John Carpenter in Review: The Fog (1980)
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Adrienne Barbeau, and Hal Holbrook
Plot: A thick fog descends on an old fishing town containing vengeful ghosts.
Review:
Antonio Bay, CA is about to celebrate their centennial when a list of ominous things start happening around the fishing town. TV sets and radios are turning on by themselves. All the pay phones start ringing at the same time. Inanimate objects are moving on their own. One of those objects is a stone in the church office of Father Malone, Antonio Bay’s resident alcoholic preacher man. What he uncovers behind the stone is his grandfather’s old diary which includes the tragic story of how their town came together. Soon after, a phantom clipper ship hidden in a dense fog appears off the coast with a murderous crew. This supernatural presence has a deep connection to the tragic story that Father Malone is reading. These kinds of stories always seem like they start on those early settlements on the Northeast coast. The town even looks more like something from New England than California.
The Fog is an incredibly atmospheric horror flick that takes the technical expertise of Halloween and adds more obvious supernatural elements. Carpenter pick and chooses what to show and what not to show opting that more is less. It is impressive the way they seem to have complete control over the actual fog giving it an other-worldy, sentient feel.
The cast leaves something to be desired. There are a few supporting cast members who are strictly utility or comedic actors who do their job perfectly fine, but some of the protagonists are very dull, especially Jamie Lee Curtis. She is especially disappointing considering her fantastic performance in Halloween. She is hitch-hiking to town when local guy, Nick, picks her up. The two start up a quick romance that feels completely disingenuous. They are unfortunately our main protagonists.
Looks like Hal Holbrook is going to get a haircut
Adrienne Barbeau is the shining light. Her character is definitively ’80s cool chick with an attitude who can compartmentalize her life as a mother and her life as a sexy radio voice. She brings some real genuine terror to her worry for her child and her own safety while staying exceedingly entertaining reading the weather and traffic with her artificially raspy voice. The only problem is Carpenter confines her to her lighthouse broadcasting studio instead of out in the serious action.
The Fog is a strong yet flawed 80s horror flick. It carries with it a great mythology and fantastic enemy that no off-balance cast could possibly ruin.
Rating: 7/10
I agree with a large part of your review. I do disagree that about the acting. I think that everyone is believable (I have lived in small towns, and the dynamic is perfectly portrayed in this movie with notable exception: no rednecks, which is ok considering the location should be the NE USA not the south where I lived). I think the atmosphere is perfect in this film… In fact, I would compare it with the Shining (the original movie, not the remake). One thing that seems to elude horror writers today is that you don’t need buckets of blood and endtrails to make a horror film… Implied horror and atmosphere is much more effective. I agree that it would have been better to have Adrienne Barbeau is more of the action parts of the film, but considering what she was doing (making announcements and such regarding the fog – which she believed was critical to save lives), I fully understand why she was in the radio station through most of the film, and I agree with the story line. In summary of a far too long comment, I believe the fog to be in the top 10 of all time classic horror movies with other greats like the shining, psycho, and others.
LikeLike