Another view of "The Mist":

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Director Frank Darabont makes masterful use of silence and stripped-down, documentary-style camerawork that naturally places you in the middle of the action.

Grade: B+

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"The Mist" is a film about how people react to being truly afraid.

Can we stay strong when faced with unknown dangers? Will we seek comfort in religion? Or is it human nature to find a scapegoat and destroy it for the sake of doing something?

This is relevant horror — a monster-packed allegory for our times with insights into American ideologies and the battle against terrorism — unlike "Lions for Lambs."

The movie begins with a storm slamming a small Maine town, cutting electricity and phone lines. Local movie-poster artist David Drayton (Thomas Jane) — his house and boat both smashed by trees — leaves his wife at home to hit the supermarket with his small son, Billy, and neighbor Norton (the great Andre Braugher). They're at the busy store when a thick fog rolls in. Suddenly, no one can see five feet out the window.

One shopper heads to his car, vanishing into the mist before unleashing a clearly-I'm-being-killed-right-now scream. This is when the shoppers elect to keep the doors shut.

Slowly, the terror threat rises. A couple of local hicks (Norton's word, not mine) ignore Drayton's warnings about the door in the storage room — "I heard a noise; don't go out there" — and make a stupid, unnecessary decision that gets a young clerk named Norm massacred by spiky tentacles.

This leads to the following exchange:

Drayton: "You got that kid killed, and I've got his blood on me!"

Hicks: "We didn't twist his arm."

Drayton: "He's a kid. He's supposed to be stupid. What's your excuse?"

This is the first monster attack, and the people in the store don't believe it. (A couple of employees don't even remember working with a Norm. Message!) Soon, though, it becomes clear that going outside means certain death. At night, the horrors can smash through the supermarket's plate-glass front and bring the fight inside.

The role of strong dad suits Jane, who's terrific in this movie, but the real standout is Marcia Gay Harden as Mrs. Carmody. She has an early moment in a bathroom stall, praying to God by candlelight, swearing she will preach his word, then begging to be let into heaven.

When the things outside start killing people, she really cranks up the sermonizing. This is what we get for not leaving the creator to his secrets. This is what we get for abortions and stem-cell research. (Seriously, she says that.)

Carmody is a wonderful character to place among terrified normal folk while monsters loom outside. Worse than obnoxious, she's dangerous, and her old-school views on religion — involving bile and scorpions and the true, Jesuit God — are horror-flick gold.

"The Mist" excels as frightening entertainment because its entire two hours are refreshingly hardcore. The special effects are admittedly cheesy — they just don't look real — but outside the store are nightmare creatures that vary in size astronomically. The giant locusts and spiders are so gothic — in sound and appearance — you can't help but shiver. They're the stuff of pulp horror, brought brilliantly to life by director Frank Darabont.

Darabont has adapted Stephen King's drama ("The Shawshank Redemption") and mystical fiction ("The Green Mile") with blazing success, so it seems fitting he'd handle King's horror so well. There are terrifying moments in "The Mist" that will linger in your mind long after it's over.

As will the ending, an unnerving few minutes that hit like a battering ram. Any doubt the film is commentary on America's penchant for screw-ups on a massive scale is washed away with the devastating climax.

There's no partisanship at play here, and the conclusion doesn't moralize. It unnerves, like a great Stephen King horror movie — in the tradition of Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" — should. There are too many great pieces here to pass up.