Rating: Summary: This seriously messed up my childhood Review: (spoiler ahead)..I saw this when I was a kid, and the scene at the house on the pier, with the babysitter and the little boy, left me terrified of, let's see...night, windows, fog, knocks at the door...for years to come. It's a masterpiece of a scene--the build up, the music, the narrow escape, and the unexpected demise of the babysitter. Just watched movie again recently, and it holds up well. OK, the script is no masterpiece, but it's practically "All About Eve" compared to other slasher movies of the time. Carpenter has some great horror set-pieces here and, as with "Halloween" and "Christine", does a decent job of giving his characters some life. Cool cast, wicked music score. Exciting to have this in Panavision widescreen at long last!
Rating: Summary: The Classic Fog Review: This movie had the right idea, but something is missing. Its not as good as the classic "Halloween", but I still enjoyed this movie and I feel its worth watching. One of the reasons why this movie still holds up is, there's no blood and there's excellent story-telling. However near the end of the movie, it feels rushed. But this horror movie is hella lot better than most of the Friday 13th movies.
Rating: Summary: "We're All Cursed...." Review: If you were to ask me what favorite scary movie of mine is most overlooked and in dire need of more attention and recognition, I would most definitley say "The Fog". The year was 1979, and director/writer/composer John Carpenter was just coming off the massive success of "Halloween". What does he do as a follow up to that groundbreaking classic?. Well, he makes another one!. He and his longtime collaborator Debra Hill wrote the script for an old fashioned scary ghost tale. Mission accomplished guys. The story takes place in the idyllic seaside town of Antonio Bay, California. The town is on the verge of celebrating it's 100th anniversary, being runned by local resident Kathy Williams, played by screen great Janet Leigh. At the same time as the big festivities are getting underway, the town is beset by a strange, eerie fog that is more than meets the eye. As we find out through Father Malone(Hal Halbrook), the town of Antonio Bay is built on greed, deceit, and murder. A group of long dead mariners are exacting their revenge on the town and the descendants of the men who originally did them wrong and built what was to become the town on their horrible actions. Now, they want what's rightfully theirs back. And they come in and do it engulfed in a dense, terrifying fog. Caught up in the terror is a small group of people. Local DJ Stevie Wayne(Adrienne Barbeau, who was Carpenter's real life squeeze), her son Andy, hitchhiker Elizabeth(Jamie Lee Curtis), Nick(Tom Atkins), and a few others as well. John Houseman appears in a small cameo at the beginning of the film. There are a few gags in the film that you need to look out for. The Tom Atkins character is named Nick Castle. Nick Castle is the actor who played Michael Myers in the original "Halloween". There are a few others, but I will let you find them on your own. As I mentioned earlier, this movie is horribly overlooked and underrated. It may not be "Halloween", but it is a strong try that is almost as equally creepy and suspense filled as that film. It is vintage John Carpenter, down to the cool score, and this was the last film he did that I think was truly scary. He also has a cameo early on in the film at the church playing the 'Bennet' character. The movie is tightly written by Carpenter and Hill, and it moves along at a nice pace and it gets you all settled into the nice town and the residents we soon meet. As always in Carpenter films, it really sets the mood and takes you into the movie itself. Carpenter has a special knack for ringing terror and suspense by actually making it creepy and scary without having to resort to "jump scares" or gore. This one is a perfectly executed film with a perfect balance of scares and a strong tale to go with it. Some people might find it surprising that Jamie Lee Curtis has a smaller, co-starring role here. Barbeau is the real star and heroine. But it's kinda funny because the original poster for the film showcased Jamie Lee and no one else. Misleading, yes, but with her rising fame at the time and the success of "Halloween" a year before, it was a nice marketing move. "The Fog" did okay at the box office, but it kinda got lost afterwards and created a following over the years. Carpenter should be noted for doing this film just as much as he is for doing "Halloween". It's gotten a resurgence over the years, and you can tell the influence it had on Kevin Williamson for the "I Know What You Did Last Summer" movie. All in all, "The Fog" is a real exercise in smart and upstanding terror. A classic thriller that is just waiting to be re-discovered again so it can scare the pants off you.
Rating: Summary: Spooky Carpenter Classic! Review: I thought this was a great film. It's one of John Carpenter's best and one of my favorite Carpenter films. The dvd is great, it has some great special features and if anybody's a fan of Carpenter as I am, this is the film to get.
Rating: Summary: I AM SO GLAD I WATCHED THIS MOVIE Review: This movie is BY FAR John Carpenter's best effort. This is a "scary movie" that is unusually well-written. The storyline is clear and things fall into place nicely. I place this movie easily in the top 3 of my all-time favorite horror flicks. Too bad Carpenter is more known for (the very good) Halloween. Hooray for John Carpenter!!!
Rating: Summary: good wholesome horror Review: Kinda FUN, lighten up and just present a saturday b movie MATINEE,escape kinda ADventures fRolicking depiction of wholsome SCARINESS, done good.WHAT A RADICAL concept,LIVE BY THE SEA, beautifullCOLOR FOG ROLLS IN AND the nitemare start in.die by the sword,SUBCONSCIOUS,ghosts PIRATES desire revenge,heavy on BENEATH the surface ritauls of founders day anchovie squatters,RIGHTS TO PLOUNDER, our nitemares,BAD BOY CHILDHOOD PLUDERES PIRATES come back to slaughter,just about the time all good kids are tucked in to sleep, the fog rolls in,VERY SLOWLY,CAMERA SPANS and adriene BARBEAU, IN BEST RACHAEL WELCH wanna be ERRUPTS to FILL the screen AND WE the bad boys who werent tucked in SCREAM yeah let the carnage and DEATH in.
Rating: Summary: This is the Film John Carpenter Should Be Best Known For Review: I know the film "Halloween" has a huge following, but in my opinion, John Carpenter's 2nd film, THE FOG, is far superior. Beautifully filmed and accompanied by an impressive score, this is his best film. It is a truly frightening film that addresses actual fear, such as, what is in the fog? If you haven't seen the movie, you need to find out what is in the fog. It really did give me goosebumps. Not many films can chill me, this one did though. Turn out the lights and watch it alone.
Rating: Summary: Truely Frightening Review: I have only seen this movie once, but I remember it clearly because it scared me so much. I heard good things about htis movie, and I decided to give it a whirl. And I ended up watching it late at night with some friends, and I could barely get any sleep! The way it was filmed and the way the story goes it what I think makes this such a frightening movie. And it's not like other horror movie, it has some class and it gives genuine scares and chills. The acting was good and the music and picture quality was terrific! The images of some of the ghosts looked as real as they could, and it was just a fun/good/exciting, and lets not forget, horrorfying film. This is one of the best. I guess a true classic never dies...
Rating: Summary: The mighty John Carpenter! Review: This is a classic John Carpenter flick. It's eerie, features creepy music, and stars Jamie Lee Curtis! What else does one need for the near-perfect screamfest?Very highly recommended.
Rating: Summary: What Lies In THE FOG? Review: After the smash success of his 1978 horror/suspense classic HALLOWEEN, director John Carpenter, along with his producer Debra Hill, instead of exploiting that film's success with a sequel (for the time being, anyway), decided to make a ghost story. The result, the 1980 thriller THE FOG, was almost certainly the first really good horror film of the Eighties, one that for the most part was otherwise dominated by HALLOWEEN-inspired slasher movies. Like Hitchcock's THE BIRDS and Spielberg's JAWS, THE FOG is set in a seaside community. This time, it's Antonio Bay, on the coast of Northern California, near Point Reyes. The community is about to celebrate its 100th anniversary of existence, and a lot of people are in attendance. But, in the film's prologue, as an old man of the sea (John Houseman) relates it to some kids, we learn that a crew of leper pirates had been led to a watery grave while being guided by a lighthouse beacon onshore shining through a very thick fog bank. Now, these same pirates are about to take their revenge on the people and visitors of Antonio Bay, shrouded by that very same thick blanket of fog that sent them to their doom a century before. As with HALLOWEEN, Carpenter has sought to limit the violence and gore that was starting to become part-and-parcel of most commercial horror films of the time. Instead, he opts for a combination of supernatural horror, mystery, and suspense, as Antonio Bay's townsfolk find themselves at the mercy of a past they thought they had put behind them. And for this, Carpenter has assembled a tresure trove of actors--Jamie Lee Curtis (HALLOWEEN); her real-life mother Janet Leigh (PSYCHO); Hal Holbrook (ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN); Charles Cyphers; and Nancy Loomis, to name just a few. Although some plot holes do lessen the experience somewhat, THE FOG still succeeds as an atmospheric thriller, largely thanks to Carpenter's own piano-dominated music score, the eerie fog effects, and Dean Cundey's superb cinematography. Only a handful of horror movies from this point on would ever really be considered classic material. THE FOG is admittedly slightly imperfect, but in comparison to much of the dreck that followed in the 1980s, it is very much a classic nevertheless.
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