Too bad about the lack of alternate endings. Were there any delete scenes? If so, were they any good?

I had heard Darabont was going to push for a b&w version. It’s good that he got it. Curious to see how it looks.

Anyways, I find the ending to be something King himself would have come up with, aside from the army showing up. Showing what actually happened to Drayton’s wife seemed appropriate, but killing those 4 people who he truly cared about without a second thought was a pointless and completely screwed up ending.

Before they leave the market, one of them says: “I’d rather die out there trying than in here waiting”

Being shot isn’t much better than waiting to die! In fact, it’s probably worse. Pretty much means your giving up on finding the end of the mist. But to the authors previous quote:
“On a lighter note, I told my wife that alternate endings were filmed (which will no doubt pop up on the DVD)”

I own the DVD right now: No alternate endings. Instead, you get to watch the entire movie in black and white….

It was an ineffective twist ending, if that’s what Darabont was going for, because for that to work he needed to strew some breadcrumbs suggesting Drayton might act as he did earlier.

I had other issues with the movie, but the ending completely undid my investment in the story so there’s really no point thinking about it further.

I can’t remember who it was, but some writer said when you’re writing a first draft your job is to just write the story. Your job during the rewrite is to take out everything that isn’t the story.

And Highland 2 certainly would have benefited from that. :)

I know a lot of purists will tell you that you can’t leave that sort of hole in a story, but look at what overexplaining did to Highlander 2.

I didn’t like not knowing what happened to the wife either, but then again, one of the things I like about King is that he doesn’t always feel the need to explain or give complete and total closure (one of my big problems with Koontz’s work). In the novella, you don’t even know for certain how the mist came. The military guys are in the grocery store, but they kill themselves before anyone can question them. It’s just assumed that it must have something to do with the Arrowhead Project.

You know, I always kind of hated not knowing what happened to his wife, but at the same time, I like the way it was done. Life is like that..you don’t always get to find out.

Our theatre also cheered when the religious woman got shot. People applauded. I might have been one of them, although I knew it was coming. Ollie was one of my favourite characters in the book, and the guy who played him in the movie performed the role well.

I also felt there was a bit too much preaching (ha-ha) on subjects like politics, war, religion, etc., that were already being discussed in a much more metaphorical way. But then it’s always hard to have a religious nut in your movie and not make it come off as cliche.

The scene where the monsters got into the story was less dramatic in the book. Only one bug and only one flying thing got into the store. Not a whole swarm. That’s definitely Hollywood doing its part to “fix” the story.

I still feel the same about the ending, here the morning after, but I definitely agree that it’s surprising the director was able to get away with it. It’s pretty severe. So I have my appreciation for the brutality of a non-Hollywood ending, but then I feel they would still have had that effect if they ended it before the army shows up. Still brutal, but not a sick joke at the audience’s expense.

They’ve actually done “The Manger,” (and several sequels to it, I might add) but it’s not worth seeing. Trust me. Take about your shite. I think someone did a short film of “The Boogeyman,” as I recall, but I haven’t seen it in years. Nobody’s done “Strawberry Spring,” that I know of, but they should. It’s one of my favourites, and I recall that you liked it, too.

I’ll have to get your new mailing address. I have a few books to send your way.

Good summation of the film. I wish you had been with us so you could have seen how pissed off Kat was. It was pretty amusing in a rubbernecking kind of way. :)

Jake, after 2 mediocre hours: *sigh* “If you were going to fuck this up, you could have at least gone whole-hog…”

Jake, after 2 mediocre hours and 7 minutes: “Oh. Well. There THAT is.”