The Mist

The Mist was first published in 1980 in the anthology Dark Forces, edited by Kirby McCauley, then collected in King's own Skeleton Crew in 1985. It has since been issued as a standalone illustrated edition—its separate listing in the DB reflects that publication history.

King has said the genesis was standing in a supermarket after a severe storm and imagining what would happen if something came out of the mist rolling in from the mountains. The supermarket setting came naturally—it concentrates a cross-section of a community in an enclosed space, making the social breakdown as interesting as the monster threat.

The film, directed by Frank Darabont, ends with the survivors committing a mercy killing before running out of ammunition—and then rescue arriving moments too late. King's novella ends ambiguously, with the survivors driving into an uncertain future. Darabont consulted King before filming the new ending; King has said it is even bleaker than his own ending and that he wished he had thought of it first.

King has been explicit that the social breakdown inside the supermarket—the factionalism, the religious hysteria, the scapegoating—is at least as horrifying as the monsters outside. The mist functions as a pressure test that reveals what people are willing to do to each other when structure collapses.

Yes. A Spike TV series ran for one season in 2017 with an expanded story and new characters. It received mixed reviews and was cancelled after one season.