The Fog [1979] (DVD)

"What you can't see won't hurt you... it'll kill you!" The Fog is a 1979 horror film directed by John Carpenter. It was Carpenter's attempt to go back to a more traditional ghost story where things are more implied than seen although some additional gore and extra scenes were shot and added when the director decided he was unhappy with his first attempt at the film. Despite its initial problems, The Fog is generally regarded today to be a tight and atmospheric little horror film that will please most Carpenter fans. The film is set in a small Northern California fishing town called Antonio Bay. It's almost one hundred years since a ship was wrecked ...  Read the complete review

Whatever happened to those Horror films of yesteryear that invoked a true sense of fear rather than pointing and shooting and calling it a day? John Carpenter was a master at piling atmosphere on top of an eerily frightening score and giving us a film that favored atmosphere over blood and gore. "Halloween" is a classic by every stretch of the imagination and he opted for a film much like it as his second. The tone is ominous and the plot mysterious, the setting cold, and the sense of fear strong. Not in awhile have I been scared quite like I have with "The Fog." It's performances are strong, the script is good and, most importantly, it has an ...  Read the complete review

The Fog is the follow up to John Carpenter's phenomenally successful 'Halloween' movie. However, for those anticipating a movie along the same lines this must have come as something of a disappointment, and hence perhaps why this wasn't given quite the plaudits that it ought to have. It is horror movie, but one on a more depressed emotional level than the straight out attack of Halloween and as such probably lacks the same level of universal appeal. Its still good, but don't go looking for a 'monster' character in it - their isn't one. Instead the atmosphere, the emotional tension and the suspense brought out of the unknown is where the ...  Read the complete review

*** The following review was written in December 2000. I have left the review untouched but have placed an update at the end to cover any changes since it was written. *** 'The Fog' begins with a group of children huddled around a campfire being told a ghost story by an old fisherman: - "Eleven fifty five, almost midnight. Enough time for one more story, one more story before twelve just to keep us warm. In five minutes it will be the twenty first of April. One hundred years ago, on the twenty first of April, out in the waters around Spivey Point a small clipper ship drew towards land. Suddenly out of the night the fog rolled ...  Read the complete review

Yep, years before I Know What You Did Last Summer, John Carpenter made fishermen's hooks a scary sight. Made a couple of years after his classic Halloween, Carpenter returns to the slasher genre with a supernatural-tinged tale of a coastal small town with a secret to hold. The story begins with a scene-setting campfire tale of a group of sailors who were fooled by a campfire into running aground, killing all on board. Exactly 100 years later, the town is covered with a mist at midnight, which hides the ghostly sailors, killing anyone they come across with their hooks. In an unusual approach, which makes or breaks the movie for most people, few of the ...  Read the complete review