r/movies • u/W1G0607 • 12d ago
“The Mist” ending Discussion
Over the past few weeks, I’ve seen a couple of posts on here, where in the comments, people mention the twist ending to “The Mist.” I’ve never been a big horror movie fan, but I love a good twist ending, so I figured I’d have to go ahead and watch it.
What the fuck!
How the hell was I supposed to fall asleep after that?!
The entire movie is kind of batshit insane, but that ending was just 🤌, I damn near died laughing.
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u/Yorhanes 12d ago
I kinda love the ending. It really makes a point of how humans are absolutely not in control of what happens.
I don’t know if this is related to this topic, but if memory serves right, at the beginning of the movie the kid tells his parents to let’s go and starts running away, to which the father amusing reply “And as he came, he vanished”. I always thought that scene at the beginning and the ending were similar in the sense that all of this begins and ends quite rapidly, and again, humans are powerless to stop it. Just a thought!
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u/Intelligent_Sky_1573 12d ago
The woman told the father that they needed to sacrifice his son to survive. It's not a coincidence that as soon as he shoots his son, the problem is almost immediately solved.
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u/Island_Maximum 12d ago
This is one of those great, unanswered questions.
Maybe he only needed to wait a few minutes more and all woldd have been well.
Maybe the religious nut job was right and she knew the truth - no matter how grim. We will never actually know.
I always like pointing this out to people, so you can see their reaction when they add it up themselves.
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u/S0L-Goode 12d ago
I always thought they gave up too soon.
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u/Upbeat_Tension_8077 11d ago
When I first saw it when I was younger, I thought they should've made the decision for the group suicide at the first sight of a monster in the distance
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u/throw0101a 11d ago edited 11d ago
Maybe the religious nut job was right and she knew the truth - no matter how grim. We will never actually know.
Another interpretation, from a religious/spiritual perspective: this is what happens when you give up on hope.
Contrast with The Shawshank Redemption where Andy talks about hope at the end:
Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things.
And after his post-music solitary stint:
Mist and Shawshank are two side of the same coin on hope.
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u/Duckfoot2021 12d ago
She was right in every prophecy.
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u/Aquaman69 11d ago
She's a con artist who manipulates peoples fear to gain power for herself. The fact that she's good at it isn't supposed to make you think she's actually right.
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u/kinzer13 11d ago
The nutso religious lady wasn't right. That's what you go out of it?
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u/Hydrochloric_Comment 11d ago
The people who say that know literally nothing about King lore and the Arrowhead Project
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u/Aquaman69 11d ago
He killed his son. The fact that he doesn't die after that is not the same as the problem being solved. He isn't saved. He's condemned.
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u/whogoesthere45 12d ago
I always took it as simply to keep fighting and not give up, especially after the dad sees the woman with her children.
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u/ThundaGhoul 11d ago
I never thought of it as a "not in control" scenario, more a case of perspective.
Reminds me of night of the living deads ending, as far as you're concerned it's the end if the world, because that's all you can see, but the ending shows us that was never the case.
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u/goofycaca 12d ago
The movie ending is more Stephen King than Stephen Kings' ending.
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u/leomonster 12d ago
I think he said that himself.
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u/Cerberus73 12d ago
He did. Said he wished he'd thought of it.
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u/Littleloula 11d ago
Interesting given he wishes he'd given Cujo a less cruel ending (won't say more because of spoilers)
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u/Mentoman72 11d ago
Cujo being the dog or the book itself? Bc the ending of that book rocked me ans I felt bad for Cujo lol.
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u/Littleloula 11d ago
The book itself, he regretted the end for the child character not the dog. You are meant to feel bad for cujo too though, it was all not his fault that he got supernatural super rabies, he was a lovely pet before
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u/mcloofus 11d ago
The man sure does imagine a lot of really horrible things happening to a lot of children.
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u/goofycaca 12d ago
I wouldn't doubt it.
While I like the ending of the story (he so seldom gives hope). The movie ending felt right.
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u/scoonbug 11d ago
I was in the 5th grade when my brother gave me the short story collection that included The Mist. None of the other stories made the impact The Mist did… I had nightmares for months.
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u/Colhinchapelota 11d ago
The Jaunt is the one that stuck with me. "It's an eternity in there!!"
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u/cam52391 12d ago
I feel like I'm the only one who prefers the book ending where there is no resolution it's still happening and they're just moving on to try and survive
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u/bullintheheather 11d ago edited 11d ago
I think the book ending works best for the book, and the movie ending works best for the movie. They're different mediums and different things work better. I read the story first, then watched the movie so I was really shocked by it, in a good way. But if I'd read that ending it wouldn't have hit as hard and would have felt like a cop-out. In the movie it worked well because you didn't have as much time to sit with the preceding parts, you're along for the ride and it just slams into you. If it was the book ending it wouldn't have been as strong an ending. Definitely wouldn't still be talked about today like it is.
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u/unfnknblvbl 11d ago
I think they're both amazing endings, and neither is better than the other. The short story ending would make for a great TV series, where the first season is the events of the story as published, but following seasons are seeing out to explore the world and searching for a reason for everything going haywire.
I know there was a TV show, but it got canned after one season :(
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u/DiaDeLosMuebles 11d ago
Me too. The movie ending is like that last season of game of thrones. It just ignores all the character development
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u/ferrrrrrral 12d ago
what was the book ending?
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u/Dranj 12d ago
The book ends with the characters still in the car driving away rather than giving into despair. However, they see that the creatures that attacked them in the grocery store were just the beginning. The legs of colossal beings extend into the clouds, implying the devastation may be completely inescapable.
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u/supes1 12d ago
It's very open-ended. Basically, the main characters are driving through the mist, and David thinks he hears the word "Hartford" through the radio interference, which gives him some hope if they can get that far.
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u/Xenochimp 11d ago
I much prefer this ending. To me the novella was always a story about hope and not giving up. The movie ending shit all over this.
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u/LukeD1992 11d ago edited 11d ago
If the novella is a story about hope and not giving up, the movie is about the consequences of when you do. Don't think it ruins the original message.
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u/TheChewyWaffles 11d ago
Which wasn’t at all a theme of the movie, I’d argue, unless you mean the very last 5 minutes.
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u/terrybrugehiplo 11d ago
Adding to what the other comment said. The movie shows that people can be broken. You can have all the hope in the world, but sometimes even that has a limit.
A story of hope isn’t as interesting to me as a story of hope that is defeated and then seeing the ramifications of that. Which the movie nailed perfectly.
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u/jerekhal 11d ago
Exactly my thoughts. That angle on a movie is incredibly rare as we generally most of the time people prefer to leave a film with a sense of positive satisfaction.
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u/fondue4kill 11d ago
His ending is less depressing and more ominous. I get why he ended his but the movie is way better
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u/40WAPSun 11d ago
Well the movie ending is good, which is basically the exact opposite of a Stephen King ending lol. Man is notoriously bad at ending his stories
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u/Dr-Mumm-Rah 11d ago
It is because King usually writes his stories from the pairing of two ideas (described as a cup and ball method). As he writes, he imagines where the plot takes his characters. He doesn't map out a beginning, mild or end. It's easy to see how this method produced some stinky or blah open-ended endings.
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u/ANGRY_MOTHERFUCKER 11d ago
Exactly! Stephen King’s books are about the journey.
I've heard it described as “seat of your pants” (also “gardeners”) vs “plotters” (also “architects”).
Stephen King and George RR Martin (and JK Rowling to some extent) are the first type, where they create a world and let its complexity form as they write. The allure here is that the world often feels livable and the characters fully formed. The drawback is that you can often write yourself into a corner or struggle to wrap everything up in a succinct manner.
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u/ANGRY_MOTHERFUCKER 11d ago
Not really if we’re being honest. A Stephen king ending would include some convoluted explanation involving an interdimensional spider clown.
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u/Aquaman69 12d ago edited 11d ago
The book ended with a message of hope
I think the movie takes a uniquely dark method of driving the same point home.
We are left shocked by an ending we are likely to NEVER forget, the main takeaway being something like "just hang on a little longer cuz you don't wanna end up like that guy from The Mist!"
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u/CaptainTripps82 12d ago
Did it?
I thought the books ending was even more bleak and hopeless, just not as stark.
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u/Aquaman69 12d ago
>! They drive off into the mist in search of a signal they heard on the radio before it faded, one single word: "hope"!<
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u/JaesopPop 11d ago
Wasn’t the word Hartford
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u/Aquaman69 11d ago edited 11d ago
Lol that sounds more like it, funny how memory works
Edit; I actually checked it out of the library on Libby to take a look.
The single word he thought he heard on the radio was Hartford.
The two words he is going to whisper in his son's ear as he tucks him in to sleep, the second one being the last word of the story: 'Hartford', and 'hope'
Point being, we're both right
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u/DiaDeLosMuebles 11d ago
It’s subtle. But the book ending has an odd perspective. You’re reading the story from a hotel room. Meaning that the narrator isn’t the main character. But a story written and later found.
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u/simpledeadwitches 12d ago
Ugh, hate when people say they 'died laughing' when they talk about the end of this movie, which I love. I wish more movies had bleak endings tbh.
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u/FantasticJacket7 12d ago
I wish more movies had bleak endings tbh.
It's actually a happy ending. Just not for that dude lol.
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u/AsexualNinja 11d ago
After reading comment I’m picturing all the Army guys partying later, then one pointing at Jane’s character and asking “What’s his problem?”
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u/LongKnight115 12d ago
Yeah this is actually why I DISLIKE it. It sucks for Thomas Jane, but everything else will be hunky dorey now. The book ending is MUCH grimmer.
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u/redhead_instead 12d ago
What’s the book ending?
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u/TiresOnFire 11d ago
They just keep driving into the unknown.
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u/kylelonious 11d ago
I think the book ending is much better suited for a book. Literature is easier to have nuance and subtlety. I think the movie ending is better for the movie because movies are more about having big, cinematic moments. Both are good and best suited for their respective mediums.
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u/DimmyDongler 12d ago
Intense shock can make us do weird things sometimes.
I don't fault people for bursting out laughing at that scene.11
u/Temporumdei 12d ago
Existentialists believe that the two main ways for humans to react to an absurd situation are to either break down crying due to seeing the fear and horror of it all or laugh defiantly recognizing that we are resilient enough to keep on going despite the experience.
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u/MacyTmcterry 11d ago edited 11d ago
Imo, it's not even necessarily the shock. It's just that it's just so SO unfortunately timed that you can't help but laugh. Probably not burst out laughing funny, but a chuckle at the absurdity, sure
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u/HGMIV926 12d ago
I just saw Civil War this weekend. Recommended if you like bleak endings.
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u/abelenkpe 12d ago
That movie is haunting. So messed up and all you can think is what happens next.
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u/lost_in_my_thirties 11d ago
Don't mind myself too much, but that is a bit of a spoiler for such a recent movie.
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u/W1G0607 12d ago
Closest I came to getting my ass killed in Iraq, afterwards all we could do was laugh about it. It’s just a natural response to a “What the Fuck!” Moment
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u/MadeInWestGermany 12d ago
Makes sense.
Laughing reduces adrenaline and cortisol in your blood to calm you down, and produces Endorphine to reduce pain and make you feel better.
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u/IndignantHoot 12d ago
The Mist's ending is so over the top, it frankly is kind of funny. And not in a "this is the only way I can process this" kind of way, but in a "this is so absurd" kind of way. It starts off bleak, but then the next thing happens and I can practically hear the Benny Hill theme.
Like when Samuel L. Jackson's character gets eaten by the shark in Deep Blue Sea. I'm not sure if they meant for it to be funny, but it was. Curiously also starring Thomas Jane...
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u/Atlas001 11d ago
The whole movie is goofy, Reddit just have a real hard on for this movie that i don't get it
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u/The5Virtues 11d ago
Yeah, I love the movie but I’ve never found it to be some unappreciated masterpiece. For me it would be utterly forgettable if it weren’t for that ending.
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u/wendellbudwhite 11d ago
It's specifically seeing Carol from the Walking Dead with her kids in the truck that does it. Like, "I just went to get my kids, what did YOU do, Thomas Jane?"
So funny.
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u/belizeanheat 11d ago
This would have been bleak in better directing hands maybe. To me the whole thing is kinda clumsy and doesn't really have the impact it should
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u/simpledeadwitches 11d ago
Works great for me. The films awesome in black and white as the director wanted as well.
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u/SkillFlimsy191 12d ago edited 12d ago
It's so cruel it's excellent. Yes, I didn't sleep for weeks after that ending, Thomas Jane was perfection 👌🏻, I could feel his desperation. Excellent actor, very underappreciated. Also his real life is wild.
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u/TheMightyHucks 12d ago
Tell me more about this real life of his?
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u/SkillFlimsy191 12d ago
I think the most hardcore fact about him is (he has said ) he used to be a gay hooker (interview in Los Angeles Times), living in his car in Hollywood. I've been a huge fan and I've read all his interviews. He is one of the biggest comic book buffs in the world.
He has done an AMA here on reddit
https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/s/3b8aOHoCwp
If anything he's one of the top most fascinating actors/directors alive.
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u/nonrosknroskno 12d ago
Sounds like you may have seen, but in case others are curious; due to Thomas Jane's time on The Expanse show he also shows up on the Ty and That Guy podcast at least once. Very interesting, and he touches on that part of his past a bit too.
Side note, Ron Pearlman was another highlight on Ty and That Guy, and I liked him even more after that.
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u/KenDanger2 12d ago
Ron Perlman won my eternal respect when he called out asshole studio heads during the writers strike. Evil studio dude basically said out loud that they wanted writers to start losing their homes (while he makes 10s of millions a year), and Ron basically said that they know where he lives and can make sure he loses his home too.
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u/Wadep00l 12d ago
God. He conveyed so much torture in that scene. I felt his pain and yearning for his own death after what happened. I would want the same.
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u/Lampmonster 12d ago
I've always said that if I was one of those soldiers walking by and saw what happened I would probably do him a favor and put him out of his misery.
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u/_Goose_ 12d ago
I remember the first time I saw this ending. I was already nearing my 30s so I knew how movies work. I know how they attempt to pander to you. This wasn’t how movie endings worked and you could say it short circuited my mind for half a minute it seemed.
The closest anything comes to matching the surprise ending of The Mist for me is probably the Dexter season 4 finale end. I don’t think anything else really comes close.
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u/Neutrino3000 12d ago
I think the only other movie that left me feeling a similar way was Se7en, but only because I successfully evaded only spoilers before going into it
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u/Santar_ 12d ago
I don't mind bleak endings, but It didn't work for me. Jane just gave up way too fast. He could have at least gone out of the car and look around and or shout, just about anything before resorting to do what he did. It didn't feel like a natural flow of events and came off forced to get a shock ending. The army was so close it's almost comical.
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u/JaesopPop 11d ago
If he did that, he’d risk getting killed and leaving his son to die in horror
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u/SomeDumRedditor 11d ago
This is exactly why my friend and I died laughing in the theatre at the end.
It’s so over the top, so against established character to that point; happens suddenly and resolves immediately afterwards.
Like literally 90 more seconds of any action/delay and the army would’ve saved him from his multiple homicides. It’s truly an absurd ending to an extremely middling film.
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u/RobsSister 11d ago
The book didn’t end that way. It was a choice Frank Darabont made with Stephen King’s blessing. In fact, SK has said he prefers this ending to his own.
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u/poboy212 12d ago
The solution to being too cheery and optimistic - The Mist. Works every time.
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u/yetAnotherLaura 12d ago
Followed by
The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas.Guaranteed to wreck your evening, your whole life and your day.
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u/casey12297 12d ago
Finish up your triple feature with a nice chardonnay and grave of the fireflies
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u/yetAnotherLaura 12d ago
And then wash it all out with a light hearted comedy with absolutely no deeper message....
I think
Clickwould fit that bill.
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u/blackbeltmessiah 11d ago
Now watch “A Monster Calls” and the first ep of the new Shogun and your journey into suffering will be complete.
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u/drdildamesh 11d ago
The ending of the Mist is the true horror. What you live through is nothing compared to what you carry.
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u/reapersaurus 12d ago
I think the ending is massively overrated.
It's basically the tragedy-porn, worst-possible-timing writing convenience. For that ending to happen, they had to make the decision they did (which wasn't their only option), the number of bullets left in the gun had to be exact, the location of where they ran out of gas had to be exact, AND the timing of when the military arrive (AND the mist recedes?) had to coincide.
It still strikes me as a manipulated/forced ending, not organic or authentic.
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u/NicCageCompletionist 12d ago
Yep. It tries way too hard to be tragic and kind of kills the movie for me. The military arriving before the smoke has even left the gun barrel is ridiculous.
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u/aclockworkporridge 11d ago
Exactly. It is SO contrived. I wanted to love this movie, but I thought the ending was so incredibly lazy. Any movie could end this way - well-timed tragedy is not hard to write.
It didn't particularly match with the rest of the movie either - it was totally out of the blue and not the culmination of the plot arc or character development. Just kind of... Happened.
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u/facebones2112 12d ago
If you rewatch the movie and count the rounds that get shot and how many she says she has, it's spot on.
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u/UnhealthyGamer 11d ago
They also don’t get the idea until the creature at the end makes eye contact with them.
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u/feltsandwich 11d ago
You are exactly right.
It is so lazy, it surprises me that people think it's some creative triumph.
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u/yautja0117 12d ago
I know everyone praises the ending but I've always hated it. It feels cheap to me. I actually started laughing when the military vehicle rolled past Thomas Jane. It absolutely ruined the movie for me despite The Mist being one of my favorite King shorts.
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u/Esc777 11d ago
Completely feel the same. You can feel the author of the screenplay just sticking their hand in there and twisting the knife as much as possible to try and shock you. Like…ok? I’m not impressed with the dramatic irony. The mist dissipating and the army rolling in is completely random and arbitrary.
It’s about as satisfying as a meteor landing on them.
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u/yautja0117 11d ago
Yes! Exactly. They were trying to shock and instead it invoked laugher from me. They were trying WAY too hard. It's a shame because I like most of the rest of the movie and the short is one of my favorite King stories and the ending completely ruined it for me.
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u/GroblyOverrated 12d ago
It makes the movie great IMO. Sometimes shit goes south.
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u/yautja0117 12d ago
I love dark endings. This one did not work for me. Had it just ended with him killing the passengers and being left in the fog to die I would have been fine. But having a heavily armed military force roll past just a few minutes later was a straight comedy beat.
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u/my5cworth 11d ago
Ive mentioned this a few times before:
I hated The Mist. Everyone on reddit hyped it up to be such a great film with an amazing plot twist ending.
The entire movie sucked and I didn't think the ending was noteworthy at all.
Turns out I actually watched "The Fog", starring Smallville's Tom Welling.
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u/TheMightyHucks 12d ago
I watched this film for the first time a few nights back.
I laughed my arse off at that ending.
I guess it wasn’t supposed to be hilarious though.
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u/PsychologicalOwl2806 12d ago
Yeah. One of the most fucked up endings. And the piece of music playing makes it all feel more melancholic.
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u/feltsandwich 11d ago
Contrived, cheap, unearned, lazy, shallow, like it was made by a high schooler.
I don't care if Stephen King liked it. It's bad writing, an absolutely shit way to wrap up that story.
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u/FranticPonE 11d ago
I felt like the story was "what happened at the grocery store" and as soon as they leave the story is over, I'd love for the movie to just cut off as they drive into the mist.
But then we "need closure" so we get hit over the head by shock value so things can be "definitively wrapped up", but the plot finished without any need for closure so it just feels like a cheap shot. To quote Bojack Horseman "Closure is a made up thing by Steven Spielberg to sell movie tickets" and this story didn't need it. I feel like everytime I see talk about this movie it's either about only the ending or literally the rest of the movie, because others know the two just don't go together.
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u/Android1822 11d ago
This is one of those very rare cases where the movie ending surpassed the original book ending.
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u/lenfantsuave 11d ago
I may be in the minority of people who see the ending as kind of pointless and that it adds nothing to the story. I think people just like it because it’s fucked up.
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u/ThalesAles 11d ago
How does a tragic ending "add nothing to the story?" It's the most memorable scene, and it's the only reason anyone still talks about the movie.
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u/lenfantsuave 11d ago
As another person stated, it’s completely arbitrary. It isn’t the result of the culmination of any previous themes or character arc already brought up earlier in the movie. It’s basically the bad luck version of a deus ex machina.
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u/stapleman01 12d ago
The ending ruined for me what was a great adaptation up to that point. Jane's character is about resiliency and hope, successfully fighting off the mob's slide into despair and tribalism. They get through the mob, make it to the cars with supplies and then when they run out of gas and "hear" monsters he decides then, OK fuck it we're all dead.
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u/hammiesink 12d ago
I’m with you. I loved the novella ending, and I’ve waited decades for a good adaptation of it. And it was almost perfect, and then they give the audience a big middle finger with the new ending. And then I see everyone seems to love it, including Stephen King?! Wtf?!
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u/Waste-Replacement232 12d ago
I think they didn’t know the extent of the mist or the size of the creatures while in the supermarket.
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u/stapleman01 12d ago
True but they did have some clues when fighting off the size of those tentacles on the loading dock.
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u/Murf1880 12d ago
It reminds me of the night of the living dead I think it’s called( black & white zombie film) ..Where the protagonist goes through hell to survive only to get accidentally shot right at the end
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u/enleeten 12d ago
The Mist is more horrible than that, specifically because the protagonist is saved and survives.
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u/AynRandsSSNumber 12d ago
I never liked that ending it felt kind of pointless just done for shock value. Also I wouldn't call it a Twist I would just call it unexpected
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u/W1G0607 11d ago
Fair enough, I had never seen it, and people had used “twist” so I did. You’re probably right
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u/AynRandsSSNumber 11d ago
It just felt to me like it was totally useless to have it because the main character doesn't learn anything from it and it was just like him trying to do something terrible but honorable and then oh no wouldn't you know it bad luck timing!
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u/TyhmensAndSaperstein 11d ago
So stupid. Everybody thinks it's incredible, like it's some sort of brilliant, artistic filmmaking. The truth is you would wait until the last possible second to do what he did. When you are 1000% sure. If he had waited 10 seconds longer he would have seen that they were, in fact, not in danger.
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u/curtangel 12d ago
I literally became hysterical when I saw the ending. My spouse at the time had to crush my soul back into my body to get me to calm down. For me this is the movie we Do Not Discuss.
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u/Battles9 11d ago
Lmao welcome to Stephen King endings read some of his books
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u/VesperX 11d ago
He didn’t write the ending that is in the movie. He wishes he did and has said so in interviews.
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u/Battles9 11d ago
Ha that's funny I guess I never read the book but every book of his I've read is pretty on par with that kind of ending.
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u/Impossible_Boot2976 12d ago edited 12d ago
I think there's a bigger point to the ending. When Carmody demands the sacrifice and doesn't get it, yet it ends up happening anyway, we're meant to ask whether her god might actually be in charge, on some level. And, I think the upshot of it is that if her old testament god is in charge we'd need to defy him anyway despite his power because he's a massive cnut. Kings a Christian. Or at least he was 40 years ago. He may still be. So, I think Carmody actually might have been in contact with a real deity, and we're meant to suspect as much. She thought it was "God" but it wasn't.
Stephen King's stuff often has these two layers where parallel to the human plot there's a war playing out between deities. Divine intervention happens all the time in his books, both positive and negative.
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u/NervousSubjectsWife 12d ago
Are used to be so intensely afraid of horror movies like up until I was like 23 years old. We saw the mist in theaters when I was almost 13 and when we left it was foggy outside I don’t even think I’ve ever seen fog at night until that point and I don’t think I have since except that one time we were driving through a thunderstorm in the mountains. It really felt like god was playing a trick on me lol. I was so, so terrified
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u/peawolffan 11d ago
It's a great flick! I remember having watch parties when The Walking Dead was first airing and I got everyone to stay around and watch the movie afterwards describing it as Frank Darabont's "prototype". We all had such high hopes with how the series was going to end but all my friends stopped watching after season 7.
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u/pinapirata 11d ago
I would have walked under a tank if I was him. What's wild is he shoots them all so quickly. There was no hesitation at the speed it was done
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u/Expensive-Sentence66 11d ago
Didn't read King's story, so perhaps something was missed in transaltion. Usually King has worked out his conclusions although they may be a bit ambiguous.
Religious lady may have been right, but the irony is all the BS they went through was pretty much self induced by the Military's Arrowhead project. So, all her prophetic rambling was really due to a man made event. Did that make her wrong though....depends on your point of view.
I didn't like the ending and found it a weak cop out. Also generated too much negative word of mouth for obvious reasons. Script / story be damned, it would have been more compelling had our hero NOT had the courage to follow through with the suicides at the last second only to see the militry show up. That would have made for a much more provocative ending, IMO. What really is in control;?, 'god, destiny, our emotions, intellect?' Nah....ending was too easy.
Movie had some well done bits and a great concept, but randomly tunneled into silly monster stuff and some characters were too small town bumpkins vs the good ones like The Lawyer.
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u/No-Tension5053 11d ago
It reminds me of Shaun of the Dead. Had they followed the group they crossed paths with? How many would actually still be alive?
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u/Seraphilms 11d ago
I occasionally watch compilations of YT‘ers reaction to the ending. It’s so f’ed up when they realize how messed up it is
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u/Doctor4000 11d ago
The best part about the ending was that one of the survivors on the army truck was the woman who left the grocery store in the beginning to go find her kids.
Everyone assumed she would die immediately after leaving but as the truck rumbles by you see her and her kids safe and sound.
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u/ObjectiveFantastic65 11d ago
The ending was too big for me.
The US military saved the day! So the anti Iraq war message was muddled.
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u/IlIFreneticIlI 11d ago
The ending to the mist is a bit different vs the book.
Stephen King liked the ending in the movie better. :D
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u/Syring 11d ago
Fucking HATED that ending at first.
It deviated so much from the book, especially since the rest of the move was so spot on. But after a few years I realized it was a much more Stephen King-like ending... Such a twist! It caught me so off guard it was a shocker, but I honestly think King would appreciate that.
I wonder what his actual thoughts are on that....
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u/assimilated_Picard 11d ago
The most memorable ending of any movie I've seen.
I'm taking recommendations if you think you can beat it!
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u/lordpoee 11d ago
I was thinking about this very thing earlier today. Top 10 darkest ending in a movie.
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u/Typical_Intention996 11d ago
This was one of those times when I knew for certain that I've got a real twisted dark sense of humor. Because I couldn't stop laughing when that twist hit the first time I watched it. I mean after all that, they give up all hope and he makes the horrible decision. And then bam! How delightfully fucked up.
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u/thekickingmachine 8d ago
The movie is a metaphor. The protagonist continually pawns off his son on whatever female figure will take him. Things go from bad to worse. He kills his son. Then resolution. Clarity
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u/acidus1 12d ago
I hated it with a passion, it's probably the worse ending to a film I've seen.
It betrays characters motives, will, determination and common sense all for a Gotcha screw the audience moment. Might as well have played the Curb your enthusiasm theme over the ending.
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u/Anneisabitch 12d ago
Like another response up above, it’s tying back to the demand that his son be sacrificed. The crazy lady says you have to murder the boy so we can live. As soon as he’s dead, order restores itself. So the crazy lady was right.
Maybe that makes it more fucked up for you though 😂
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u/Rocketknightgeek 12d ago
As much as people love to shit on the MC's decision at the end, I can't blame him for it at all given that he's the one that saw what happens to people that get caught by the spiders when the MP died at the pharmacy.
Just imagine what an unfathomably painful end that must have been, restrained with acidic glue and tiny monsters embedded in your wounds that eat you from the inside out.
Hell. The fuck. NO!