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The Fog

March 13, 2023

For the remake, see The Fog (2005 film).

The Fog is a 1980 American supernatural horror film directed by John Carpenter, who also co-wrote the screenplay and created the music for the film. It stars Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Atkins, Janet Leigh and Hal Holbrook. It tells the story of a strange, glowing fog that sweeps over a small coastal town in Northern California, bringing with it the vengeful ghosts of leprous mariners who were killed in a shipwreck there a century before.

The Fog
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJohn Carpenter
Written by
Produced byDebra Hill
Starring
CinematographyDean Cundey
Edited by
Music byJohn Carpenter
Production
company
Debra Hill Productions
Distributed byAVCO Embassy Pictures
Release date
  • February 1, 1980 (1980-02-01)[1]
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1.1 million[2]
Box office$21.3 million[3]

Filmed in the spring of 1979, The Fog was scheduled to be released at Christmas that year by AVCO Embassy Pictures, but its release date was delayed to February 1, 1980. The film divided critics upon release, receiving praise for its visuals and acting, and criticism for its structure and screenplay. Despite mixed reviews, the film grossed $21.3 million domestically.

The Fog contains themes of revenge and repressed corrupt historical events resurfacing in contemporary small-town America. In the years since its original release, it has been noted for establishing a cult following. A remake was released in 2005.

Plot

Right before midnight, on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the small coastal town of Antonio Bay in Northern California, Mr. Machen tells ghost stories to children by a campfire on the beach. One of the stories is about a local ship that had crashed against the rocks, causing all of its crew to drown, after mistaking a campfire for a lighthouse. Paranormal activity then begins around the town starting at midnight, which results in the town priest, Father Malone, discovering his grandfather's diary at the church after a piece of masonry falls from the wall. The journal reveals that in 1880, the six founders of Antonio Bay (including Malone's grandfather) deliberately wrecked a clipper ship named the Elizabeth Dane, so that its wealthy, leprosy-afflicted owner Blake would not establish a leper colony nearby. The conspirators used some of the gold plundered from the ship to found the town.

Meanwhile, three fishermen are out at sea when a strange, glowing fog envelops their trawler. The fog brings with it the Elizabeth Dane, carrying the vengeful revenants of Blake and his crew, who kill the fishermen. Meanwhile, town resident Nick Castle is driving his truck home and picks up a young hitchhiker named Elizabeth Solley. As they drive towards town, all the truck's windows inexplicably shatter.

The following morning, local radio DJ Stevie Wayne is given a piece of driftwood by her son Andy; it is inscribed with the word "DANE", and Andy says he found it on the beach. Intrigued, Stevie takes it with her to the lighthouse where she broadcasts her radio show. She sets the wood down next to a tape player that is playing, but the wood inexplicably begins to seep water, causing the tape player to short circuit. A mysterious man's voice emerges from the tape player swearing revenge, and the words "6 must die" appear on the wood before it bursts into flame. Stevie quickly extinguishes the fire, but she then sees that the wood once again reads "DANE" and the tape player begins working normally again.

After locating the missing trawler, Nick and Elizabeth find the corpse of one of the fishermen, Dick Baxter, with his eyes gouged out. The other two are missing, one of whom is the husband of Kathy Williams, who is overseeing the town's centennial celebrations. While Elizabeth is alone in the autopsy room, Baxter's corpse rises from the autopsy table and approaches her, before collapsing. As Elizabeth screams, Nick and coroner Dr. Phibes rush into the room where they see the once-again lifeless corpse has carved the number 3 on the floor. That evening, as the town's celebrations begin, local weatherman Dan calls Stevie at the radio station to tell her that another fog bank has appeared and is moving towards town. As they are talking, the fog gathers outside the weather station and Dan hears a knock at the door. He answers it and is killed by the revenants as Stevie listens in horror. As Stevie proceeds with her radio show, the fog starts moving inland, disrupting the town's telephone and power lines. Using a backup generator, Stevie begs her listeners to go to her house and save her son when she sees the fog closing in from her lighthouse vantage point. As the fog envelops Stevie's house, the revenants kill her son's babysitter, Mrs. Kobritz. They then pursue Andy, but Nick and Elizabeth arrive and rescue him.

Stevie advises everyone to head to the town's church through her broadcast. Once inside, Nick, Elizabeth, Andy, Kathy, her assistant Sandy and Father Malone take refuge in a back room as the fog arrives outside. Inside the room, they locate a gold cross in the wall cavity which is made from the rest of the stolen gold. As the revenants begin their attack, Malone takes the gold cross out into the chapel. Knowing that they have returned to take six lives in lieu of the six original conspirators who led them to their deaths, Malone offers the gold and himself to Blake to spare the others. At the lighthouse, more revenants attack Stevie, trapping her on the roof. Inside the church, Blake seizes the gold cross, which begins to glow. Nick pulls Malone away from the cross seconds before it disappears in a blinding flash of light along with Blake and his crew. The revenants at the lighthouse also disappear, and the fog vanishes. Stevie gets down from the roof and makes it back to safety.

After Elizabeth, Nick, Andy, Kathy and Sandy leave the church, Malone contemplates why he was spared by Blake and asks "Why not six?" given that there have been only five deaths. However, moments later, the fog reappears inside the church along with the revenants and Blake decapitates Malone as the screen cuts to black.

Cast

Themes and interpretations

The Fog's central themes are revenge and the resurfacing of "repressed past events" in small-town America,[4] as it focuses on the supernatural vengeance inflicted on the residents of a community that has prospered from looted salvage.[5] William Fischer of Collider describes the film as one preoccupied with "an all-American town getting ready to celebrate its founding, a founding marred by a dark crime. When Father Patrick Malone discovers the horrible truth and brings it to the attention of Mayor Kathy Williams, she shrugs it off and dismisses any impact or introspection it might cast over the centenary. It was so long ago, she reasons, and what is there to do about it? And she has a point; there’s no changing the past, and at a certain distance, there’s no rectifying it."[6]

Writer Peter Hutchings notes that, while the film contains these implicit themes, that Carpenter is "more interested in conjuring up a sinister atmosphere than he is in exploring some of the social ramifications of such a story".[7]

Production

Development

The initial inspiration for The Fog came to Carpenter when he and his collaborator and then-girlfriend, Debra Hill, were promoting their film Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) in England; the two visited Stonehenge during the trip, where they witnessed an eerie fog rolling over the landscape from a distance.[8][9] Carpenter stated that he drew additional inspiration for the story from the British film The Trollenberg Terror (1958), which dealt with monsters hiding in the clouds.[10]

In the DVD audio commentary for the film, Carpenter noted that the story of the deliberate wreckage of a ship and its subsequent plundering was based on an actual event (the wrecking of the Frolic[11]) that took place in the 19th century near Goleta, California[12] (this event was portrayed more directly in the 1975 Tom Laughlin film, The Master Gunfighter). The premise also bears strong resemblances to Massimo Pupillo's 1965 Terror-Creatures from the Grave as well as the John Greenleaf Whittier poem The Wreck of the Palatine which appeared in The Atlantic Monthly in 1867, about the wreck of the ship Princess Augusta in 1738, at Block Island, within Rhode Island.

Carpenter named multiple characters in the screenplay after people with whom he had collaborated on previous projects.[13] Among them are Dan O'Bannon, a screenwriter who worked with Carpenter on Dark Star (1974); Nick Castle, who portrayed Michael Myers in Halloween; Tommy Wallace, an editor, sound designer, and art designer who worked on Dark Star and Assault on Precinct 13, as well as several other subsequent projects.[13] The babysitter in the film, Mrs. Kobritz, is named after Richard Kobritz, who produced Carpenter's 1978 television film Someone's Watching Me!.

Other references that are interwoven into the film include the name of the John Houseman character "Mr. Machen" (a reference to Welsh horror fantasist Arthur Machen); a radio report that mentions Arkham Reef; and the town's coroner Dr. Phibes was named after the titular character of the horror films starring Vincent Price from the early 1970s.

The Fog was part of a two-picture deal with AVCO Embassy Pictures, along with Escape from New York (1981).[2]

Casting

Cast as the female lead was Adrienne Barbeau, Carpenter's wife, who had appeared in Carpenter's TV movie Someone's Watching Me! in 1978. This was her first feature film. Barbeau also appeared in Carpenter's next film, Escape from New York (1981).[14]

Tom Atkins, a friend of Barbeau's, was cast as Nick Castle. The Fog was Atkins' first appearance in a Carpenter film, and he also appeared in Carpenter's next film, Escape from New York (1981) as well as Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), which was produced and scored by Carpenter.[15]

Jamie Lee Curtis, who was the main star of Carpenter's 1978 hit Halloween, appeared as Elizabeth. Commenting on the role and on appearing in another of Carpenter's films, she said "That's what I love about John. He's letting me explore different aspects of myself. I'm spoiled rotten now. My next director is going to be almost a letdown."[16] In a retrospective interview, Curtis stated that her part was written into the film by Carpenter, who felt sympathy for her after the success of Halloween had failed to lead to her obtaining other roles.[17]

This was the first collaboration between Carpenter and character actor George Buck Flower, who would go on to appear in four more films directed by Carpenter: Escape from New York (1981), Starman (1984), They Live (1988) and Village of the Damned (1995).

Filming

 
The Point Reyes Lighthouse is featured prominently in the film

Filming took place from April to May 1979 at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood, California (interior scenes) and on location at several other cities in California, including Point Reyes; Bolinas; Inverness; and the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Sierra Madre.[1] The original production budget was approximately $900,000.[18]

The film was shot by cinematographer Dean Cundey, and Carpenter stated the appearance of the film was inspired by the Val Lewton-produced horror films I Walked with a Zombie (1943) and Isle of the Dead (1945), which he described as "very shadowy, all suggestion, and he has all sorts of melodrama going. I was a real fan of that sort of thing."[18] Although a lower-budget independent film, Carpenter chose to shoot in the anamorphic 2.35:1 format to elevate its visual appearance.

Post-production

After viewing a rough cut of the film, Carpenter was dissatisfied with the results.[18] Recalling the experience, Carpenter commented "It was terrible. I had a movie that didn't work, and I knew it in my heart".[19]

Carpenter subsequently added the prologue with Mr. Machen (John Houseman) telling ghost stories to fascinated children by a campfire (Houseman played a similar role in the opening of the 1981 film Ghost Story), which was filmed on a soundstage.[18] Carpenter added several other new scenes and re-shot others in order to make the film more comprehensible, more frightening, and gorier.[18] Among the additions were the sequence in which Curtis's character is approached by a walking-dead corpse in the morgue, as well as the finale in which Barbeau's character ascends to the roof of the lighthouse to escape the mariner ghosts.[18]

Carpenter and Debra Hill said the necessity of a re-shoot became especially clear to them after they realized that The Fog would have to compete with horror films that had high gore content.[20] Approximately one-third of the finished film is the additional footage completed during reshoots.[20] The reshoots increased the film's budget from $900,000 to $1.1 million.[18]

Music

Main article: The Fog (soundtrack)

Carpenter's musical score for The Fog features prominent synthesizer and elements of drone music, and was largely composed in the key of A minor.[21] As the film progresses, its score shifts to the key of B major and features a flatter pitch.[21] The score has been released on compact disc and vinyl in several different editions since the film's release.[22]

Release

Marketing

In addition to the final $1.1 million production budget, AVCO Embassy spent over $3 million solely on advertising which included TV spots, radio spots, print ads, and even the placement of fog machines (costing £350 each) in the lobbies of selected theaters where the film was showing. A further undisclosed amount was spent on 600 prints of the film, 540 of which were distributed to American cinemas. Originally, the film was set for released during Christmas 1979, but AVCO Embassy president Bob Rehme opted to wait until February 1980 when there would be less major box office competition from other films and more theater screens available.[1]

Box office

The film was given a staggered release in various cities by AVCO Embassy Pictures beginning February 1, 1980, before expanding to further locations later that month.[1] Its theatrical run lasted a total of 152 weeks,[3] and it ultimately grossed $21.3 million between the United States and Canada.[3]

Critical response

Contemporaneous

Upon its original release, The Fog received mixed responses from film critics.[23] Ernest Leogrande of the New York Daily News gave the film a middling two out of four-star review, praising the performances but writing that "Carpenter obviously is entranced by ghost stories, but he seems willing to sacrifice story for effect."[24] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times similarly lauded the acting, and complimented the film as "an elegant and scary thriller of the supernatural that's far more impressive and satisfying than Carpenter's grisly and pointless (but profitable) Halloween."[25]

The New York Times's Vincent Canby praised the film's visual elements, but felt it ultimately paled in comparison to Carpenter's Halloween, describing it as "neither a rewarding ghost story nor...  science-fiction, though it borrows freely from both genres... Unlike Halloween, which was a model of straight-forward terror and carefully controlled suspense, The Fog is constructed of random diversions. There are too many story lines, which necessitate so much cross-cutting that no one sequence can ever build to a decent climax."[26] In his 1980 review, Roger Ebert gave the film two out of four stars, commenting, "This isn't a great movie but it does show great promise from Carpenter."[27] Similarly, Leonard Maltin rated the film 21⁄2-stars-out-of-4 and called it a "well-directed but obvious ghost story."[28]

Reassessment

In the years following its release, The Fog has amassed a cult following,[29] and later came to be considered, as Carpenter opined regarding his creation, "a minor horror classic" though he also stated it was not his favorite film due to re-shoots and low production values.[20] This is one of the reasons he agreed to the 2005 remake.[30]

As of January 2023, the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 75% approval rating, with an average rating of 6.6/10 based on 67 reviews. The consensus reads, "A well-crafted return to horror for genre giant John Carpenter, The Fog rolls in and wraps viewers in suitably slow-building chills."[31]

In a 2002 review (for the DVD release of the film), Slant Magazine reviewer Ed Gonzalez gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4 and stated that "Carpenter's use of 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen is beyond legendary and his compositions evoke a town that may as well be the last remaining one on the face of the earth."[32]

In the early 2010s, Time Out conducted a poll of over 100 authors, directors, actors and critics who have worked within the horror genre to vote for their top horror films. The Fog placed at number 77 on their top 100 list.[33]

Zombiemania: 80 Movies to Die For author Arnold T. Blumberg wrote that the film was "a very effective small scale chiller" and "an attempt to capture the essence of a typical spooky American folktale while simultaneously paying homage to the EC Comics of the 1950s and the then very recent Italian zombie influx."[34]

Home media

The Fog has been released on various home video formats since the early 1980s: Magnetic Video released it on betamax and VHS in the fall of 1980,[35] Embassy Home Entertainment reissued the film again on VHS in 1985. MGM Home Entertainment released the film on VHS in 2000[36] before issuing a special edition DVD in August 2002.[37] Another special edition DVD was released in Europe in 2004.[38]

Scream Factory released the film on Blu-ray in July 2013,[39] before reissuing it on 4K UHD on September 13, 2022 in both standard and limited steelbook editions.[40]

Novelization

A novelization of the movie, written by Dennis Etchison, was published by Bantam Books in January 1980. The novel clarifies the implication in the film that the six who must die were not random but in fact descendants of the six original conspirators.[41][42]

Remake

Main article: The Fog (2005 film)

In 2005, the film was remade under the direction of Rupert Wainwright with a screenplay by Cooper Layne and starring Tom Welling and Maggie Grace. Though based on Carpenter and Hill's original screenplay, the remake was made more in the vein of a "teen horror film" and given a PG-13 rating (the original film was rated R). Green-lit by Revolution Studios with just eighteen pages of script written, the film was panned for its poor script and acting and has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 4%.[43]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "The Fog". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. from the original on December 22, 2015.
  2. ^ a b Boulenger 2003, p. 115.
  3. ^ a b c "The Fog (1980)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
  4. ^ Donnelly 2009, p. 164.
  5. ^ Newman 2011, p. 229.
  6. ^ Fischer, William (November 24, 2022). "John Carpenter's 'The Fog' Is an Ideal Thanksgiving Horror Film". Collider. from the original on November 24, 2022.
  7. ^ Hutchings 2017, p. 63.
  8. ^ Conrich & Woods 2004, p. 78.
  9. ^ French, Philip (February 26, 2004). "The Fog". The Guardian. from the original on December 30, 2018.
  10. ^ Conrich & Woods 2004, p. 89.
  11. ^ "The Frolic". Lookout Ranch. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  12. ^ Boulenger 2003, p. 116.
  13. ^ a b Cumbow 2002, p. 99.
  14. ^ Farmer, Jim. . ARTS ATL. Archived from the original on May 8, 2015. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  15. ^ Serafini, Matt (October 26, 2009). . Dread Central. Archived from the original on October 12, 2012. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
  16. ^ Scanlon, Paul (June 28, 1979). "'The Fog': A Spook Ride on Film". Rolling Stone. from the original on February 28, 2015 – via TheOfficialJohnCarpenter.com.
  17. ^ Curtis, Jamie Lee (2013). My Time with Terror. The Fog (Blu-ray short). Shout! Factory. OCLC 857246789.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g Sasaguay, Chris (April 21, 2022). "How Very Late Reshoots Saved 'The Fog'". Collider. from the original on November 7, 2022.
  19. ^ Boulenger 2003, p. 118.
  20. ^ a b c Audio commentary by John Carpenter and Debra Hill in The Fog, 2002 special edition DVD.
  21. ^ a b Donnelly 2009, p. 153.
  22. ^ "The Fog [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]: Releases". AllMusic. Archived from the original on January 2, 2023.
  23. ^ Olson 2018, p. 238.
  24. ^ Leogrande, Ernest (March 1, 1980). "'Fog': A case of the damps". New York Daily News. p. 166 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ Thomas, Kevin (February 2, 1980). "'The Fog': Panic at Point Reyes". Los Angeles Times. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ^ Canby, Vincent (February 29, 1980). "Screen: 'Fog' Comes in at 3 Theaters: Revenge from the Past". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 2, 2023.
  27. ^ Ebert, Roger (February 5, 1980). "The Fog". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on January 2, 2023 – via RogerEbert.com.
  28. ^ Maltin 2013, p. 479.
  29. ^ Brigden, Charlie (February 7, 2020). "How John Carpenter's The Fog went from disaster to cult horror classic on its 40th anniversary". Syfy. from the original on December 29, 2022.
  30. ^ Bunge, Mike (September 5, 2014). . KIMT. Archived from the original on March 7, 2017. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  31. ^ "The Fog (1980)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 2, 2023.
  32. ^ Gonzalez, Ed (August 27, 2002). "Review: The Fog". Slant Magazine. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  33. ^ Huddleston, Tom. "The 100 best horror films (1980)". Time Out. Retrieved October 12, 2020.
  34. ^ Blumberg 2006, p. 161.
  35. ^ Romero, Charles M. (November 20, 1980). "The Movies On Video Now". LA Weekly. p. 43 – via Newspapers.com.
  36. ^ The Fog (VHS). MGM Home Entertainment. 2000. ISBN 978-0-792-84630-7.
  37. ^ Gonzalez, Ed (August 27, 2002). "DVD Review: John Carpenter's The Fog on MGM Home Entertainment". Slant Magazine. Archived from the original on January 2, 2023.
  38. ^ Carr, Kevin (October 31, 2013). . Film School Rejects. Archived from the original on November 3, 2013. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  39. ^ Harrison, William (July 30, 2013). "Fog (Collector's Edition), The". DVD Talk. Archived from the original on January 2, 2023.
  40. ^ Wilson, Mike (July 4, 2022). "Scream Factory Announces 4K UHD Editions for 'The Fog', 'Army of Darkness' and 2013's 'Evil Dead' Remake!". Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on January 2, 2023.
  41. ^ Etchison, Dennis (1980). The Fog Paperback – January, 1980. ISBN 0553138251.
  42. ^ Etchison, Dennis (1980). The fog : a novel. New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 0553138251.
  43. ^ "The Fog (2005)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved December 12, 2014.

Sources

External links

 
Wikiquote has quotations related to The Fog.

March 13, 2023
remake, 2005, film, 1980, american, supernatural, horror, film, directed, john, carpenter, also, wrote, screenplay, created, music, film, stars, adrienne, barbeau, jamie, curtis, atkins, janet, leigh, holbrook, tells, story, strange, glowing, that, sweeps, ove. For the remake see The Fog 2005 film The Fog is a 1980 American supernatural horror film directed by John Carpenter who also co wrote the screenplay and created the music for the film It stars Adrienne Barbeau Jamie Lee Curtis Tom Atkins Janet Leigh and Hal Holbrook It tells the story of a strange glowing fog that sweeps over a small coastal town in Northern California bringing with it the vengeful ghosts of leprous mariners who were killed in a shipwreck there a century before The FogTheatrical release posterDirected byJohn CarpenterWritten byJohn CarpenterDebra HillProduced byDebra HillStarringAdrienne Barbeau Jamie Lee Curtis John Houseman Janet Leigh Hal HolbrookCinematographyDean CundeyEdited byCharles BornsteinTommy Lee WallaceMusic byJohn CarpenterProductioncompanyDebra Hill ProductionsDistributed byAVCO Embassy PicturesRelease dateFebruary 1 1980 1980 02 01 1 Running time90 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishBudget 1 1 million 2 Box office 21 3 million 3 Filmed in the spring of 1979 The Fog was scheduled to be released at Christmas that year by AVCO Embassy Pictures but its release date was delayed to February 1 1980 The film divided critics upon release receiving praise for its visuals and acting and criticism for its structure and screenplay Despite mixed reviews the film grossed 21 3 million domestically The Fog contains themes of revenge and repressed corrupt historical events resurfacing in contemporary small town America In the years since its original release it has been noted for establishing a cult following A remake was released in 2005 Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Themes and interpretations 4 Production 4 1 Development 4 2 Casting 4 3 Filming 4 4 Post production 5 Music 6 Release 6 1 Marketing 6 2 Box office 6 3 Critical response 6 3 1 Contemporaneous 6 3 2 Reassessment 6 4 Home media 7 Novelization 8 Remake 9 See also 10 References 11 Sources 12 External linksPlot EditRight before midnight on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the small coastal town of Antonio Bay in Northern California Mr Machen tells ghost stories to children by a campfire on the beach One of the stories is about a local ship that had crashed against the rocks causing all of its crew to drown after mistaking a campfire for a lighthouse Paranormal activity then begins around the town starting at midnight which results in the town priest Father Malone discovering his grandfather s diary at the church after a piece of masonry falls from the wall The journal reveals that in 1880 the six founders of Antonio Bay including Malone s grandfather deliberately wrecked a clipper ship named the Elizabeth Dane so that its wealthy leprosy afflicted owner Blake would not establish a leper colony nearby The conspirators used some of the gold plundered from the ship to found the town Meanwhile three fishermen are out at sea when a strange glowing fog envelops their trawler The fog brings with it the Elizabeth Dane carrying the vengeful revenants of Blake and his crew who kill the fishermen Meanwhile town resident Nick Castle is driving his truck home and picks up a young hitchhiker named Elizabeth Solley As they drive towards town all the truck s windows inexplicably shatter The following morning local radio DJ Stevie Wayne is given a piece of driftwood by her son Andy it is inscribed with the word DANE and Andy says he found it on the beach Intrigued Stevie takes it with her to the lighthouse where she broadcasts her radio show She sets the wood down next to a tape player that is playing but the wood inexplicably begins to seep water causing the tape player to short circuit A mysterious man s voice emerges from the tape player swearing revenge and the words 6 must die appear on the wood before it bursts into flame Stevie quickly extinguishes the fire but she then sees that the wood once again reads DANE and the tape player begins working normally again After locating the missing trawler Nick and Elizabeth find the corpse of one of the fishermen Dick Baxter with his eyes gouged out The other two are missing one of whom is the husband of Kathy Williams who is overseeing the town s centennial celebrations While Elizabeth is alone in the autopsy room Baxter s corpse rises from the autopsy table and approaches her before collapsing As Elizabeth screams Nick and coroner Dr Phibes rush into the room where they see the once again lifeless corpse has carved the number 3 on the floor That evening as the town s celebrations begin local weatherman Dan calls Stevie at the radio station to tell her that another fog bank has appeared and is moving towards town As they are talking the fog gathers outside the weather station and Dan hears a knock at the door He answers it and is killed by the revenants as Stevie listens in horror As Stevie proceeds with her radio show the fog starts moving inland disrupting the town s telephone and power lines Using a backup generator Stevie begs her listeners to go to her house and save her son when she sees the fog closing in from her lighthouse vantage point As the fog envelops Stevie s house the revenants kill her son s babysitter Mrs Kobritz They then pursue Andy but Nick and Elizabeth arrive and rescue him Stevie advises everyone to head to the town s church through her broadcast Once inside Nick Elizabeth Andy Kathy her assistant Sandy and Father Malone take refuge in a back room as the fog arrives outside Inside the room they locate a gold cross in the wall cavity which is made from the rest of the stolen gold As the revenants begin their attack Malone takes the gold cross out into the chapel Knowing that they have returned to take six lives in lieu of the six original conspirators who led them to their deaths Malone offers the gold and himself to Blake to spare the others At the lighthouse more revenants attack Stevie trapping her on the roof Inside the church Blake seizes the gold cross which begins to glow Nick pulls Malone away from the cross seconds before it disappears in a blinding flash of light along with Blake and his crew The revenants at the lighthouse also disappear and the fog vanishes Stevie gets down from the roof and makes it back to safety After Elizabeth Nick Andy Kathy and Sandy leave the church Malone contemplates why he was spared by Blake and asks Why not six given that there have been only five deaths However moments later the fog reappears inside the church along with the revenants and Blake decapitates Malone as the screen cuts to black Cast EditAdrienne Barbeau as Stevie Wayne Tom Atkins as Nicholas Nick Castle Jamie Lee Curtis as Elizabeth Solley Hal Holbrook as Father Patrick Malone Janet Leigh as Kathy Williams Nancy Loomis as Sandy Fadel Ty Mitchell as Andrew Andy Wayne Charles Cyphers as Dan O Bannon Dan the Weather Man James Canning as Dick Baxter John Houseman as Mr Machen John F Goff as Al Williams George Buck Flower as Tommy Wallace Regina Waldon as Mrs Kobritz Darwin Joston as Dr Phibes Rob Bottin as Blake John Carpenter as Bennett Tramer uncredited Themes and interpretations EditThe Fog s central themes are revenge and the resurfacing of repressed past events in small town America 4 as it focuses on the supernatural vengeance inflicted on the residents of a community that has prospered from looted salvage 5 William Fischer of Collider describes the film as one preoccupied with an all American town getting ready to celebrate its founding a founding marred by a dark crime When Father Patrick Malone discovers the horrible truth and brings it to the attention of Mayor Kathy Williams she shrugs it off and dismisses any impact or introspection it might cast over the centenary It was so long ago she reasons and what is there to do about it And she has a point there s no changing the past and at a certain distance there s no rectifying it 6 Writer Peter Hutchings notes that while the film contains these implicit themes that Carpenter is more interested in conjuring up a sinister atmosphere than he is in exploring some of the social ramifications of such a story 7 Production EditDevelopment Edit The initial inspiration for The Fog came to Carpenter when he and his collaborator and then girlfriend Debra Hill were promoting their film Assault on Precinct 13 1976 in England the two visited Stonehenge during the trip where they witnessed an eerie fog rolling over the landscape from a distance 8 9 Carpenter stated that he drew additional inspiration for the story from the British film The Trollenberg Terror 1958 which dealt with monsters hiding in the clouds 10 In the DVD audio commentary for the film Carpenter noted that the story of the deliberate wreckage of a ship and its subsequent plundering was based on an actual event the wrecking of the Frolic 11 that took place in the 19th century near Goleta California 12 this event was portrayed more directly in the 1975 Tom Laughlin film The Master Gunfighter The premise also bears strong resemblances to Massimo Pupillo s 1965 Terror Creatures from the Grave as well as the John Greenleaf Whittier poem The Wreck of the Palatine which appeared in The Atlantic Monthly in 1867 about the wreck of the ship Princess Augusta in 1738 at Block Island within Rhode Island Carpenter named multiple characters in the screenplay after people with whom he had collaborated on previous projects 13 Among them are Dan O Bannon a screenwriter who worked with Carpenter on Dark Star 1974 Nick Castle who portrayed Michael Myers in Halloween Tommy Wallace an editor sound designer and art designer who worked on Dark Star and Assault on Precinct 13 as well as several other subsequent projects 13 The babysitter in the film Mrs Kobritz is named after Richard Kobritz who produced Carpenter s 1978 television film Someone s Watching Me Other references that are interwoven into the film include the name of the John Houseman character Mr Machen a reference to Welsh horror fantasist Arthur Machen a radio report that mentions Arkham Reef and the town s coroner Dr Phibes was named after the titular character of the horror films starring Vincent Price from the early 1970s The Fog was part of a two picture deal with AVCO Embassy Pictures along with Escape from New York 1981 2 Casting Edit Cast as the female lead was Adrienne Barbeau Carpenter s wife who had appeared in Carpenter s TV movie Someone s Watching Me in 1978 This was her first feature film Barbeau also appeared in Carpenter s next film Escape from New York 1981 14 Tom Atkins a friend of Barbeau s was cast as Nick Castle The Fog was Atkins first appearance in a Carpenter film and he also appeared in Carpenter s next film Escape from New York 1981 as well as Halloween III Season of the Witch 1982 which was produced and scored by Carpenter 15 Jamie Lee Curtis who was the main star of Carpenter s 1978 hit Halloween appeared as Elizabeth Commenting on the role and on appearing in another of Carpenter s films she said That s what I love about John He s letting me explore different aspects of myself I m spoiled rotten now My next director is going to be almost a letdown 16 In a retrospective interview Curtis stated that her part was written into the film by Carpenter who felt sympathy for her after the success of Halloween had failed to lead to her obtaining other roles 17 This was the first collaboration between Carpenter and character actor George Buck Flower who would go on to appear in four more films directed by Carpenter Escape from New York 1981 Starman 1984 They Live 1988 and Village of the Damned 1995 Filming Edit The Point Reyes Lighthouse is featured prominently in the film Filming took place from April to May 1979 at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood California interior scenes and on location at several other cities in California including Point Reyes Bolinas Inverness and the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Sierra Madre 1 The original production budget was approximately 900 000 18 The film was shot by cinematographer Dean Cundey and Carpenter stated the appearance of the film was inspired by the Val Lewton produced horror films I Walked with a Zombie 1943 and Isle of the Dead 1945 which he described as very shadowy all suggestion and he has all sorts of melodrama going I was a real fan of that sort of thing 18 Although a lower budget independent film Carpenter chose to shoot in the anamorphic 2 35 1 format to elevate its visual appearance Post production Edit After viewing a rough cut of the film Carpenter was dissatisfied with the results 18 Recalling the experience Carpenter commented It was terrible I had a movie that didn t work and I knew it in my heart 19 Carpenter subsequently added the prologue with Mr Machen John Houseman telling ghost stories to fascinated children by a campfire Houseman played a similar role in the opening of the 1981 film Ghost Story which was filmed on a soundstage 18 Carpenter added several other new scenes and re shot others in order to make the film more comprehensible more frightening and gorier 18 Among the additions were the sequence in which Curtis s character is approached by a walking dead corpse in the morgue as well as the finale in which Barbeau s character ascends to the roof of the lighthouse to escape the mariner ghosts 18 Carpenter and Debra Hill said the necessity of a re shoot became especially clear to them after they realized that The Fog would have to compete with horror films that had high gore content 20 Approximately one third of the finished film is the additional footage completed during reshoots 20 The reshoots increased the film s budget from 900 000 to 1 1 million 18 Music EditMain article The Fog soundtrack Carpenter s musical score for The Fog features prominent synthesizer and elements of drone music and was largely composed in the key of A minor 21 As the film progresses its score shifts to the key of B major and features a flatter pitch 21 The score has been released on compact disc and vinyl in several different editions since the film s release 22 Release EditMarketing Edit In addition to the final 1 1 million production budget AVCO Embassy spent over 3 million solely on advertising which included TV spots radio spots print ads and even the placement of fog machines costing 350 each in the lobbies of selected theaters where the film was showing A further undisclosed amount was spent on 600 prints of the film 540 of which were distributed to American cinemas Originally the film was set for released during Christmas 1979 but AVCO Embassy president Bob Rehme opted to wait until February 1980 when there would be less major box office competition from other films and more theater screens available 1 Box office Edit The film was given a staggered release in various cities by AVCO Embassy Pictures beginning February 1 1980 before expanding to further locations later that month 1 Its theatrical run lasted a total of 152 weeks 3 and it ultimately grossed 21 3 million between the United States and Canada 3 Critical response Edit Contemporaneous Edit Upon its original release The Fog received mixed responses from film critics 23 Ernest Leogrande of the New York Daily News gave the film a middling two out of four star review praising the performances but writing that Carpenter obviously is entranced by ghost stories but he seems willing to sacrifice story for effect 24 Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times similarly lauded the acting and complimented the film as an elegant and scary thriller of the supernatural that s far more impressive and satisfying than Carpenter s grisly and pointless but profitable Halloween 25 The New York Times s Vincent Canby praised the film s visual elements but felt it ultimately paled in comparison to Carpenter s Halloween describing it as neither a rewarding ghost story nor science fiction though it borrows freely from both genres Unlike Halloween which was a model of straight forward terror and carefully controlled suspense The Fog is constructed of random diversions There are too many story lines which necessitate so much cross cutting that no one sequence can ever build to a decent climax 26 In his 1980 review Roger Ebert gave the film two out of four stars commenting This isn t a great movie but it does show great promise from Carpenter 27 Similarly Leonard Maltin rated the film 21 2 stars out of 4 and called it a well directed but obvious ghost story 28 Reassessment Edit In the years following its release The Fog has amassed a cult following 29 and later came to be considered as Carpenter opined regarding his creation a minor horror classic though he also stated it was not his favorite film due to re shoots and low production values 20 This is one of the reasons he agreed to the 2005 remake 30 As of January 2023 update the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 75 approval rating with an average rating of 6 6 10 based on 67 reviews The consensus reads A well crafted return to horror for genre giant John Carpenter The Fog rolls in and wraps viewers in suitably slow building chills 31 In a 2002 review for the DVD release of the film Slant Magazine reviewer Ed Gonzalez gave the film 3 5 stars out of 4 and stated that Carpenter s use of 2 35 1 anamorphic widescreen is beyond legendary and his compositions evoke a town that may as well be the last remaining one on the face of the earth 32 In the early 2010s Time Out conducted a poll of over 100 authors directors actors and critics who have worked within the horror genre to vote for their top horror films The Fog placed at number 77 on their top 100 list 33 Zombiemania 80 Movies to Die For author Arnold T Blumberg wrote that the film was a very effective small scale chiller and an attempt to capture the essence of a typical spooky American folktale while simultaneously paying homage to the EC Comics of the 1950s and the then very recent Italian zombie influx 34 Home media Edit The Fog has been released on various home video formats since the early 1980s Magnetic Video released it on betamax and VHS in the fall of 1980 35 Embassy Home Entertainment reissued the film again on VHS in 1985 MGM Home Entertainment released the film on VHS in 2000 36 before issuing a special edition DVD in August 2002 37 Another special edition DVD was released in Europe in 2004 38 Scream Factory released the film on Blu ray in July 2013 39 before reissuing it on 4K UHD on September 13 2022 in both standard and limited steelbook editions 40 Novelization EditA novelization of the movie written by Dennis Etchison was published by Bantam Books in January 1980 The novel clarifies the implication in the film that the six who must die were not random but in fact descendants of the six original conspirators 41 42 Remake EditMain article The Fog 2005 film In 2005 the film was remade under the direction of Rupert Wainwright with a screenplay by Cooper Layne and starring Tom Welling and Maggie Grace Though based on Carpenter and Hill s original screenplay the remake was made more in the vein of a teen horror film and given a PG 13 rating the original film was rated R Green lit by Revolution Studios with just eighteen pages of script written the film was panned for its poor script and acting and has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 4 43 See also EditList of ghost filmsReferences Edit a b c d The Fog AFI Catalog of Feature Films American Film Institute Archived from the original on December 22 2015 a b Boulenger 2003 p 115 a b c The Fog 1980 Box Office Mojo Retrieved December 30 2022 Donnelly 2009 p 164 Newman 2011 p 229 Fischer William November 24 2022 John Carpenter s The Fog Is an Ideal Thanksgiving Horror Film Collider Archived from the original on November 24 2022 Hutchings 2017 p 63 Conrich amp Woods 2004 p 78 French Philip February 26 2004 The Fog The Guardian Archived from the original on December 30 2018 Conrich amp Woods 2004 p 89 The Frolic Lookout Ranch Retrieved October 9 2022 Boulenger 2003 p 116 a b Cumbow 2002 p 99 Farmer Jim Preview With the revival of Pippin Adrienne Barbeau s career hits the literal high wire ARTS ATL Archived from the original on May 8 2015 Retrieved June 1 2015 Serafini Matt October 26 2009 MattFini s Halloween Top 10 Lists Ghost Stories Dread Central Archived from the original on October 12 2012 Retrieved December 12 2014 Scanlon Paul June 28 1979 The Fog A Spook Ride on Film Rolling Stone Archived from the original on February 28 2015 via TheOfficialJohnCarpenter com Curtis Jamie Lee 2013 My Time with Terror The Fog Blu ray short Shout Factory OCLC 857246789 a b c d e f g Sasaguay Chris April 21 2022 How Very Late Reshoots Saved The Fog Collider Archived from the original on November 7 2022 Boulenger 2003 p 118 a b c Audio commentary by John Carpenter and Debra Hill in The Fog 2002 special edition DVD a b Donnelly 2009 p 153 The Fog Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Releases AllMusic Archived from the original on January 2 2023 Olson 2018 p 238 Leogrande Ernest March 1 1980 Fog A case of the damps New York Daily News p 166 via Newspapers com Thomas Kevin February 2 1980 The Fog Panic at Point Reyes Los Angeles Times p 8 via Newspapers com Canby Vincent February 29 1980 Screen Fog Comes in at 3 Theaters Revenge from the Past The New York Times Archived from the original on January 2 2023 Ebert Roger February 5 1980 The Fog Chicago Sun Times Archived from the original on January 2 2023 via RogerEbert com Maltin 2013 p 479 Brigden Charlie February 7 2020 How John Carpenter s The Fog went from disaster to cult horror classic on its 40th anniversary Syfy Archived from the original on December 29 2022 Bunge Mike September 5 2014 John Carpenter s The Fog 1980 vs The Fog 2005 KIMT Archived from the original on March 7 2017 Retrieved June 1 2015 The Fog 1980 Rotten Tomatoes Retrieved January 2 2023 Gonzalez Ed August 27 2002 Review The Fog Slant Magazine Retrieved October 9 2022 Huddleston Tom The 100 best horror films 1980 Time Out Retrieved October 12 2020 Blumberg 2006 p 161 Romero Charles M November 20 1980 The Movies On Video Now LA Weekly p 43 via Newspapers com The Fog VHS MGM Home Entertainment 2000 ISBN 978 0 792 84630 7 Gonzalez Ed August 27 2002 DVD Review John Carpenter s The Fog on MGM Home Entertainment Slant Magazine Archived from the original on January 2 2023 Carr Kevin October 31 2013 19 Things We Learned from The Fog Commentary Film School Rejects Archived from the original on November 3 2013 Retrieved June 1 2015 Harrison William July 30 2013 Fog Collector s Edition The DVD Talk Archived from the original on January 2 2023 Wilson Mike July 4 2022 Scream Factory Announces 4K UHD Editions for The Fog Army of Darkness and 2013 s Evil Dead Remake Bloody Disgusting Archived from the original on January 2 2023 Etchison Dennis 1980 The Fog Paperback January 1980 ISBN 0553138251 Etchison Dennis 1980 The fog a novel New York Bantam Books ISBN 0553138251 The Fog 2005 Rotten Tomatoes Retrieved December 12 2014 Sources EditBlumberg Arnold 2006 Zombiemania 80 Movies to Die For Tolworth England Telos Publishing ISBN 978 1 845 83003 8 Boulenger Gilles 2003 John Carpenter Prince of Darkness Los Angeles California Silman James Press ISBN 978 1 879 50567 4 Conrich Ian Woods David eds 2004 The Cinema of John Carpenter The Technique of Terror New York City New York Wallflower Press ISBN 978 1 904 76414 4 Cumbow Robert 2002 Order in the Universe The Films of John Carpenter Lanham Maryland Scarecrow Press ISBN 978 0 585 38302 6 Donnelly K J 2009 Hearing Deep Seated Fears John Carpenter s The Fog 1980 In Lerner Neil ed Music in the Horror Film Listening to Fear New York City New York Routledge pp 152 167 ISBN 978 1 135 28044 4 Hutchings Peter 2017 Historical Dictionary of Horror Cinema Lanham Maryland Rowman amp Littlefield ISBN 978 1 538 10243 5 Maltin Leonard 2013 2014 Movie Guide New York City New York Signet ISBN 978 0 451 41810 4 Newman Kim 2011 Nightmare Movies Horror on Screen Since the 1960s Revised ed London England Bloomsbury ISBN 978 1 408 80503 9 Olson Christopher J 2018 100 Greatest Cult Films Lanham Maryland Rowman amp Littlefield ISBN 978 1 442 21104 9 External links Edit Wikiquote has quotations related to The Fog The Fog at the Official John Carpenter Website The Fog at AllMovie The Fog at the American Film Institute Catalog The Fog at IMDb The Fog at the TCM Movie Database The Fog at Mubi Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Fog amp oldid 1139814433, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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