Creepy as Hell (The Fog [1979] (DVD))

Member Name: Burning_Darkness

Product:	The Fog [1979] (DVD)
Date:	05/10/09 (37 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Superb musical score, hugely atmospheric, powerfully unsettling, simple but effective plot

Disadvantages: None

John Carpenter is a master of tension and suspense. In the hands of a lesser director, The Fog would have been just another generic horror film, (see the execrable 2005 remake if you don't believe me) but Carpenter instead manages to create an oppressive and unsettling film with his mix of eerily-lit shots, brooding off-screen menace and his trademark pulsing synths that ebb and flow throughout, gradually building up anxiety in the viewer on an almost subconscious level.

The story takes place in the sleepy Californian coastal town of Antonio Bay, a settlement that is said to have been formed in 1880 by a group of men who caused a local ship to be wrecked by lighting a beacon and driving it onto the rocks, causing crew to drown before plundering the ship of gold and using it to establish the town. The local church houses a huge gold crucifix fashioned from the supposedly ill-gotten gold, and its curator, Father Malone, is a descendent to the head conspirator and town founder. On the hundredth anniversary of the shipwrecking a strange luminous fog begins to envelop the town, and strange figures with glowing eyes start ushering forth from the mysterious vapour and brutally murdering the local residents. A local female DJ situated in the lighthouse radio-station watches the ghostly fog as it starts to swallow the settlement, and tries desperately to warn her fellow townsfolk of the danger they are in.....

Like Carpenter's proto-slasher flick Halloween, The Fog is a pretty simplistic film, but this is its strength rather than a weakness, and as in Halloween the powerfully unsettling musical score makes for a delightfully creepy viewing experience. The acting is solid and special effects are minimalist and disturbing just like the music, with everything coming together beautifully to form an immensely satisfying spine-tingler that mixes old ghost-story spookiness with violent horror and minimalist presentation to create a truly fantastic film. Along with Halloween and The Thing, The Fog is one of Carpenter's finest creations, and the brilliant unexpected ending means that it retains its sense of brooding fear and menace right up until the very last frame.

Summary: A powerfullly understated 80s horror classic