The Mist by Stephen King will be in theaters on November 21st. I just watched the trailer on The Mist website and I can tell you that it looks like classic Stephen King. Even the music sent a chill up my spine!

My favorite Stephen King books/movies are the ones that are studies in human nature. I guess all of his are, but some focus more on that than others. This looks like a cross between the horror genre and the study of human nature.

The basic premise is that a mist sweeps into a town. There is a deadly presence within the mist. A large group of people, families, neighbors and friends, are trapped inside a grocery store. As they slowly come to realize that going out into the mist is suicide their veneer of civility crumbles. The people in the grocery store gradually form their own microcosm of society and their true natures are exposed.

As I was watching the trailer I remembered a situation I was in while I was at college. We were hit by 90 something tornadoes in one night. It was a night I have never forgotten. Everyone was told to go back to their dorms when the weather started turning menacing. I remember the tension building in the dorm as the afternoon and evening went on and the weather just didn’t let up. At some point everyone was told to take a blanket and pillow and go into the basement. What was interesting to me was seeing some people going around to make sure everyone had heard the announcement. Believe it or not, some people were actually asleep. Other people completely panicked. I still remember that my roommate took off with MY pillow and blanket and pushed people aside to get down into the basement. There was room for all of us down there so some of us ended up lying on the floor of the main lobby (surrounded by glass walls!). I’m one that didn’t get down into the basement and volunteered to stay in the lobby.

I have to say though, I never forgot that my roommate took my stuff and ran down to the basement like that. In the end, I did look at people differently after seeing how they dealt with a threatening situation.