It actually is about a....maybe a 75% accurate representation sans a few pertinent details. But the novella ends about five minutes before the movie does, and is essentially "well....we might find something, or we might just run out of gas and die," and that more than anything else was the reason for the change - because just driving off into the mist works in text, but on film? Oh, we need to finish with bangs. Or screams of horror!
As for what The Mist avoids in comparison to other horror movies, I'd have to say that calling this ending superior because it doesn't wrap things up neatly rings inherently false to me. It is a neat, tie up all loose ends type of deal, just because it doesn't do that happily doesn't mean that life does not essentially go back to normal for everyone uh, isn't dead. The calvary comes, almost literally. Just because it comes too late for the protagonist doesn't really change that.
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As for what The Mist avoids in comparison to other horror movies, I'd have to say that calling this ending superior because it doesn't wrap things up neatly rings inherently false to me. It is a neat, tie up all loose ends type of deal, just because it doesn't do that happily doesn't mean that life does not essentially go back to normal for everyone uh, isn't dead. The calvary comes, almost literally. Just because it comes too late for the protagonist doesn't really change that.