How did I "Mist" this?

[HoosierCat]

Awesome. I'm not a big King fan but "The Mist" is IMHO his best horror story. It took them almost 30 freaking years but I finally get the movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG8n9x656zg

[BengalszoneBilly]

Stephen King IS the Master of Terror!

[HoosierCat]

I dunno, King has let me down too many times with lame endings. His characterization is and plot/tension buildup is great...then it all just falls apart for me in the last 20-30 pages. But I'm a big believer in the idea that the novel is a crappy format for (written) horror and that it's best done in short story format. "The Mist" started as a short story for a 1980 anthology called "Dark Forces" and ended up as a 40,000 word novella, which translates to about 120 pages (hardcover) -- lengthy but IMHO if you haven't scared the crap out of the reader by then you're probably wasting your time.

Now, King does better when he drives off the horror reservation with books like "The Stand." Tho I gave up on the whole "Dark Tower" saga about 4 books in. That bled over into fantasy and frankly if Tolkien can do the whole Lord of the freaking Rings in 3 books and you think you need more, IMHO you're just padding for dollars.

[BengalszoneBilly]

Now, King does better when he drives off the horror reservation with books like "The Stand."

I still own that classic 3 VHS tape movie, and consider it an all-time great.

[BlainThePain]

I dunno, King has let me down too many times with lame endings. His characterization is and plot/tension buildup is great...then it all just falls apart for me in the last 20-30 pages. But I'm a big believer in the idea that the novel is a crappy format for (written) horror and that it's best done in short story format. "The Mist" started as a short story for a 1980 anthology called "Dark Forces" and ended up as a 40,000 word novella, which translates to about 120 pages (hardcover) -- lengthy but IMHO if you haven't scared the crap out of the reader by then you're probably wasting your time.

Now, King does better when he drives off the horror reservation with books like "The Stand." Tho I gave up on the whole "Dark Tower" saga about 4 books in. That bled over into fantasy and frankly if Tolkien can do the whole Lord of the freaking Rings in 3 books and you think you need more, IMHO you're just padding for dollars.

If you haven't seen the film adaption of 1408 yet, you should read the story. The story was fantastic, but the movie stunk worse than the air in Cleveland. The good thing about the Mist, is it is adapted and directed by the same guy that did the Green Mile.

[HoosierCat]

If you haven't seen the film adaption of 1408 yet, you should read the story. The story was fantastic, but the movie stunk worse than the air in Cleveland. The good thing about the Mist, is it is adapted and directed by the same guy that did the Green Mile.

Thanks, I'll check it out.

[redsbengalsbucks]

My favorite King books are his fantasy/SCi-Fi efforts. The Stand, The Talisman ( collaboration with Peter Straub) and Dragon Eyes are my favs. His character buildup can sometimes be tedious, but once you get to a certain point you are on a first name basis with all the characters and you cant put his book down till the end. King is one of my favorite writers.

[BlainThePain]

For any Stephen King fans that might be wondering, I did not get my screen name from the train in the Dark Tower series. I came up with this name back in 1999 to use as a screen name for a video game, and hadn't even read any King at the time. It just turned out to be a coincidense. It's actually one of the reasons I started reading King. People kept bringing up the Dark Tower to me, so I finally decided to check out some of his work.