John Carpenter's The Fog - Dark Lord's DVD Collection.

"Why not six, Blake? Why not me?" - Father Malone

John Carpenter's
The Fog

The Fog Year of Relase - 1980
DVD Release - MGM - 2002
Region 1 - NTSC - Rated R
Running Time - 89:47

Director: John Carpenter
Starring: Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Atkins, Janet Leigh and also starring Hal Holbrook and John Houseman
Music: John Carpenter

After the phenomenal success of 1978's Halloween, Avco Embassy Pictures signed John Carpenter and Debra Hill to a two picture deal.

They wanted to make another scary movie, but they wanted to make something very different to Halloween. Inspired by a trip to Stonehenge, in England, John and Debra came up with the concept of The Fog.

The Fog is a good, old fashioned Ghost story.

SYNOPSIS

Antonio Bay is celebrating their centennary - it's been 100 years since the community was united by a tragic shipwreck, formed a charter, and became a town.

The shipwreck has become local legend, old men tell children ghost stories at the campfire. Stories of revenge. The souls of the dead sailors seeking vengeance on the living. But they're just ghost stories, right?

The Fog is an ensemble film. Here are some of the main characters:

Stevie Wayne (Adrienne Barbeau) owns a radio station which runs out of a Lighthouse.
Nick Castle (Tom Atkins) runs a fishing business who picks up a hitchhiking Elizabeth Solley (Jamie Lee Curtis), an artist on the way to Canada.
Kathy Williams (Janet Leigh) is a Real Estate Agent and a local big-wig. She has a personal assistant, Sandy Fadel (Nancy Loomis).
Father Malone (Hal Holbrook) is the local priest who discovers a 100-year-old secret.

The Fog also features Charles Cyphers as Dan O'Bannon the Weatherman and Charles "Buck" Flower in a rare departure from his usual roles of a bum and/or a drunk as Tommy Wallace the Trawler Captain.

Strange things are going on in Antonio Bay at midnight on the morning of their centennary. Lights switching on and off, car alarms going off, phones ringing. Stevie Wayne, from her vantage point at the lighthouse, witnessess an eerie fog which defies the wind direction.

In the morning Nick Castle discovers one of his Trawlers with a dead crew.

Surely this has nothing to do with the fog? And what secret does Father Malone know about the events 100 years ago? What will happen the following night? What the Hell is in The Fog?

VIDEO

This movie is in 2.35:1 Panavision and the transfer is 16:9 enhanced. Turn the DVD over and you get a Pan & Scan transfer. As far as I'm concerned, if you watch a John Carpenter film (or any other film, for that matter) in Pan & Scan, you deserve to have your eyes burnt out with a hot poker.

Photographed by Dean Chundey, the movie looks fantastic. The lighting is supurb. The Fog effect is brilliantly done and is given a life of its own.

Given the age of the source material, it was impressive, because it was very hard to find any film artefacts or grain. Not to say that there wasn't any at all, it's just that it's few-and-far-between and is somewhat acceptable.

The layer change is well hidden and I didn't detect it.

The menu is also very cool.

SOUND

The main audio track is in Dolby 5.1. There is also an English track in Dolby Stereo 2.0, a French track in Dolby Stereo 2.0.

The music is composed by John Carpenter, and as usual, it is a simple, yet fitting score.

The real champion of The Fog is the use of sound effects.

EXTRAS

Audio Commentary with Director John Carpenter and Producer Debra Hill

An informative, but sometimes dull, commentary. It isn't the most entertaining of commentaries, but there are very little silent moments and it is very informative.

Documentary - "Tales From the Mist - Inside 'The Fog'" - 27:55

This doco, created especially for the DVD is quite good. It has interveiws with Carpenter, Hill, Barbeau, Chundey, Leigh and Tommy Lee Wallace. It really is all you ever needed to know about The Fog. Why can't more DVDs have stuff like this?

Documentary - "Fear on Film - Inside 'The Fog'" - 7:40

This original 1980 documentary is typical of the usual promotional docos. It is somewhat amusing to see everyone as they were in 1980, especially after seeing the above Documentary made 20 years later...

Outtakes - 4:07

A moderatly amusing set of goof-ups with some behind-the-scenes and special effects test footage.

Storyboard to Film Comparison - 1:25

Personally, I find it difficult to get into these features on DVD. They really don't melt my butter.

This mercifully short StFC features the Trawler murder scence and has the Story board and the film running one above the other. Hey if you're into that kind of thing, be my guest...

Advertising Gallery

This sub-menu features 3 Theatrical trailers and 3 TV spots of varying video and audio quality. At least this DVD goes the hard yards and puts more than 1 Trailer on it.

The Advertising gallery also features the Original Posters and Film Memorabilia.

Photo Gallery

Usually Photo Galleries don't get me going either. This sub-menu features Behind the Scenes and Publicity Scene Stills.

Easter Egg - SPOILER

In the Special Features Menu, either press Down when you have "Main Menu" highlighted, or press Up when you have "Audio Commentary" highlighted. A pair of eyes should now highlight.

This very easy to find Egg features 2:39 of behind the scenes and special effects footage, most of which was seen in the "Tales from the Mist" documentary.

OVERALL

John Carpenter and Debra Hill had a lot to live up to after Halloween, and The Fog delivers. While not as big a hit (or some would say, as good) as Halloween, it was still a success for them.

The film has aged beautifully and is still as good today, if not better, as it was in 1979/80.

And its spooky. It's not a real gore-fest, its a ghost story. It has an eerie atmosphere and there are some really good scares.

I cannot recommend this movie more!

The Film: 1/2
The Disk: