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Summary: It is the witching hour.
Review: THE FOG is a suspense/horror film about what happens in the coastal town of Antonio Bay on the eve of it's 100th anniversary. Legend tells about a mysterious, glowing fog that has taken lives and swallowed ships over the years, but no one believes those tales until the eve of Antonio Bay's cenntenial. Car alarms, bells, whistles, and sirens go off for no apparent reason. A ship disappears. Windows break and strange knocks are heard at people's doors. When the missing ship is found, looking like it had been lost for centuries at sea and one of the dead crew members on board comes to life on an examination table, people know something strange is about to happen. As it turns out, Father Malone (Hal Holbrook) knows why the funning going-ons are happening. Antonio Bay was founded by six men who murdered a ship full of lepers after having taken their money. The lepers are back and want revenge and the Fog is how they will do it.The film has a great cast, including Adrienne Barbeau and Jamie Lee Curtis; a decent script; and some simple, yet effective effects. John Carpenter (as he did with HALLOWEEN) relied upon suspense more than graphic horror to send thrills done spines. A very good suspenseful horror flick that's especially delightful to watch on an evening alone in the fog.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, very entertaining
Review: This movie is one of John Carpenter's best. Without much ado, without much character development we are propelled straight into the guts of the plot and for the next 90 minutes it's mainly action, action, and a few chills. I have lost count of the number of times I have seen this movie but it still makes me jump (one particular place every time)! Anyways, 90 minutes. Yes many moons ago directors and producers had a better idea of editing than they do now. Seems that all movies have become self important and no one wants to leave anything on the cutting room floor. If you are such a director or producer watch The Fog and understand why good editing HELPS the movie...if there's film on the cutting room floor chances are it was meant to be on the floor. DVD. Great quality. Nicely cleaned up image, good sound, good features. This is a prime example of how old movies should be released. Hairstyles...bad.
Ms Curtis...as always, no complaint.
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Summary: Carpenter's Underrated Masterpiece
Review: Building on his success from "Halloween," Carpenter turns out an atmospheric, witty, genuinely scary film with "The Fog." It contains a cast of veteran actors, including Hal Holbrook and Janet Leigh, and actors then new to the genre, such as Tom Atkins, Adrienne Barbeau, and Jamie Lee Curtis. The film contains several in-jokes that may be of interest to movie buffs: Tom Atkins's character "Nick Castle" and Charles Cyphers's "Dan O'Bannon" are named after veteran directors of horror classics such as "The House on Haunted Hill" and "Return of the Living Dead," respectively. George "Buck" Flower's character is "Tommy Wallace," who himself appeared in the film as one of the ghosts. As for the film, the story about a colony of lepers trying to seek retribution for an act committed upon them 100 years before is a well done effort from everyone involved. Holbrook gives a heartfelt, typically heavy handed performance as Father Malone, who finds his grandfather's journal in the walls of his church. Tom Atkins is great as always as a sea merchant who picks up hitchhiker Jamie Lee Curtis just as the chaos begins. Barbeau plays a deejay who broadcasts from a lighthouse, and who can spot the fog as it covers each street in order to guide Tom Atkins to the church. She does a brilliant job of unwinding over the radio, as she pleas for someone to rescue her young son from the fog. Janet Leigh and her daughter Jamie Lee Curtis later reteamed in "Halloween: H20," which is worthy of mention to Curtis fans, or to anyone who thought the Michael Myers series had lost its touch.
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Summary: The Beginnings of Director John Carpenter...
Review: Probably one of the scariest films to be released, THE FOG provides some real chills and, when the fog bank rolls in, some real terror. You won't look at a fog bank the same way again after you watch this movie. The town of Antonio Bay, California is celebrating it's birthday, but something strange is happening, and just after midnight, the fog bank rolls in and some dead sailors are looking for some people to kill! And the the people can't stop this fog bank from taking it's toll, and this provides the movie with a twisted ending, as with most horror movies. With some great performances from Jamie Lee Curtis, the beautiful Adrienne Barbeau, and Hal Holbrook, THE FOG is one of those movies perfect to watch alone, in the dark, and with company. After you watch this movie, you may never want to see a fog again! Superb, masterful, and greatly recommended to any horror movie fan.
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Summary: The King of Ghost Stories
Review: The Fog is number one in my book. John Carpenter put forth his best effort with this under rated classic. I was 16 when this film came out and I made my mom take me to see it. My home town was very strict with it's "R" ratings. Needless to say I was on the edge of my seat. I have a VHS copy of this film but it's not the same. It can't capture the widescreen angles of the original film. The township of Antonio Bay prepares to celebrate it's 100th anniversery when it becomes known to the local preacher, Father Malone(Hal Holbrook)that this township was bought with the blood of a group of sailors who were lead to thier deaths by the six founders of Antonio Bay. "Six Must Die" says the little piece of driftwood. Once the fog rolls in hold onto your seats. One of the things John Carpenter has been known for is his use of the same actors. Jamie Lee Curtis was also in three of the Halloween movies. Films today go for special effects to get chills. The Fog gives them to you the way Alfred Hitchcock did it. With suspence. The scene where the dead sailors go after Adriene Barbeau's son is a prime example of this long dead style of film making. If a good horror flick without all the blood and guts is what your after then The Fog will give you your money's worth.
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Summary: THE FOG!
Review: This is excellent! I loved it! It was scary! Not cheezy! SCARY!!! Watch it alone in the dark. Have fun being scared!
Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: I got this DVD as a gift, and set about watching it without knowing anything substantial about the plot - actually, I knew nothing about it.
I must say, it's not often a horror movie makes me jump in my seat - with this film, it happened twice. I knew John Carpenter was a great director (I love Big Trouble in Little China), but this movie was really an unexpected gem. As John himself described, the effect of the horror in this film wasn't so much what it portrayed, rather what it hinted on portraying.
I don't want to give up the plot (it's VERY well written and the background story is excellent), but I would recommend you watch this film without reading the back of the DVD case. And if you don't want to take a chance with your money, rent it first. I'm almost certain you'll want to buy it later.
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Summary: What fools these mortals be!
Review: It's been nearly two decades since I've seen the movie so I can't say if the picture is big improvement over earlier videotape releases, but it is bright (except in the parts where it's supposed to be dark) and clear with a nice 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Carpenter's creepy electronic soundtrack stands out. They managed to dig up some good bonus material for a rather old movie. There is a 1980 documentary of the film and one made for the DVD. Some of the particpants have not aged well. But it was good to see some perspective on how they felt when they made the movie and how the feel now, twenty three years later. There are storyboard to film comparisons for one scene as well as a few bloopers. Janet Leigh is rather hysterical when she flubs a line. The Fog was repeated endlessly on HBO, Showtime, Cinemax and The Movie Channel when my family first got cable in 1982 or 1983 (back in the days when each service only had one channel). I saw it a number of times then, but never again after it dropped off of regular rotation. Although I don't consider it scary anymore, the novel handling of a traditional premise still holds water today, even if some of the boats in the film don't. The Fog takes a standard "Ghosts come back for revenge on their killers' progeny one hundred years after their deaths" and gives it a unique twist by coupling the seawater engorged carcasses with a mysterious fog that takes them wherever they need to go, and causes all sorts of inconvenient things to happen, like broken power and phone lines or smashed car windows. The ghosts ultimately get what they came for, which is not just the deaths of their killers' decendants, but a disproof of the old adage "You can't take it with you." See the movie if you want to find out what this means.
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Summary: Classic Carpenter film gets better with age.
Review: Fog is an underrated and atmospheric gem. It is essential to see it in widescreen because John Carpenter keeps all sorts of good creepy things in the corners and Dean Cundy's photography is beautiful. Like "The BIRDS" the film has a nice slow build. Be patient and pay attention to all the accumilating clues of an impending supernatural event as a small town is surrounded by the spectral FOG. It has an old fashioned ghost story feel as well as shocks (most of which are supplied by truly frightening sound effects). UNFORTUNATELY the DVD is a big disappointment! GET THE SPECIAL EDITION WIDESCREEN LASERDISC on EBAY if you can. Fans of John Carpenters music should be aware the laserdisc has the music score isolated on a seperate audio track and the new DVD does NOT give us this feature. Its very important for Carpenter fans because the recently released expanded CD is really a release of the poorly done LP with new tracks made up of re-edits of the existing tracks. So much music from the film is STILL missing on the CD and the laserdisc is the only way to get it. ALSO the DVD has some outtakes as seen on the laser disc but NOT all of them. Missing on the DVD outtakes is different FX clips of the fog damaging a generator, the live FOG FX being spread thru the town, a unused moment of a rotting hand coming out of the misty water, and extra FX clips of the FOG composited on the bay. These are included on the laser though. There is an annoying visual glitch during a suspenseful moment as the FOG engulfs a house. The film freezes for a second and it really stands out like a sore thumb. This glitch is NOT on the widescreen laserdisc. While the DVD does correct a small audio glitch that the laserdisc had, they instead give us a even more noticable visual mistake. The DVD picture is slightly washed out taking the richness out of the color a bit. The FOG should have a bluish tinge to it and this transfer has it washed out to white and sometimes a very slight yellow green. Just like the DVD cover art showing the green mist which is wrong!!.
Rating:
Summary: This May Be John Carpenter's Finest Film
Review: Well, The Thing is Carpenter's masterpiece, but The Fog is a criminally neglected great horror movie. Everything about it is perfect--the California coastal town that feels like it's in New England, the marvellously atmospheric effects of the fog, the terrifying but sympathetic villains, the themes of encroaching and inevitable danger and recurring, miasmic guilt, the sense of isolation reinforced by the sea, lonely ships, lighthouses...the ways that a terrible danger manages to unite disparate people...even Adrienne Barbeau turns in a superb performance here as a funky and increasingly distraught yet always resourceful radio-show host, trapped alone in her lonely radio-tower-lighthouse....i cant believe this incredibly elegant and frightening movie has received such little fanfare. This SE DVD is excellent all around and well worth owning.
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