Frank Darabont’s 2007 film adaptation of The Mist is ready to rip your heart out all over again and this time, that crushing conclusion will come in the highest definition this side of the dimensional rift created by the Arrowhead Project.
Lionsgate announced today that the fan favorite horror movie will arrive on 4K Ultra HD Tuesday, Oct. 3. The SteelBook release comes in two separate editions: a standard box set ($34.99) and a Best Buy 4-disc collector’s exclusive ($37.99).
Both include the full-color edit released into theaters, the black and white cut (Darabont’s preferred version and a throwback to the schlocky B-movies of the 1950s), and a commentary track featuring Darabont and producer Denise Huth.
The Blu-ray disc contains over 2 hours of bonus material found on previous home releases — including a slew of deleted scenes (with optional director commentary), a conversation between Darabont and author Stephen King, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and more.
Based on the 1980 novella of the same name written by King, The Mist centers around a group of small-town Maine residents forced to barricade themselves inside a local supermarket when a mysterious fog rolls into town, bringing with it a menagerie of otherworldly (and borderline Lovecraftian) monsters.
With that said, the movie — like the source material — is less an all-out creature feature extravaganza and more an exploration of how our fragile system of civilities begin to erode in the face of terror and the unknown. As the situation becomes more and more hopeless, the group splits, either rallying behind the rationally-minded David Drayton (Thomas Jane) or the apocalyptically religious Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden). Think Lord of the Flies, but with ravenous tentacles (attached to what, we can only guess) and giant spiders that shoot corrosive webbing.
“The more we progress into the future, the more there’s going to be a part of society that wants to go back to a very primitive, very superstitious [time],” Darabont explained to /FILM for an oral history celebrating the film’s 15th anniversary. “And The Mist really spoke to that. It really spoke to the thin veil between how we feel when the lights are on and everything’s working fine, and when suddenly we’re back in the Dark Ages.”
Laurie Holden (The Walking Dead), Andre Braugher (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Toby Jones (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny), Jeffrey DeMunn (The Walking Dead), William Sadler (Die Hard 2), Sam Witwer (Star Wars: The Clone Wars), Alexa Davalos (The Man in the High Castle), Chris Owen (American Pie), Frances Sternhagen (Misery), and Nathan Gamble (The Dark Knight) co-star.
The project marked the third King adaptation for Darabont, who also wrote and directed the acclaimed book-to-screen translations of The Shawshank Redemption (1994) and The Green Mile (1999).
The Mist was adapted (albeit loosely) a decade later for a short-lived television series on Spike, though Darabont had no involvement.