The greatest horror films have always been the ones where the monsters/ghosts were merely plot devices; real evil it seems is more often human in nature than say, floating apparitions or giant locusts. Watched Frank Darabont‘s (of Shawshank Redemption fame) The Mist last night and what disturbed the audience more than the tentacled monsters was Marcia Gay Harden‘s brilliant performance as a Bible thumping, right-wing Christian zealot – Mrs Carmody.

So effective was her portrayal of an unnerving Jim Jones like persona that the audience (all 15 of us) burst out cheering and applauding as one particularly jolting Revelations inspired monologue was cut short by a bullet to the head (oh yeah, that was a spoiler). As exaggerated as the character was etched out to be, it did remind me of a few people I knew back in the day (i.e. 2 years back); the kind that hammered your head with a Bible, doomsday mongers, backers of a loving and forgiving yet somehow vengeful God.

Mrs Carmody a friend said, is just one of those people you love to hate.