Shelled out my $20 (the signifigant other thought it looked interesting as well) last night for The Mist.
I will admit up front that I had read the Novella, and was more curious as to how the story translated to the big screen. I had read reviews that it was well done, and even the orioginal author, Stephen King, had spoken very highly of it (rare for an author to approve of an adaptation).
Overall, the movie follows the book fairly well. I was a tad disappointed that the first portion of the novella, which really set the mood, was truncated to about 5 minutes.
The central part of the story (which is really about how thin (and fragile) the veneer of civilization really is) is well done, and pretty creepy.
The special effects beasties are OK by todays CGI standards, but not revolutionary.
I was, I admit, shocked by the ending. It is far different from the Novella, and casts an entirely different complection on the morality tale. Sorry, no spoiler here.
All in all, I recommend it as worth seeing, though I think I would wait until is hits DVD or Satellite/Cable.
COMING SOON: Beowulf 3D!