The Mist has one of the most shocking endings ever seen in a horror film, but this is not how the story ended in the original novella. Stephen King's version is less clear about the protagonists' fate, without being entirely hopeless. The film adaptation, on the other hand, adds a simple change that makes an already terrifying story take an even darker turn.
Written and directed by Frank Darabont (who would later go on to write and produce the first season of The Walking Dead), The Mist was released in 2007, receiving mixed reviews. At the time, many critics were expecting another award-winning Stephen King adaptation like The Shawshank Redemption, not a horror film. Over the years, however, The Mist's eerie setting and devastating ending allowed it to gain a cult following among horror fans.
The Mist revolves around a group of residents from a small town who take refuge in a supermarket as a deadly mist surrounds the area. The story, which explores the tensions and moral dilemmas that emerge when people are forced to face an overwhelming threat, is told from the perspective of David, a movie poster painter who's trapped inside the store with his son. The film shows the residents struggling to adapt to an ever-worsening situation, eventually succumbing to panic and mob violence.
The ending follows David and his son after they manage to escape the market, driving with three other survivors in the direction of Portland. When the fuel runs out, they agree to use the last four bullets in David's gun to kill themselves before the surrounding creatures can get to them. David shoots his son and the other passengers off-camera. He then steps out of the car and cries in pain while calling for the monsters to put him out of his misery. Instead, the mist slowly dissipates, revealing a military convoy regaining control of the area and transporting survivors to a safe destination. Aware that his son's safety was only seconds away, David drops to the ground and cries in despair.
To say the ending is depressing is a bit of an understatement. The final scene comes as a surprise, but the last survivors' choices make sense. After all, the movie does nothing but show the painful and gory ways in which the different invading species can kill a human being. The script also manages to make the audience emotionally invested in the characters' escape, while at the same time making it clear that surviving inside the mist for more than a couple of seconds is close to impossible. By the end, the audience believes the survivors deserve to escape but don't want them to suffer unnecessarily either. This is why people empathize with David's difficult choice, but it's also what makes the final reveal so gut-wrenching.
As with every film adaptation, though, the director took some liberties and deviated from Stephen King's original ending. The novella ends in a less dramatic manner. The survivors drive to Portland and further, looking for a safe area that they cannot find. They start running out of fuel and consider getting some at a gas station. David continues to drive with the goal of keeping his son safe. His only hope and current destination is a word he heard on the radio only once: Hartford.
The tense but open ending of the original novella contrasts with the shocking reveal Darabont chose to write for the film. If there's something viewers can agree on, though, it is that Darabont made a brave choice. He gave audiences an impactful ending that takes advantage of the connection they made with the characters as well as their understanding of the world depicted on the screen. He provided them with an intense emotional experience but maybe not the emotions they wanted or expected. Stephen King seems to like Darabont's ending, suggesting that while scary, it's probably the type of ending people expect when going to the theater to watch a horror film.