (1998)
Bryan Singer's follow-up to "The Usual Suspects" centers on a most unusual suspect: Ian McKellen, who's discovered to be a Nazi war criminal by his young suburban neighbor (Brad Renfro). Finding out what really happened can get a person in big, big trouble when King's involved.
"The Shining" (1980)
Jack Nicholson goes nuclear with his nuclear family during a stint as caretaker at a snowbound resort hotel. Director Stanley Kubrick may not have succeeded in his purported aim of making the ultimate horror movie, but he came close.
"The Dead Zone" (1983)
A man wakes from a five-year-long coma with psychic power. He's enlisted in the search for a killer. Christopher Walken as the man? David Cronenberg as the director? What's not to like?
"Carrie" (1976)
The movie that made a star of Sissy Spacek. She plays a telekinetic teen who presides over the senior prom to end all senior proms. She also shows up (or at least part of her does) in one of the all-time great shockeroo endings.
"Misery" (1990)
Lucky James Caan (a famous novelist) finds out that the nurse who rescues him when his car crashes in the middle of nowhere is one of his biggest fans. Unlucky James Caan then finds out she's the fan from hell. Kathy Bates, as the fan, won a best actress Oscar.
"Stand by Me" (1986)
It's the first non-horror King adaptation, though a corpse does figure in the plot. Four boys on the verge of adolescence head into the woods in search of said body. Truths are learned, bonds forged, and River Phoenix begins his short-lived stardom.
"Dolores Claiborne" (1995)
Bates again, this time as a woman in rural Maine accused of murder. Jennifer Jason Leigh, as her high-powered journalist daughter, seeks to find out the truth - never an altogether good idea with King. The truth shall make you free? The truth shall make you scared.
"The Running Man" (1987)
The ultimate satire of reality TV, not least of all because it predates the genre by more than a decade. In 2019, the most popular network game show follows prisoners trying to elude their executioners. Arnold Schwarzenegger is the contestant (he's innocent, of course). Richard Dawson, of "Family Feud" fame, is the host (innocent he's not).
"Christine" (1983)
The usual problem with King adaptations is that the director isn't up to the material. Occasionally, he's above it (Kubrick, Cronenberg). Here, with John Carpenter, the fit is just right. The villain is a '58 Plymouth Fury that's unsafe at any speed. Vroom vroom? Doom doom.
