Frank Darabont first adapted and directed a Steven King story for the big screen back in 1994. Although The Shawshank Redemption made little impact on the box office, it earned an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.

Shawshank also found much greater life on home video. It’s been widely embraced by movie fans and has become regarded as a classic.

Darabont took on King again with 1999’s The Green Mile. That one made a bunch of money and also grabbed plenty more critical plaudits. Another Best Picture nomination followed.

I doubt that Darabont or anyone else involved expected more Oscar love for the director’s third King adaptation, 2007’s The Mist. While the first two flicks provided prison-related dramas, Mist went with the King we know best and a horror theme. That sort of movie doesn’t tend to get Academy affection, so its grand total of zero Oscar nods came as no surprise.

However, the lack of box office success did catch many off-guard. Mist took in a mere $25 million in the US, which was even less than the then-ignored Shawshank earned 13 years earlier – and also a sliver less than Darabont’s prior flick, 2001’s The Majestic.

I regard Majestic as a bigger bomb than Mist just because the latter featured no bankable stars while the former boasted Jim Carrey. At least Mist came with a low-key roster of talent, and I doubt that its November 21 release date helped, as the day before Thanksgiving doesn’t sound like a smart choice for a horror movie.

Did Mist deserve a better fate? Yeah, probably, though the film sputters too often for me to view it as a neglected gem.

After a massive electrical storm, a strange mist rolls off a lake into a small Maine town. Artist David Drayton heads to the local supermarket along with his son Billy (Nathan Gamble) and neighbor Brent Norton (Andre Braugher). Despite a power outage at the store, all seems fine – until a siren sounds.

Mysterious mist comes to cover the town, and with it an unnatural, deadly force. The folks in the supermarket hole up in there as they try to deal with the threat posed by the creatures hidden in the soup – and internal frictions among the various factions that emerge.

One must assume that King named this story The Mist because The Fog was already taken. (Gorillas in the Mist might’ve still been available when King published the tale in 1980, but since the story features no simians, that title wouldn’t have made a ton of sense.)

It’d be a mistake to view Mist as a rip-off of John Carpenter’s 1980 flick, though. They share the notion that something evil comes to a small town via mist/fog, but they differ in most other ways. Fog fell into the ghost story genre, while Mist offers a much more straightforward monster movie.

Mist does show a Carpenter influence, though, as it definitely nods in the direction of 1982’s The Thing - with a little Alien and Arachnophobia thrown in for good measure. The movie doesn’t come across as a rip-off of those flicks, but it clearly notes their inspiration.

For a guy who made his name with character-driven pieces like Shawshank and Green Mile, Darabont shows a surprisingly weak ability to create interesting personalities here. Most of the participants are either bland and without much life – such as Drayton and new schoolteacher Amanda Dunfrey (Laurie Holden), both of whom remain rather faceless – or offer predictable stereotypes.

Norton the argumentative lawyer and Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden) the fire-breathing religious zealot falls into the latter domain. These characters bring little to the film beyond their general value as plot devices.

And as filler. Mist probably runs a good 30 minutes too long, especially during its first half.

Endless dialogue scenes play less like useful exposition and more like tedious attempts to stretch the movie’s length. Even with all these sequences, the personalities never become three-dimensional characters, and the extended time we spend with them harms the flick’s tension level.

I can’t say I’m wild about the movie’s attitude toward religion. No one will mistake me for a Holy Roller, but Mist sneers at faith in a rather abrasive and condescending way.

One could argue that it focuses more on the opportunistic “mob mentality” than it does actual religious beliefs – or even that Mrs. Carmody represents a false prophet instead of a true believer – but the effect remains the same. The film turns those with religious fervor into simple-minded cretins.

While Darabont flails during the flick’s character pieces, he does well for himself through the action beats. During those occasions, Mist becomes a tight, claustrophobic monster movie.

It still wears its influences on its sleeve, but Darabont has the good sense to know that less is more. We get modest glimpses of the various creatures but not enough to remove their mystery.

They stay hidden enough to maintain an aura of real menace. At these times, the flick benefits from an oppressive level of basic fear that gathers at the pit of your stomach.

Those parts of The Mist are enough to make it generally enjoyable. The other flaws cause more than a few problems, but no one ever says they loved a certain horror flick because it provided three-dimensional characters.

Sure, well-rendered participants will make a good monster movie better. However, they’re not at the root of what leads to an effective scarefest.

So even though I can find a lot of reasons to gripe about The Mist - and I didn’t even get started on the gratuitous use of handheld camerawork - the flick delivers enough terror to ensure that it usually overcomes its concerns. It’s the kind of film that leaves a jitter in your body for a while after it ends, so it certainly ensures a viewer impression.

The Mist appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. The movie came with a positive Dolby Vision presentation.

Sharpness usually worked fine, though some scenes felt a bit on the soft side. I sensed these “issues” stemmed from Darabont’s photographic choices, as he clearly wanted Mist to look like a “throwback” to horror of earlier years.

In any case, overall delineation seemed solid, and neither jaggies nor moiré effects appeared. No edge haloes or print flaws occurred, and with a strong layer of grain – another stylistic choice – I suspected no overuse of noise reduction.

Colors tended toward amber and teal. These hues looked fine within visual decisions, and HDR gave them extra punch.

Blacks came across as deep and dense, while shadows were smooth and concise. HDR added emphasis to whites and contrast. Though the movie’s style didn’t lend toward dazzling visuals, the 4K held up nicely.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, much of the Dolby Atmos mix stayed quiet since a lot of it revolved around arguments in the supermarket. However, when the creatures attacked, the audio became much more engrossing.

Creepy-crawlies charged from all sides and made this a spooky and involving piece. The movie represented these elements with good localization and packed them together in a tight manner. The surrounds added a good kick during the action scenes and made this a lively track.

The quality of the audio satisfied as well. Speech was crisp and natural, without edginess or other issues.

Music sounded robust and dynamic, and effects worked along the same lines. Those elements seemed full and accurate, with good low-end punch. I found a lot of good material in this strong track.

How did the 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray from 2008? The Atmos audio showed a little more range, involvement and heft.

As for the Dolby Vision image, it offered a considerable improvement over the oddly drab Blu-ray. Though Mist was finished at 2K, the 4K disc nonetheless boasted superior accuracy, colors and blacks compared to the blah BD.

The 4K includes an audio commentary from writer/director Frank Darabont. He provides a running, screen-specific discussion. Producer Denise Puth sits in the studio as well and occasionally chimes in, but Darabont covers 99 percent of the piece.

Darabont looks at changes from the original novella, deleted scenes and editing, sets and locations, various effects, cast and performances, the film’s low budget and quick production, the camerawork and other aspects of the visual style.

I really liked Darabont’s commentaries for The Green Mile and Shawshank, and this chat delivers another good one. It doesn’t seem quite as valuable as those pieces, but then again, Mist doesn’t offer as much meat to discuss.

Darabont tends toward too much praise – he seems love everybody even remotely connected to the film – but he gives us a lot of good details about the production and makes this a brisk and informative chat.

We get this commentary as well as a slew of other extras on the included Blu-ray copy. It literally duplicates the 2008 Blu-ray, so don’t expect upgraded picture or audio on it.

Eight Deleted/Extended Scenes run a total of 14 minutes, 47 seconds. These include “Steph Says Goodbye” (2:07), “After the Loading Dock” (2:05), “Carmody’s First Speech” (1:51), “Carmody and Amanda” (3:01), “Norton Holds Court” (1:14), “Hattie and David” (2:14), “Jim and Myron” (1:07) and “Confronting Jessup” (1:06).

“Goodbye” has a little value since it adds some character info about Norton, and “Amanda” makes Carmody a bit more three-dimensional. I don’t see a lot of worth in the others.

We can view these with or without commentary from Darabont. He chats about the segments and why he chose to remove them. As usual, Darabont gives us good information in a lively manner.

A featurette entitled Drew Struzan: An Appreciation of an Artist goes for seven minutes, 31 seconds, and provides remarks from Darabont, artist Struzan and filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro.

We learn a little about Struzan’s work and how his career is reflected in The Mist. It’s a decent little homage to a painter whose efforts you will definitely recognize – even if you don’t know his name.

Three Webisodes last a total of 10 minutes, 13 seconds. These cover “Day 10: Earthquakes” (3:18), “Day 18: Burn Man” (4:01) and “Day 34: Franny, the Flamethrower” (2:56).

First aired on the Internet, these short clips take us to the set to see aspects of the various scenes’ creation. I like their fly on the wall immediacy, and they’re fun to see.

More featurettes follow. When Darkness Came: The Making of The Mist lasts 37 minutes, 27 seconds and includes notes from Darabont, Huth, novelist Stephen King, co-producers Randi Richmond and Anna Garduno, production designer Gregory Melton, director of photography Rohn Schmidt, camera operators Bill Gierhart and Richard Cantu, editor Hunter Via, and actors Andre Braugher, William Sadler, Frances Sternhagen, Thomas Jane, Jeffrey DeMunn, Toby Jones, Marcia Gay Harden, Robert Treveiler, Laurie Holden, Sam Witwer, Alexa Davalos and Buck Taylor.

We hear about what drew Darabont to The Mist and its adaptation for the screen, the film’s schedule and budgetary restrictions, sets, locations and production design, cast, characters and performances, camerawork and editing, and the flick’s ending.

Since Darabont already covered so much in his commentary, it becomes a minor challenge for “Darkness” to find new material. It doesn’t expand into many new topics, but it offers different perspectives on those topics, so it proves valuable. Add to that a lot of great footage from the set and “Darkness” becomes a good little show.

For a look at one specific segment, we head to Taming the Beast: Shooting Scene 35. This 12-minute, 10-second program provides statements from Darabont, Huth, Gierhart, Cantu, Via, Garduno, Schmidt, first AD KC Colwell, special makeup and creature effects supervisor Gregory Nicotero, and visual effects supervisor Everett Burrell.

“Beast” examines the issues involved in “Scene 35”, which is the one in which the creatures attack the supermarket. It follows the same template as “Darkness” except it sticks just with the areas required to execute the single sequence.

“Beast” goes through the different areas in a satisfying and entertaining manner. I particularly like the info about the changes made to the scene.

Monsters Among Us: A Look at the Creature FX fills 12 minutes, 44 seconds with info from Darabont, Nicotero, Huth, Holden, Davalos, Witwer, Jane, Burrell, concept design artist Bernie Wrightson, and actor Nathan Gamble.

“Monsters” gives us a glimpse of the design and execution of the movie’s beasties. More nice details emerge in this enjoyable piece.

The Horror of It All: The Visual FX of The Mist runs 16 minutes, two seconds and features Darabont, Nicotero, Burrell, Via, Wrightson, compositing supervisor Tom Williamson, digital compositor Votch Levi, animation supervisor James Straus, and CG supervisor Akira Orikasa.

This one shows the work the computer effects folks did for the flick. Like “Monsters”, it fleshes out the technical side of things in a positive way.

A Conversation with Stephen King and Frank Darabont runs 12 minutes, 17 seconds. The pair chat together about the story and its adaptation, their collaboration, and related areas. Nothing earth-shaking appears, but this turns into a likable, genial piece.

The Blu-ray ends with a trailer gallery. It provides three ads for Mist.

On a separate 4K UHD disc, an unusual extra comes from The Director’s Vision: The Complete Feature Film in Black and White. This offers the same cut as the theatrical version but offers a monochromatic rendition of the flick.

Does it work better than the color edition? Yes and no.

On the positive side, the film can feel creepier in its monochromatic form. The black and white presentation also makes it seem more reminiscent of the 1950s horror/sci-fi that influenced it.

On the negative side, because the movie was shot with color in mind, the B&W visuals don’t look like “natural” black and white. While the picture seems fine overall, lower-light shots can feel a little too murky.

Frankly, this one just doesn’t resemble “real black and white”. It looks like what it is: a color movie simply stripped of those hues.

I like the option but find the unnatural impression to become too much of a distraction for the B&W Mist to truly satisfy. While it becomes an interesting variant, I’d stick with the color one in the future.

Note that the monochrome Mist offers the same Dolby Atmos audio as the color version, and it also comes with a Dolby Vision image. We can screen the audio commentary here as well.

On the included Blu-ray copy of the B&W Mist, we get a three-minute, 16-second Introduction from Darabont. He explains his rationale for it and tells us that he prefers it to the color theatrical version.

Despite an array of storytelling problems, The Mist manages to become a fairly effective horror movie. It delivers the appropriate scares and tension at a high enough level to make it worthwhile for fans of the genre. The 4K UHD delivers very good picture, audio and supplements. This becomes a largely effective movie that fares well on 4K UHD.

To rate this film, visit the prior review of THE MIST