The Fog: AVCO Embassy Pictures Rating: USA: R/ UK: 15/ Australia: M
Following up the phenomenal (and completely unexpected) success of Halloween wasn’t going to be an easy feat for filmmaker John Carpenter (Halloween, The Thing). I mean, face it—anything short of another Michael Myers film was going to come across as unsatisfying to most mainstream audiences (most of who were yearning for a sequel based on the extremely open ending of Halloween). Undaunted, Carpenter and girlfriend/co-collaborator Debra Hill turned out 1980’s haunted town flick, The Fog—one of the more underrated films in the director’s body of work.
Antonio Bay is a quiet, scenic coastal town on the California coast—but, like most small towns in horror films, it’s got a dark secret buried in its past.
As the film opens, we’re treated to a scene with Mr. Machen (John Houseman: Scrooged, The Paper Chase) telling a group of children a campfire tale—a story about the Elizabeth Dane, a ship full of lepers that crashed on the jagged coastline and sank 100 years before, killing everyone on board. Shortly after midnight, things start going berserk—car alarms go off, a gas pump begins running by itself, and phones ring with no one on the other end. In the church, Father Malone (Hal Holbrook: The Unholy) discovers a journal hidden behind a wall—a journal written by his grandfather and recounting the events that led to the founding of Antonio Bay. It seems that the captain of the Elizabeth Dane had come to Antonio Bay 100 years earlier seeking refuge and to build a leper colony nearby. However, the greedy townfolk not only didn’t want the lepers near them, but also coveted the gold aboard the ship. They lured the ship toward shore with a false beacon, causing it to crash on the rocks, took the gold for themselves, and founded Antonio Bay.
Now, tonight, exactly 100 years later, the dead lepers are coming back—looking to punish the ancestors of those who had wronged them and reclaim the gold that is rightfully theirs.
Much like Halloween, The Fog tells a relatively simple tale. At it’s core, the storyline is no different than countless other ghost and pirate stories, yet Carpenter adds just enough flourishes to make it entertaining and original. The film itself suffers from a too broad a focus, as Carpenter keeps intercutting between various members of the ensemble cast. Is radio DJ Stevie Wayne (Adrienne Barbeau) the main character? Or is it Elizabeth and Nick (Jamie Leigh Curtis and Tom Atkins)? We’re never really sure and it sort of hurts the film as we’re continually switching between characters and focuses.
Still, the performances from the ensemble cast are lively and entertaining. Aside from the aforementioned stars, The Fog also showcases the acting talents of Janet Leigh (Jamie Leigh Curtis’ mom), as well as Charles Cyphers and Nancy Loomis (both of whom were in Halloween). The acting here is surprisingly good, and it more than makes up for most of the story’s shortcomings. Also, pay attention early on and you’ll spot a very young John Carpenter playing the church’s janitor.
The story itself is relatively creepy, although not as intense as Halloween. Whereas that film was something of an exploration of the idea of the age-old boogeyman myth reset in modern day suburban America, The Fog is something far more traditional—a standard small town ghost story. Carpenter does a solid job though, building the elaborate backstory, conceiving the idea for the undead to move about in the thick, soupy fog, etc. However, he throws in several ideas that are used, then quickly discarded—as if they seemed like good ideas at the time, but ultimately didn’t work, so he simply abandoned them. For instance, in one sequence, one of the victims comes back to life—only to collapse in a heap on the floor seconds later. Why did he come back to life? Why didn’t any of the other victims come back to life? No one knows, because it’s never discussed.
Equally bothersome is the idea that the ghosts are back to take vengeance on the descendants of the town’s founding fathers—yet they murder numerous people who clearly have no connection to the town’s past, while letting others go (such as Janet Leigh) who do. Factor this lack of focus in with an ending scene that seems tacked on for nothing other than cheesy shock value, and you can see why the film falls just short of classic status. One interesting sidenote about the script—Carpenter named many of the characters after people he’d worked with or admired. Dan O’Bannon is the name of the guy who wrote Alien, Nick Castle was the original Shape in Halloween, and Tommy Wallace was the production designer/editor of that same film.
Like most of the early Carpenter films, this one has a unique and intriguing look, largely due to the work of cinematographer Dean Cundey. Unfortunately, all the VHS tapes of this film are in pan and scan, so we don’t get the full impact of Cundey’s shot selection or Carpenter’s use of the wideangle lens, but we do get a sense that it’s there. If ever there was a film screaming for a remastered, letterboxed DVD release, it’s The Fog. Watching it in pan and scan seems like blasphemy.
Carpenter wrote the score himself (as he does on most of his films) and it’s another simple, yet atmospheric set of tunes that demonstrates the importance of good music in an effective horror film. Also, during one of the early radio station scenes, Barbeau mentions that a song is by The Coupe DeVilles—which astute Carpenter fans will recognize as the name of one of Carpenter’s musical groups.
Unlike big brother Halloween, a film that largely eschewed showing any kind of onscreen carnage, The Fog delivers some wonderfully gory sequences. There are numerous stabbings with hooks and sickle-like bladed objects, an eye gouging, and more. Not to mention that the leprous zombies are pretty cool looking too. Gore fans should be pleased with what they find in this film.
While The Fog falls just a bit short of the classic status that’s been bestowed upon Carpenter’s masterworks—Halloween and The Thing—it’s still a fantastic little horror film that boasts a great ensemble cast, a fine score, the typical Carpenter visual style, and an almost palpable sense of menace. It stands head and shoulders above other Carpenter films such as Prince of Darkness, yet it’s relatively ignored by mainstream audiences. And despite some of the loopy logic and gaping plot holes in the script, it’s still an intense and entertaining exercise in ghostly horror. If you like ghost stories, John Carpenter’s films, or 80’s horror flicks in general, then you should run out and find a copy of The Fog—it’s well worth tracking down. Now let’s hope someone gives this film and Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China the DVD releases they truly deserve.
The Fog brings with it the souls of the dammed. Fog is nothing new to the quaint seaside village of Antonio Bay. But on the night of its 100th anniver...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.