Examiner article
*Originally published on 10/1/09
When I first reviewed Frank Darabont's The Mist, I said that I had no clue how to handle that situation. Well, I've been doing some thinking and I think I've come up with some tips that would help if we were to ever find ourselves in that situation. It's not perfect, and any additional input would only help.
You're going to need guns. In fact, everyone should be packing heat. I'm not saying this to stir up some debate on gun control, it's just a fact. While the monsters are from another dimension, they are still flesh and blood. A good shot will wound, if not kill them. If enough people are armed you can turn the tables and actually take the offensive. You'll turn from a cowering crowd into a hardcore militia. Rather than retreating, you'll be able to charge out to take the fight to them with a "screw these freaks, let's get em, wolveriiiines!!!" attitude.
While the best thing to do in a zombie apocalypse is stay on the move, here it's the opposite. You want to find a place to hunker down and secure yourself. A bunker or basement will work best. This becomes tricky as you can't exactly establish a perimeter. With vision being hindered by the mist, the creatures could just pick off your patrol with little trouble.
I wrote an article that talked about how effective Molotov Cocktails were against paranormal threats, in this situation, I don't know if they'd work. If you're outside, they can be useful, but the monsters tended to be pretty quick and could easily dodge them. You could hit one of those six legged behemoths, but they didn't seem all that malicious. The one in the film was just kind of minding his own business and not really bothering anyone so it doesn't seem fair to set him on fire. You could probably get those spider things though. Also, if you find yourself in a car being pursued by some monstrosity, you can use it to impede or even deter your pursuer. If you're inside, you'll definitely want to avoid using these. As the movie showed, lighting the monsters on fire could do more harm than good as others could get injured in the fray.
Of course, in this situation, the monsters aren't the only threat you'll face. In the film, Mrs. Carmody, a religious fanatic ends up being just as deadly as the monsters. While I would like to think that people of faith would handle themselves better in such a situation, it couldn't hurt to have some defense against them. Your defense in this situation is turning his or her own logic against them.
Mrs. Carmody insisted that the events in the film were God's wrath. That he was unleashing a plague upon mankind for some sin that she never really specified. Well, there's this thing, it's called the New Testament. Stop me if you've heard this one before, supreme being sends his only son down to die on the cross to pay for our sins so that we didn't have to. Ring a bell? Yeah, God isn't that pissy. I'm not trying to convert you, but if you're going to argue with a religious nut, you might as well fight fire with fire.
Even if you were going with the Old Testament vengeful God, the phenomena in the film don't match up with His MO. Were an Old Testament apocalypse to occur, there would be fire and brimstone falling from the skies, rivers and seas would boil, there would be forty years of darkness, the dead would rise from the grave, dogs and cats would be living together, and there would be mass hysteria! These monsters are, by their very nature, ungodly, so it makes no sense to attribute their presence to God.
Human sacrifice is stupid. If anyone suggests this, smack them and then cast them out of your party to wander through the mist alone. Going back to the idea that this is God's wrath, which is wrong in the first place, killing someone is counter-productive. You're telling me that to appease an angry God, who has become fed up with us constantly breaking his rules, you need to break one of the ten big ones that he gave us...that makes no sense!! "Thou shalt not kill", hello?
Odds are that they're going to bring up the story of Abraham. Yes, God asked him to sacrifice his son to show his faith in God, but that's only half the story. When Abraham takes his son up to the mountain, God stops him. He tells Abraham that he would never want him to kill his son; he just wanted to see if he was willing. No lives were lost so the example is faulty by nature.
Of course, religion may not be the root of the problem. It could just be simple panic. People become stupid when they're scared. As such, it's important to keep your wits about you. While it's important to stay calm and rational, you don't want to be in denial. One of the major mistakes characters in the film made was refusing to believe that anything strange was going on. Don't jump right into paranoia or panic, but be open minded as well. It's a tough balance, but it's what you'll have to do in order to survive in the mist.
It may not be much, but keeping these things in mind will greatly increase your chance of survival. If you readers have anything to add, feel free to do so. Knowledge really is power in situations like this so the more there is, the better.
Associated Content
I watched Frank Darabont'sThe Mist again not too long ago. A lot of times, I'll try to imagine what I would do in the situation presented in the film. I've become pretty genre savvy over the years, so if zombies ever attacked or I found myself in a haunted location, I could fend for myself pretty well. When watching this movie, however, I had no clue. It's certainly a lot trickier than simple zombies.
Like with zombies, you'll need guns. These monsters may be from another dimension, but they can be wounded or even killed by bullets. Fire will also kill them, but you run the risk of injuring others. If there is a swarm coming toward you, you can chuck a molotov cocktail in there, but if you're in close quarters, it's not recommended. The more guns you have, the better. If your clan is well armed enough, you can turn the tables. No longer will you be a cowering group of people curled up in fetal positions. Instead, you'll be able to go on the offensive with a "Screw these things. Let's get em, Wolverines!" attitude.
Unlike the zombie apocalypse, where you need to keep moving, your best bet is to hunker down and secure yourself. With the variety of monsters out there, your safety isn't guaranteed in a car. On the contrary, you're quite vulnerable. One of those six-legged behemoths could step on your vehicle or the giant insects could cover your windshield. Some of the bigger monsters can even break through glass so vehicular transportation is not advised.
Get down to the basement and hide, if you have a bunker of some kind, go there.
As tempting as it would be to fortify your defenses, it's a fool's errand. With the thick mist making visibility extremely limited, sending people out to establish a perimeter is sending them to their deaths.
One of the major problems the characters in the film came, not from the monsters, but from a religious lunatic who turned the group into a human sacrificing mob. While I prefer to think that people, even religious ones, would be able to have each other's back in such a situation, on the off chance you are caught in a similar predicament, there are arguments you can make.
The first is the New Testament. Stop me if you've heard this one before, supreme being sends his only son down to die on the cross and atone for our sins. Ring a bell? Yeah, God isn't that pissy. I'm not saying this to sound preachy or convert you, but if the group does get entangled in a religious debate, it's good to know the basics.
Even going with the Old Testament perception of the Lord, God doesn't operate by sending down giant demonic spiders. Were an Old Testament apocalypse to occur, there would be fire and brimstone falling from the skies, rivers and seas would boil, there would be forty years of darkness, the dead would rise from the grave, dogs and cats would live together, there would be mass hysteria! These monsters are ungodly by their very nature, so it's bizarre to attribute their arrival to God.
Human sacrifice is stupid. If anyone suggests this you need to smack them and then cast them out. Going back to the "this is God's wrath" theory (which again, is completely wrong) it's completely counter-productive. Basically, you're going to appease an angry god by breaking one of his commandments. How exactly is that supposed to work? "Thou shall not kill" hello? Human sacrifice kind of goes against that, and by kind of, I mean it really goes against it.
Like Mrs. Carmody, they might bring up the Abraham example. Basically, God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son to show his faith in God. This is a faulty example, why? God stops him. Abraham takes his son up to the mountain and is about to do it, when God steps in and says that he would never want Abraham to kill his son, he just wanted to see if he would do it. No lives were lost.
Going back to the monsters. Panic is your enemy. You want to make sure that everyone remains calm and collected. With that being said, you want to be open minded about what's going on. One of the major mistakes the characters in the story and movie made was refusing to believe that there was anything wrong. Denial usually ends up doing more harm than good in the long run. If something screwy really is going on, it's better to at least be aware of it.
Our best bet, were such a door to be opened, would be to contain it at the source. This will fall on the military. Now, obviously, the best strategy would be to avoid the threat altogether and leave well enough alone, but if they do manage to open a doorway, you need to kill whatever gets through before it gets unleashed on humanity. You have a large arsenal at your disposal, which makes you the best defense against the monsters.
Reagan said that an extra-terrestrial invasion would cause the countries to unite. All the petty differences we have would be dwarfed by the external threat that requires the combined effort of previous enemies. This was the logic behind Ozymandias' scheme in Watchmen. If such an event were to occur, we would need to unite. Fighting among ourselves will only make it easier for the creatures to pick us off.
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