'The Fog' is a 1979 horror film directed by John Carpenter (Halloween, The Thing, Assault on Precint 13, Starman). It stars Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, John Houseman, Janet Leigh and Hal Halbrook.
It begins with a eerie story told around a campfire by an old and grizzled sailor ... Read review
Antonio Bay, California Has Turned A Hundred Years Old And Getting Ready To CelebrateIts ... more
Centennial Year. But As The Residents Of The Small, Quaint Harbour Town Begin To PrepareFor The Festivities A Mysterious Cloud Of Fog Appears Upon The Shore And Begins To Make Its Way Across Town Leaving A Trail Of Horrifying Slaughter Until The Deathly, Dark Secrets OfAntonio Bay's Blood Soaked History Is Finally Revealed. The Fog Is An Incredibly Atmospheric And Effective Ghost Story That Confirms John Carpenter As A Master Of Terror.
From producer John Carpenter comes the all-new retelling of his terror classic, THE FOG. ... more
Tom Welling (TV's Smallville), Maggie Grace (TV's Lost) and Selma Blair (Hellboy) star in this senses-shattering tale of demonic retribution, directed by Rupert Wainwright (Stigmata) with screenplay by Cooper Layne.Trapped within an eerie mist, the residents of Antonio Bay have become the unwitting victims of a horrifying vengeance. One hundred years ago, a ship carrying lepers was purposely lured onto the rocky coastline and sunk, drowning all aboard. Now they're back, long-dead mariners who've waited a century for their revenge. Seeking out the descendents of those responsible for their deaths, they lurk enshrouded within a supernatural fog of terror. Beware, any and all who stand in their way.
A peaceful village in Wiltshire is shattered by a disaster which strikes without reason or ... more
explanation leaving behind a trail of misery and horror. A yawning bottomless crack spreads through the earth out of which creeps a fog that resembles no other. Whatever it is it must be controlled.
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A thick fog rolls into the sleepy town of Antonio Bay concealing the ghosts of murdered ... more
sailors desperate to seek revenge on the descendants of their killers. In one night the inhabitants of this town will pay the ultimate price for their forefathers' murderous greed...
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Advantages: Some genuine chills, good story, good soundtrack. Disadvantages: Weak writing, some 'iffy' performances.
...directed by John Carpenter (Halloween, The Thing, Assault on Precint 13, Starman). It stars Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, John Houseman, Janet Leigh and Hal Halbrook.
It begins with a eerie story told around a campfire by an old and grizzled sailor to a group of young children. The story is of a ship, the Elizabeth Dane, which sank a hundred years ago just off their small Californian town, Antonio Bay. As the film begins ... ...spooky things are happening in the Bay and Father Malone (Hal Holbrook) has just discovered a rather unsavoury secret about the towns forefathers that puts a grisly spin on the festivities...
This film suffers a bit from splitting the main action between two heroines. Stevie Wayne (Adrienne Barbeau) is the owner of a radio station and mother of a young son Andy (Ty Mitchell). She hosts the station's nighttime show and is witness ... more
'The Fog' is a 1979 horror film directed by John Carpenter (Halloween, The Thing, Assault on Precint 13, Starman). It stars Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, John Houseman, Janet Leigh and Hal Halbrook.
It begins with a eerie story told around a campfire by an old and grizzled sailor to a group of young children. The story is of a ship, the Elizabeth Dane, which sank a hundred years ago just off their small Californian town, Antonio Bay. As the film begins the town is just getting ready to celebrate its centennial year, but spooky things are happening in the Bay and Father Malone (Hal Holbrook) has just discovered a rather unsavoury secret about the towns forefathers that puts a grisly spin on the festivities...
This film suffers a bit from splitting the main action between two heroines. Stevie Wayne (Adrienne Barbeau) is the owner of a radio station and mother of a young son Andy (Ty Mitchell). She hosts the station's nighttime show and is witness to a mysterious glowing fog that appears to have a life of its own. As this fog rumbles in she is completely cut off from the rest of the town, including her son. Elizabeth Solley (Jamie Lee Curtis) is a young hitchhiker drawn into the strange events of the town by a chance encounter with Nick Castle (Tom Atkins) and in the climax of the film joins some of the town's key characters as they try to shelter in the church.
The film has some genuinely scary moments and an unsettling concept- that murderous figures travel in the fog. (I'm saying 'figures' because of numerous disagreements I've had with my family over whether they are lepers, or pirates. I concede that they all began as lepers, but they illegally boarded a boat and committed murder on the sea, so I say they've all become pirates. Plus, they have hooks.) Anyway, I digress. As I was saying, there are some scary 'shock' moments and also some moments that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, but I can't shake the feeling that there could have been more of them, especially when the central concept of the film was so good and the director was John Carpenter. The acting at times can feel a bit stilted, and the dialogue feels slightly underwritten so the characters do not always seem to 'gel' as it were. Jamie Lee Curtis does a good acting job here but is let down by an underwritten role, probably the result of splitting the action between two female leads. The effects are reasonable for the times, but a close-up of one of the figures decaying head actually blunted my fear, rather than adding to it. In this film I think more is achieved by keeping the figures in the shadows and leaving things to the imagination. The soundtrack is quite good and slightly reminiscent of Carpenter's earlier 'Halloween', but doesn't linger in the memory as long and is not as eerie.
Despite the fact that all of the before mentioned makes me feel slightly disappointed for what *could* have been, this is still an above average horror film and one of my favourites ever since I saw it as a young kid. It may make you feel slightly apprehensive every time a fog appears on the horizon however.
This 2008 edition of 'The Fog' includes the original theatrical trailer and a thirty minute 'making of' documentary, 'Tales from the Mist' which includes interviews with Carpenter and Debra Hill (who co-wrote the script along with Carpenter). It has a bit about how they came up with the concept for 'The Fog' (sparked off by a visit to Stonehenge where they became encircled in a mist), how they created the effects, and also reveals that the initial test screening of the film was not a success and resulted in them having to hurriedly add more scares for the audience.
Advantages: Theme tune, characters, and childhood memories Disadvantages: Only 5 episodes on DVD, animation is an acquired taste
If you're a child of the 1980s like myself, I'd be surprised if you don't remember Willy Fog. Although it was originally shown in Spanish in 1983, it was first shown in the UK in 1987 when it was on Children's BBC, and dubbed over in English. I think the series was popular in many countries, I remember watching an episode in Italian when on holiday in Venice!
The series has 26 episodes, and the first five are on this dvd. I bought the set (of five) as each one came out, but now you can buy a box set with all of the episodes which might be more convenient (put it this way, you can't just buy this one dvd as you won't find out what happens). However, I didn't mind the wait between dvds. After all, when it was shown there was only one episode per week. As a 5-6 year old, the 26 weeks seemed to go on for a lifetime!
For me (and ...
John Carpenter is a master of tension and suspense. In the hands of a lesser director, The Fog would have been just another generic horror film, (see the execrable 2005 remake if you don't believe me) but Carpenter instead manages to create an oppressive and unsettling film with his mix of eerily-lit shots, brooding off-screen menace and his trademark pulsing synths that ebb and flow throughout, gradually building up anxiety in the viewer on an almost subconscious level.
The story takes place in the sleepy Californian coastal town of Antonio Bay, a settlement that is said to have been formed in 1880 by a group of men who caused a local ship to be wrecked by lighting a beacon and driving it onto the rocks, causing crew to drown before plundering the ship of gold and using it to establish the town. The local church houses a huge gold ...
Burning_Darkness 06.10.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Fog (DVD)
Advantages: I was scared once Disadvantages: Strange special effects, no character development
An island off the coast of the US is about to celebrate the hundreth anniversary of its founding when an unexpected bout of fog strikes, leaving three dead and one seriously injured. Stranger things are afoot; objects mysteriously appear on the seashore, things that seemingly have the magical power to burst into flames despite having been underwater for centuries. Nick Castle and his girlfriend, Elizabeth, slowly begin to piece together the story of their forefathers, who allowed the death of a boatful of lepers so that they could set up the island without any of the 'unclean' on it. Now, it seems, the lepers are coming back to seek their revenge by means of the fog...Can justice be done without more death?
I seem to have caught up with five years of remakes in the past month or so; The Fog 2005 is a re-make of the 1980 John ...
sunmeilan 25.02.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Fog (DVD)
Antonio Bay, a quaint, small seaside town is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding. That night a heavy, mysterious fog rolls through the town and people begin to die in savage ways. Rumours of a secret as old as the town begin to surface and the people of Antonio Bay realise they are victims of long dead sailors who have come to take revenge for their own murders at the hands of the town's founding fathers. The townspeople can only wait for the fog to roll in and pray that they are not the next to die.
Release details
DVD Region
DVD
Studio(s)
OPTIMUM HOME ENTERTAINMENT; ELEVATION SALES; TECHNICOLOR DISTRIBUTION SERVICES
Languages
Main Language
English
Technical information
Special Features
Tales From The Mist: 30min Documentary, Original Theatrical Trailer
Aspect Ratio
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Sound
Dolby Digital
Professional reviews
Review
The movie's made with style and energy (Chicago Sun-Times, 03/07/2008)
DVD Description
Director John Carpenter creates an old-fashioned campfire ghost story with THE FOG. Antonio Bay, a quaint, small seaside town is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding. That night a heavy, mysterious fog rolls through the town and people begin to die in savage ways. Rumors of a secret as old as the town begin to surface and the people of Antonio Bay realize they are victims of long dead sailors who have come to revenge their own murders at the hands of the town's founding fathers. The townspeople can only wait for the fog to roll in and pray that they are not the next to die. Carpenter creates a chilling film with THE FOG and gets fine performances out of Adrienne Barbeau, Hal Holbrook, and the fog itself, which creeps and crawls around as if it were alive. The film elicits its scares out of what is not seen rather than what is, and Carpenter exploits that style perfectly. Vauge shapes move within the fog, while strange noises heard in the distance grow louder, and no one can say exactly what they are up against. THE FOG is one of Carpenter's earlier films and helped to establish his reputation as a master filmmaker.
