I see the ending differently.  I did not feel like it was one of the cliche endings, in fact I hate those sorts.  The "shock" ending has been made popular again since the Scream movies...sometimes for the good but more often than not for the bad.  An example of the bad is the basic "It was all a dream" ending.  To me that just spells the writer got brain-constipation and could not come up with a good ending.  (You fellow writers know the ending is the hardest part of writing any fictional story in most cases).  An example of a good "shock ending" is the Sixth Sense.  The ending is solid and (for the most part) will surprise people in an intellectual way, not a "cheap shot".  This ending is more of the "good" shock ending in my opinion.  Now for the reasons.

In the novella the male lead character, the woman, the old lady and the boy leave together (I don't remember the elderly man being with them but it's been a decade or better since I read this story) and the situation is pretty much like what happens in the movie (up to the point where they run out of gas).  The roads and enviroment are in bad shape and the creatures have seemingly took ownership of the world we know.  At some point the man turns on a multiband radio and believes (hopes) he has heard someone speak.  This gives him hope others have survived.  The frequency had been set to receive from Hartford (I believe) so he plans on driving there the next morning.  In the meanwhile he, the boy, the woman and the elderly lady are going to crash at a Hojo's they see at the turnpike.  He basically writes down the events that have happened and leaves the written account for someone to find.  He then says he is going to go to sleep but first will whisper two words into his son's ears: Hope and Hartford.  To me this has a sort of "Hope Springs Eternal" type of ending and leaves the story's ending up to the reader.  My imagined ending (the "half full" approach I suppose) was they would find that some people had survived and the creatures had either not found a way to adapt to our planet or we had found a way to stop them.  Not a bad ending and still works ok with the story.

The movie ending (though not the "half full" approach) actually fits better.  One reason The Mist works is not the just story itself but the sub-stories skillfully weaved into the threads of the novella as a whole.  While many human themes are explored (paranoia, pride, delirium, vengeance, etc) the most prominent is that of when man vs life-threatening chaos, man will fail, often fail by his own poor choices.  This is evident from the pill-suicide from the one lady in the store, the self-hanging of the two military guys in the back of the storeroom, the teenager's desire to show his "manhood" by going outside when he knew better and, of course, the lead character's decision to take the other's lives by reasoning there was nothing left to do.  While we all would probably feel the same way the fact is it was the wrong choice and held true to the Mist's dark themes.  For that reason I feel the ending was brilliant.  Not one anyone would find "uplifting" by any means but more true to the horror that was the Mist.  It simply works.

Best movie this year, hands down.

1408 was good but I would still prefer the Mist.  Did you notice the "movie poster" for the Dark Tower?  I wonder if this is a small hint that we may FINALLY see the Dark Tower on the big screen?

I can't say much about the ending yet as not to run it for DTJ or others who may be watching the Mist this weekend but it was a huge shock.  I thought the movie was excellent and the ending (although different than the book) was very powerful.   You were right James, no way could you read the novella again without having altered emotions than of those you read before viewing the movie.

Tomorrow we'll discuss this, maybe you could add a "spoiler warning" on the title of the thread just to be safe.  Definitely a great movie and a very bold move to go with that ending.  Even more impressive that it works.   Very hard to alter such a well-known/loved story and have a good outcome but I think the producer managed to do just that.  Not saying I prefer it to the novella's ending but I definitely see this new ending as a strong alternative.

Why would he bite down a little harder after tasting "a very sour, bitter sort of taste" that "almost had a numbing sensation?"  Sounds like bullshit to me circa the Wendy's "finger in the chili" sort.

Damn James, I guess I'm gonna have to go watch this bad boy after that review.  I'll have to catch a buzz first I guess...I fuckin' hate theaters!!!