Rating: 
Summary: THE FOG
Review: A good ghost story. Although this not John Carpenter's best film but it certainly is one of his better ones.A sleepy coastal town is terrorized by vengeance seeking pirates who want their gold that was stolen exactly one hundred years ago.Not overly scary but some chills and a spooky story will keep you interested. Jamie Lee Curtis is good as a hitchiker who stumbles upon the eerie happenings,Hal Holbrook is convincing as Father Malone, and Adrienne Barbeau as the lighthouse music DJ does a fine job.The appearence of the eerie glowing FOG is well done and the music is also effective.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a great Carpenter movie, but still a great chiller
Review: This is a great example of a so-so Carpenter film that otherwise shows us why we loved his older stuff. The Fog is set in one of those quaint coastal towns that we think only exist in movies but actually do dot America's shores. This one is about to celebrate its centennial, which means that all sorts of secrete will pop up. The small town has an identity born of sacrifice - noble sailors died here when their schooner mistook some coastal signals and tore itself to pieces on the rocks. Some, like a priest played by Hal Holbrooke, are old enough to know the truth - that those brave sailors were conspirators, sent to a watery grave for their silence, and waiting for a round-number of years to pass before rising from the grave to exact a vengeance. As the town approaches its 100th year, and John Houseman's character warns us that bad things happen to the descendants of people who made money the really old-fashioned way, an ominous fog rolls into town.This was a so-so film, though it shares that quality of all early Carpenter flicks that require you multiple viewings. It was brave of Carpenter to devote his time to what amounts to an over-glorified ghost story, but he handles it well, keeping his ghosts appropriately vague (like a fog) until the near end. "Ghost Story", which also starred Houseman, came out a year later, and was nowhere near as good. Forget the arch and knowing wisdom of the "Scream" movies, nobody can sustain tension like Carpenter could, and certainly not without traditional shock devices. And nobody, but nobody can deliver a parting shot like the one Carpenter swings at you in the final frame.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed in Carpenter.
Review: John Carpenter surprised me in the fog, although it was a entertaining film, it could have been so much better. It's about some creatures that want their gold back, after 100 years, and they come back to get it, they only kill like four people, out of a whole town, and the ending was disappointing, especially how fast it came. No deep story, just these creatures knocking on people's doors, which does give an errie feeling, and a women on a late night radio talk show, just babbling on and on. I jumped maybe one time through the whole film.
Rating:
Summary: A Very Cool Horror Film
Review: "The Fog" isn't the deepest or most intriguing horror movie I've ever seen. But it's definitely enjoyable to watch, and this remastered edition is something every horror fan should have in their library. The plot is that, 100 years after their ship was sunk thanks to a conspiracy by the founders of a town, the ghosts of the crew of the sunken ship return in the form of a supernatural fog so they can exact their revenge on the town. Adrienne Barbeau plays a radio DJ caught in the middle of the fog, with Jamie Lee Curtis as a hitchhiker and her mother, Janet Leigh, as the organizer of the town's centennial celebration. They all face the wrath of the vengeful spirits. The movie starts off with a bang, with eerie happenings in the town, like car alarms going off and bottles shaking. But after the initial attack of the fog, the movie slows down considerably, as they spend the next 45 minutes setting up the celebration and the story of the ghosts. Once the fog rolls in, the action picks right back up all the way until the end. The acting is good in this, as all three of the main actresses convey John Carpenter's style very well. There are also good supporting actors, like Hal Holbrook as the priest who discovers the truth about the fog. The special effects are also pretty good for the time period, with the fog actually seeming like it's alive, particularly in one scene where it climbs up a pole and kills the power. There are a couple of shots where it doesn't look good, but they're brief and you only see the fog from a distance anyway. The ghosts, while never seen up close except for once, are all shown in shadow with glowing red eyes, which is a very eerie effect that's done well. The real strength of this movie is the tension built throughout. Carpenter has proven time and time again that he's one of the best at doing that, as proven in "The Thing" and "Halloween". In this one, he builds it up via the opening storyteller scene, a "Poltergeist" type sequence and the middle part where they talk about what happened a hundred years ago. Carpenter also does a nice job of surprising you, as the use of shadow is done masterfully here. There's one scene in particular towards the end where you can just barely make out the outline of one of the ghosts, but you really have to be looking carefully for it to see it. As far as extras, this one has two documentaries, one current and one from when the movie was released, and both are very interesting. There are also outtakes and deleted scenes, which are very interesting. Like I said, horror fans should definitely pick this up, particularly fans of John Carpenter. While I like "Prince of Darkness" better, this one is very good, especially considering that "Prince" is so hard to find.
Rating: 
Summary: Underrated Carpenter classic
Review: After scoring a monumental hit with the original Halloween, John Carpenter re-teamed with Debra Hill and star Jamie Lee Curtis to bring us this criminally underrated little gem. Just as he did with Halloween, Carpenter creates a gloomy, creepy atmosphere and an overwhelming sense of dread without throwing buckets of blood and guts all over the walls, and he manages to coax great performances from the cast including Janet Leigh, Hal Holbrook, and John Houseman, along with Carpenter vets Tom Atkins and the babe-ilicious Adrienne Barbeau. The film's overly creepy atmosphere and eerie beginning sets the film apart from many others of the genre at the time, and in the end The Fog is one of Carpenter's best films, right up there with Halloween and The Thing. The DVD is worth noting as well and is a bargain to boot; we get an older documentary from when the film was released, and a brand new documentary as well, plus an enlightening commentary from Carpenter and Hill. There are numerous film in-jokes as well: Atkins' character is named Nick Castle, who would co-write Escape From New York with Carpenter a year later, and another character is named Dan O'Bannon, named after the man who co-wrote the original Alien a year earlier and would later on direct horror cult classic Return of the Living Dead. Look for Carpenter himself in the beginning of the film as Holbrook's church handyman.
Rating:
Summary: another great carpender movie
Review: A great film festival would be John Carpender's "Assault of precinct 13", "Halloween", "The Fog" and "The Thing". I love what this man does with characters and mood. The other reviewers have certainly gone over the plot in detail so I will reflect mostly on what Carpender does best. He takes a wide variety of people, lets you know just enough about them, and then adds those special moments of life that force them to interact under the most stressful of situations (oncoming doom). Halloween was the exception in that Jamie Lee Curtis was on her own. The music, again, becomes a character in how it puts you in the right mood for whatever's coming. The only annoyance was the little kid who just couldn't figure out that he shound RUUUUUN! away from the bad people.
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie, John and Debri are geniuses!
Review: This movie, following up John and Debris first, and my favorite movie Halloween is outstanding! The plot revolves around a small California coast town about to celebrate their 100th annoversary when all of a sudden a secret is unconvered reaviling the terrifying past of the town to some of the townspeople and whats soon going to happen to them. The details of what they learned are too long to explain, but on the night before the 100th birthday and the night of it, a strange mysterious fog wraps itslef around the town killing random people. Its now up to a disc jockey, a native of the town, a hitchhiker(jamie lee curtis), a priest, the mayor(janet leigh), and her assistant to try to survive this terrifying night and to correct history! This movie had everything you want in it; a good cast, good plot, great picture and sound quality, and a great director to back it all up! This movie was both horror and slight comedy mixed together creating the pefect blend and I love all the subliminal things that John put into it! For example Jamie lee curtiss says that shes not that lucky, that funny because of her last role in Halloween. The other thing was that the native, the man who picked Jamie up in his car, said that his name was Nick Castle, Thats cool becuase that was the actors name who played Michael Myers in Halloween! The special features were very good featuring original trailers from the theatres and TV, still shots, (two)cast interviews and biographies about the movie one from 1980 and one just made for the DVD, and a directors commentary by John Carpenter and Debri Hill. So if you want to watch a scary movie by yourslef or with a group of people then turn off the lights, shut your doors and watch: The Fog!
Rating:
Summary: The Fog's images and soundtrack DEFINE "chilling"
Review: John Carpenter's deeply frightening tale of the return of a deadly fog that settles back onto an unsuspecting community after 100 years is surely the most heart-stopping, creepy movie I have ever watched. The Fog's soundtrack itself is morbid, creepy and stark and the artful combination of spooky imagery and chilling score showcases Carpenter's sheer mastery of the horror genre. Carpenter himself penned the soundtrack. The Fog's special features are plentiful and rich with background footage and interviews. The DVD release of The Fog deserves a "20" on a scale of "1-10". Prepare yourself for an embarrassment of horror riches.
Rating:
Summary: Good story, weak narrative
Review: Pursuing revenge for what happened 100 years ago, ghost sailors terrorize a coastal town. Movie's group of heroes tries to survive the fog and unlock the mystery. Just like other Carpenter movies this one has an original story line, creative ideas and some nicely designed shots. The lighthouse, ghost pirates in the shadows and the fog itself are the highlights of some of these scenes.
Unfortunately the movie suffers from an uneven narrative which hampers the suspense and the continuity of the story. Carpenter has a tendency to spend too much time on visuals and not paying enough attention to the story and it surfaces in The Fog too. Special effects also look outdated and inadvertently kill the mood. DVD comes with some nice extras which are worthwhile to watch. In short, this is mostly for the fans of the director and not one of Carpenter's best efforts. Halloween, The Thing or Prince of Darkness offers three times the suspense and scares than this one...
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, moody ghost story
Review: The Fog isn't that old--1980--yet it seems like they can't even pull this kind of movie off today anymore. It's basically an old fashioned ghost story about revenge on a town. Antonio Bay is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding. Old timers tell the story of "the fog", which rolled in one night as the settlers of Antonio Bat lead a leper ship into jagged rocks on purpose, straying the ship off-course with a campfire on shore. Sure enough, the fog rolls in, bringing with it shadowy figures in period garb. And that's one of the great qualities of The Fog. The ghosts are ghostly, period, and we never really get a good look at any one of them. Only once do we get any real gore, with a green-blooded arm being hacked off. But overall the mist and the faintly glowing eyes still work pretty well. It's a strength of the film that we don't get the overboard cheap scare tactics. Carpenter doesn't need it as he creates the perfect spooky atmosphere with smoke and lights and music. I value atomosphere very highly in a horror film, and The Fog is full of a sense of foreboding. The camera work is excellent as is the lighting; something tells me an updated Hollywood version would kill the subtlety at play here. The dark sets and even the dated FX shots of the fog coming in off the bay look great on this DVD. I have to give MGM credit on this job. The film looks fine enough, and most important, we get some nice extras and attention to detail. Even the animated menus are a treat. One reviewer in these pages did write about the film quality though, claiming that the colors were very off, changing the effect of the film. This may be true (wouldn't surprise me the way they do some DVD transers) but I think the film is sharp on this release, and most people may not take notice. This is highly recommended, period. For Carpenter fans, for fans of old fashioned ghost stories updated in a competent way. The soundtrack is recommended as well, especially for Carpenter fans. Hypnotic, simple piano riffs that match the moody colors and the characters of the film.
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