Hot take: That alternate ending for The Mist is overrated

I saw the black and white version at a revival screening in Portland last month. Everyone around me was crying and calling it genius, but honestly it felt manipulative to me. The theatrical ending where they drive off into uncertainty fits the story's hopeless tone way better. Why does a sudden gut punch count as deep just because it's unexpected?

2 comments

2 Comments

jesse9942d ago

Read a piece by someone who worked on the test screenings for The Mist. Apparently the alternate ending was actually the original plan from the book, but the studio hated it and made them shoot the theatrical one instead. Found that interesting because the book ending is way more hopeless and ambiguous, not that sudden gut punch. The theatrical version feels more true to the story's slow burn dread in my opinion. That sudden twist feels like a cheat code for getting a reaction rather than earning it through the whole movie.

pat_coleman1d ago

Yeah, that bit about "a cheat code for getting a reaction" really hit home for me. I watched The Mist blind and that ending just felt so out of left field, like the movie earned its creepy crawling dread for 90 minutes just to throw it all away with a single jump scare. I actually rewound it and thought I missed something, but nope, it was just the movie pulling a fast one instead of trusting its own slow burn.