"There is... something in the fog!" (The Fog [1979] (DVD))

Member Name: Jake Speed

Product:	The Fog [1979] (DVD)
Date:	15/03/09 (252 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Atmospheric, enjoyable

Disadvantages: Bit slight perhaps

"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 in heavy fog there and, as old sea dog Machen (John Houseman) tells some terrified children over a beachside campfire in the prologue, should the fog ever return legend has it the victims of this shipwreck will return too to extract a bloody revenge for their premature departure from this world - "It is told by the fishermen, and their fathers and grandfathers, that when the fog returns to Antonio Bay, the men at the bottom of the sea, out in the water by Spivey Point will rise up and search for the campfire that led them to their dark, icy death."

Meanwhile, Father Malone (Hal Holbrook) discovers more than he bargained for when he stumbles across the diary of his Priest grandfather in his Church and uncovers a shocking secret about the shipwreck. As the town prepares to celebrate its centenary, the fog returns to Antonio Bay...

Although only 89 minutes long and constructed around a relatively simple idea, The Fog is an enjoyable and very spooky horror film that draws much of its effectiveness from the wonderfully creepy shots of the fog swirling around the coastline and eventually the town and people, even invading homes. The campfire prologue with John Houseman ("One more story before 12, just to keep us warm") is a nice touch and establishes the ghostly mood of the film. The eerie beginning is continued with the town in the still dead of night and a lone nightshift worker in a small supermarket finding the shelves beginning to rattle as the signs outside begin squeaking in the wind. The Fog is definitely a film to watch late at night with the lights off and wraps you up in its thick atmosphere almost immediately.

The central characters in The Fog, in addition to Father Malone, are Nick Castle (Tom Atkins) and Elizabeth Solley (Jamie Lee Curtis) plus Stevie Wayne (Adrienne Barbeau). Atkins, who played a similar character in the underrated Halloween III, is a good everyman type of actor who we can sort of identify with in these horror/fantasy films. It's a tad contrived the way he picks up Jamie Lee Curtis as a hitchhiker but they get caught up in the mystery and make a pleasant central couple. The husky voiced Adrienne Barbeau is well cast as DJ Stevie Wayne and her late night, laid-back lounge 'KAB' radio broadcasts are very atmospheric and add to the tension of the film. The radio station is a wonderful remote location used very well by Carpenter. It's reached by a lonely coastal road and on top of the sea and shots of Stevie driving out to it add to the sweep of the film. Barbeau is used as a sort of narrator at times but it's good fun when the fog threatens the radio station. There is even a creepy moment when a KAB promo slows down to reveal a ghostly message. The locations used in the film - including a lighthouse - are very effective though.

Carpenter uses the contrast between light and dark very well in the film with the intangible, all enveloping fog creeping in around the coast and town. In a film like this even a simple device like a power cut to a town is much more effective. Apart from the end of The Fog, the film attempts to be relatively subtle and suggestive rather than clearly show you the ghostly pirate zombie type characters who have returned to get their revenge. The film is probably at its most enjoyable when the watery, rotting zombies, mostly glimpsed as shadows, glowing eyes and hook-wielding hands, are dispatching people in the fog. The encounter between the crew of the Seagrass and the ghostly zombies at sea is a very tense and enjoyable set-piece. Figures start appearing in the mist like silhouettes to slaughter the crew and there is even a ghost ship.

Elements like car headlights in the mist and fog coming under gaps in the doors is all nicely done too. The fact that you can't quite see what is in the mist adds to the tension and atmosphere, especially with glowing eyes and outlines becoming visible for brief moments. The Fog is really all about atmosphere although there are some moments of gore with some enjoyable squelching noises and one or too jumps. Carpenter is also not afraid to kill off a few characters who you wouldn't normally expect to get killed off. There's no sentiment here at times!

There isn't too much of a message in The Fog beyond the suggestion that towns and churches were sometimes created and established in unsavoury ways back in the past. The film though is essentially a good old fashioned ghost story with rattling doors, zombie shiphands armed with hooks, plenty of dry ice, and great lighting. The cast are likeable from the dependable Tom Atkins to Jamie Lee Curtis - who has a pleasant natural quality - and Adrienne Barbeau. It was quite a clever device to put Barbeau in there at the remote radio station especially when she has to broadcast things like; "There's something in the fog!"

Hal Holbrook - who has been in everything from Magnum Force to The Sopranos - is always an enjoyable presence and has good fun with the flawed but honourable Father Malone. Malone's investigation into the past is quite interesting and adds to the mystery and sense of past deeds returning from the grave to punish the town. Carpenter stalwart Charles Cyphers (playing a character called Dan O'Bannon no less) appears too and has a memorable encounter with the fog eventually.

Elsewhere, Janet Leigh pops up as fusspot Kathy Williams and there are some nice little jokes and references like an autopsy being performed by a Dr Phibes! - "His wounds are covered with algae, his lungs are full, and there's silt in his fingernails," says the Doctor to Nick. "I saw Dick Baxter three days ago in Salinas. Now he's lying there on the table looking like he's been underwater for a month."

The score by Carpenter is also wonderfully atmospheric and fits in nicely with the visuals and Stevie's KAB broadcasts.

The Fog is a slight but effective and enjoyable ghost story with a wonderfully eerie and spooky atmosphere. It's a good example of how to make a low-budget horror with plenty of invention and one or two good scares. Hollywood might be currently plundering the back catalogues of horror masters like Carpenter and George A Romero to plug their lack of ideas but I for one will stick firmly with the originals.

Summary: "Antonio bay has a curse on it."