USA: The Mist (Frank Darabont, 2007)

[kevxxx1]

...I must add that I generally prefer to see films that don't slavishly follow the book.

I totally agree with this. A film cannot compete with a reader's imagination from a book, so has to be looked at in cinematic terms. Stephen King himself hates some adaptations of his books which I think are the best films (ie Kubrick's The Shining, Hooper's Salem's Lot) and raves about some of the lesser TV adaptations.

[AndyBlade]

Stephen King himself hates some adaptations of his books which I think are the best films (ie Kubrick's The Shining, Hooper's Salem's Lot)

I'm not sure where you get the idea that King hated Salems Lot from. In his book Danse Macabre (and in interviews before and after publication) he's commented that he liked the script, the way the town looked on screen and the performances and was pleased with how it turned out. The only think he didnt like was the nosferatu look of Barlow, saying 'it was a dreadful steal make up wise'

George Romero turned down the chance to direct when it became clear it was going to be made for TV. He didnt like the script, and complained that the Barlow character was merely foil for James Mason.

[kevxxx1]

Sorry, I thought the other film he disliked was Salem's Lot, but you're right, it was something else that I can't recall right now

[Wynter]

Decent film, not great but enjoyable.

As for the black-and-white version being a credible extra ... really?

Couldn't you just turn the colour or contrast down on your television, while watching the regular version?

Remain vigilant against bogus extras - otherwise we're giving mileage to distributors that will unscrupulously con us time after time!

I think it is a genuine extra as Darabont wanted to shoot in black and white but was not allowed to do so. With regards to just turning the colour down I don't think that this would do the film justice as they deliberately went for the same cameras used by the Coens to film The Man Who Wasn't There. That film was initially shot in colour and then changed to black and white when the film makers saw the amazing texture that they were able to achieve. Darabont states that this enabled him to make the film the studios wanted whilst also getting a decent b&w version for the DVD.

For the record the black and white version has not extra footage but has a more paranoid feel to it.

[viva la gore]

I really enjoyed this thought it had really strong characters and a cast of familiar faces. Shame the Blu ray review wasn't a bit better
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/1606/mist.html

I'll still be picking it up though when this long line of birthday presents have been bought. My families birthday all seem to come at once and being so close to Christmas I am always a bit skint towards this time of year.

Play.com are giving the book away with it's DVD and Blu ray release
http://www.play.com/DVD/Blu-ray/4-/6...searchsource=0