 "The Mist" is a horror novella by the American author Stephen King, in which the small town of Bridgton, Maine is suddenly enveloped in an unnatural mist that conceals otherworldly monsters. It was first published as the last and longest story of the 1980 horror anthology Dark Forces, edited by Kirby McCauley. A lightly re-edited version was included in King's 1985 short-story collection Skeleton Crew. The story is the longest entry in Skeleton Crew and occupies the first 133 pages. To coincide with the theatrical release, "The Mist" was republished as a stand-alone novella by Signet.
Plot summary
The morning after a violent thunderstorm, a thick unnatural mist rapidly spreads across the small town of Bridgton, Maine, reducing visibility to near-zero and concealing numerous species of bizarre creatures which viciously attack any human who ventures out into the open. The source of the fog and its inhabitants is never revealed, but strong allusions are made to an inter dimensional rift caused by something known second-hand to the townsfolk as "The Arrowhead Project", long rumored to be conducted at a nearby top-secret military facility.
The bulk of the story details the plight of a large group of people who become trapped while shopping in the town supermarket, among them a commercial artist named David Drayton (the story's narrator), Drayton's young son Billy, and their neighbor Brenton Norton. Also trapped in the market are a young woman named Amanda Dumfries and two soldiers from The Arrowhead Project; the soldiers' joint suicide lends some credence to the theory of the Project being the source of the disaster. Along with the horrifying physical threats outside, of which Norton is an early victim, the story also explores the rapid psychological breakdown of the terrified people inside the market. This breakdown allows for the rise to power of a religious zealot named Mrs. Carmody, who eventually convinces a majority fraction of the survivors that these events fulfill the biblical prophecy of the end times, and that a human sacrifice must be made to clear away the Mist; Billy and Amanda are the chosen victims. As the mob surges forward at her command, Mrs. Carmody is shot by Ollie Weeks, an employee of the market and one of the few survivors who has remained relatively sane. Drayton, Billy, Amanda, and two other survivors then escape to Drayton's car and leave Bridgton. Learning that the Mist has spread ahead of them across all of Maine, they prepare to drive on into an uncertain future.
Influences
According to King in the Notes section in Skeleton Crew, the inspiration for "The Mist'" came from a real life experience shortly before he began work on the story. While there were no strange creatures, a storm much like the one in the story occurred where King lived at the time. After the storm ended, he went to a local supermarket with his son the following day. While looking for hot dog buns, King imagined a huge prehistoric bird flapping around in the store. By the time the two were in line to pay for their purchases, King had the basis for his story: survivors trapped in a supermarket surrounded by unknown creatures.
While experiencing the atypical spring weather which precedes the massive thunderstorm at the start of the story, some characters make reference to the real-life Great Blizzard of 1888, which devastated much of the northeastern United States.
In the second issue of the Marvel Comics series The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born (a project overseen by Stephen King), the short prose story at the end of the book details events similar to those that occur in "The Mist". In the story, a beam quake (caused by an attempt to tear down the Dark Tower) splits the Earth, and from within the split rises a thick mist inhabited by dark creatures that have escaped from todash space into the real world. Though this phenomenon resembles the mist from the story "The Mist", it is actually a living entity known as a thinny.
"The Mist" bears resemblance to the earlier H.F. Arnold short story "Night Wire", in which a radio operator details how a malevolent mist falls over a city, containing creatures that consume townspeople "piecemeal".
Characters and creatures
This is a list of brief contextual descriptions of characters from the novel.
Human characters
David Drayton: Husband of Steff, father of Billy. A moderately successful commercial artist, David is the narrator of the story and one of the few survivors.
Billy Drayton: Billy is David's five-year-old son. He survives the events of the story.
Ollie Weeks: The assistant manager of the supermarket, Ollie is killed during the climactic escape attempt by a lobster-like creature which tears him in half with one of its claws.
Amanda Dumfries: A young woman who is trapped within the store, she becomes David's lover. She survives the events of the story.
Mrs. Carmody: An extremely religious old woman, Mrs. Carmody is driven insane by the scenario and eventually declares that a human sacrifice must be made to rid the world of the mist. She is shot and killed by Ollie.
Mike Hatlen: The town's selectman, Mike becomes one of the leaders in the market. He is killed by a "spider-web" thrust out of the mist.
Dan Miller: A man from out of town, Dan also becomes a leader in the market. He is killed by a spider-like creature in the mist.
Brent Norton: David Drayton's neighbor, Brent refuses to believe what is happening. He eventually leads a small group out into the mist, where they are killed by a giant, unseen beast.
Hattie Turman A middle-aged woman, she looks after Billy during the times that David is otherwise occupied. She is killed by a spider-like creature during the climactic escape sequence.
Hilda Reppler: An elderly, but tough and competent, schoolteacher, Mrs. Reppler proves to be one of the most capable of those trapped in the market. She survives the events of the story.
Jim Grondin: One of two men who sends Norm the bag-boy to his death. Consumed by guilt, he drinks heavily. He is later killed by an unseen predator during the expedition to the pharmacy.
Myron LaFleur: Jim Grondin's friend, who also contributed to Norm's death. He becomes one of Mrs. Carmody's followers. His fate is uncertain.
Norm: An 18-year-old bagboy, he goes outside to check the generator. He is killed by a multi-tentacled predator.
Ambrose Cornell: An elderly man, Cornell flees back into the Federal during the climactic escape sequence, and his fate is uncertain.
Stephanie Drayton: Stephanie is David's wife. David and Billy leave her at home when they go to the supermarket. Since the house windows were broken during the storm, she would have little chance of surviving the monsters.
Mr. McVey: The store's butcher. David Drayton surmises the smell of rotting meat finally broke his sanity. He becomes one of Mrs. Carmody's followers. His fate is uncertain.
Bud Brown: The manager of the store, he survives up until the climatic escape. He stays behind in the supermarket, however, and his fate is uncertain.
Buddy Eagleton: One of the stockboys. He is killed by injuries received by a "spider-web."
Creatures
* Numerous squid-like tentacles which kill Norm in the storage room. It is never seen or implied what exactly the tentacles are attached to.
* Small flying creatures between two and four feet long which swarm over the store windows at night. These creatures are described as being "horribly comic", and they have pink, burnt-flesh colored skin, and their eyes are on stalks protruding from their heads.
* Albino pterodactyls described as being "from a lunatic's nightmare", which pluck the aforementioned creatures off of the store windows. One enters through a broken window and kills a man named Tom Smalley.
* Spider-like predators which hunt by scent. These have the ability to project acidic "spider-webs" which can burn through materials like cloth and flesh.
* Giant lobster/scorpion creatures that prey on smaller creatures. Creatures similar to these appear in The Drawing of the Three.
* A creature described as a nightmarish living kite which flies by the road.
* A creature described as a giant dragonfly.
* A colossal behemoth with six legs. Other than the legs, with hundreds of the "bugs" attached to them, this creature is unseen. Although the creature's exact size is never specified, David gets the impression that its size would make a blue whale resemble a trout if both were posed together, and its weight is sufficient to leave six-foot-deep footprints in solid concrete.
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
The ZBS Foundation produced a full-cast audio dramatization of "The Mist", which used the Kunstkopf method for 3-dimensional sound. The audio dramatization was originally released on audio cassette and later on CD. After spending several years languishing in development hell, a film adaptation of the novella was officially greenlit, with Frank Darabont both directing and writing the screenplay. The film was shot in Shreveport, Louisiana, with outside scenes shot in Vivian, Louisiana, and stars Thomas Jane, Andre Braugher, Laurie Holden, Sam Witwer, Marcia Gay Harden, William Sadler and Toby Jones. It was released on November 21, 2007.
Video game adaptations
"The Mist" also saw an incarnation as a text adventure game for computers, published by Angelsoft and Mindscape Interactive in 1985.
"The Mist" was a partial inspiration for Valve Software's Half-Life video game series.
The makers of the Silent Hill series of video games used many aspects of King's "The Mist" in the original game.
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