The Fog (8 February 1980)
directed by John Carpenter
starring Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh, John Houseman, Tom Atkins, James Canning, Charles Cyphers, Nancy Kyes, Ty Mitchell, Hal Holbrook
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MPAA rating: Studio: AVCO Embassy Pictures Script: John Carpenter, Debra Hall Running time: 89 minutes Suggested retail price: $14.94 (US) Tags: Catholic church; Horror; leprosy; murder; oceans Tactical strength: [7/10]
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As Antonio Bay, a quiet coastal town, prepares to celebrate its centennial, Father Malone (Hal Holbrook) discovers that the town's founding fathers killed six people on board the ship en route to the new settlement. On the town's anniversary, the murdered sailors return for revenge. The ghosts travel in a thick, brightly lit fog and perpetrate gory murders with marlinspikes and cargo hooks.
Stevie Wayne (Adrienne Barbeau) broadcasts a nightly radio show from Antonio Bay's light house. From her vantage point, she can see the unusual fog moving across the ocean (often against the wind) and into the town. It doesn't take long for her to realize that the fog and the killings coincide. She quickly interrupts her regularly scheduled night of boring jazz to warn the town, first in panic, and then like a war correspondent.
Elizabeth Solley (Jamie Lee Curtis) has hitchhiked her way into town and hooked up with local Nick Castle (Tom Atkins). Several of Nick's friends have disappeared at sea during the night. When the Coast Guard recovers the boat, Nick goes to investigate and Elizabeth tags along. Although the boat left the harbor only the day before, it appears to have spent months under water, and a dead body falls conveniently on Elizabeth, giving Jamie Lee an excuse to scream.
In The Fog, John Carpenter doesn't create horror by maximizing gore. Instead, he creates suspense. The little boy, Andy (Ty Mitchell), hears the knocking at his bedroom door. He hears his mother, Stevie, over the radio telling him to get out of the house. A cargo hook breaks though the door panel. You know that the boy could suffer the same fate as Nick's friends on the boat. Will the boy get out or will the ghosts kill him too. This uncertainty creates all the necessary tension. I think we, the audience, create much more horrible endings for the characters when we only see implied violence. We each supply those personal horrors that we fear. When a film shows a gory murder from beginning to end, we might say, "Oh, gross," but unless that particular murder ties into our own personal fears, the murder cannot terrify as many people as an implied killing where we can each imagine our own nightmares.
The Fog doesn't have the best acting and doesn't have the most original storyline, but John Carpenter masterfully manipulates our anticipation of impending doom for the community of Antonio Bay. And maybe the next time you see a fog bank, you might just wonder what could hide within.
The DVD provides some interesting commentary from John Carpenter and Debra Hill. They discuss the many shortcuts they had to take when making a low-budget film, such as Debra (one of the producers) actually shooting much of the mood-setting scenery normally shot by a second unit. Toward the end of the film, John wanted some close up scenes of Stevie's hands but they didn't have any footage, so they shot the scenes with Debra's hands instead.
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