The Fog (1980) - Lisa's Review

*** SPOILERS ***

So this week we're back to 1980 and to John Carpenters 'The Fog'.  I remember having watched this movie many years ago, but as always is the case with me, a few months after watching a movie, I've forgotten the entire content.  Needless to say, I had to revisit the movie in order to do a review.

This movie has obviously made an impression, as in the years which followed, we had a 2005 version of 'The Fog' and a remarkably similar concept in 'The Mist'.  Anyways, I deviate.

The movie is based around a seaside town of Antonio Bay which is celebrating its centennial.  The movie starts with an old man sat around a campfire with a group of children, telling a scary story, which is unfortunately not a work of fiction.

100 years ago, a group of men, including an ancestor of the towns priest, Father Malone, deliberately caused a ship called 'Elizabeth Dane' to crash into rocks.  They set a fire, which acted as a false beacon and ultimately led the ship and its crew to their deaths.  The ship was full of gold, which the men proceeded to steal and the town of Antonio Bay was built with these ill gotten gains.

The movie tells the story of the towns centennial celebrations which prompt the return of the perished crew to seek revenge from the townsfolk and reclaim what is rightfully theirs.

The cast consists of Father Malone, the towns priest and descendant of one of the original group of criminals, A female DJ Stevie Wayne with the sultriest of voices, Stevies son,  Nick Castle - all round good guy and Elizabeth Solley - an out of town pretty girl, who is picked up by Nick while hitch hiking.

Something I like about John Carpenters movies is the existence of strong female characters.  In horror, females are generally there to provide eye candy (although arguably this is probably the case here too), but also to be a shrieking, screaming mess in need of rescue from the male lead.  Thankfully, this isn't the case here, which is a plus right away.  He obviously also rates Jamie Lee Curtis as she makes a reappearance as a female lead in this movie after the success of her performance in Carpenters Halloween.

I seem to have digressed again... apologies.  Inexplicable things happen, electrical faults, public phones all ringing, devices switching themselves on, objects moving by themselves...  This is the first sign of all not being well.  As Nick gives Elizabeth a ride into town, the cars electrics start to fail and the windows shatter.

As we progress, the ghosts of the fallen crew return on the towns centennial and wreak havoc in the town as they appear in an eerie fog and slay anyone who gets in their way.  This starts with 3 fishermen when their boat is engulfed in an eerie glowing fog.   They see an old boat pull alongside them, which contains the ghosts of the fallen crew and they all meet their end within the fog.

The remainder of the movie follows the remaining characters struggling to survive through the existence of the fog and the attempts to send the ghosts back whence they came.  I won't go any more detail about the storyline in case our imaginary readers have yet to see the movie, but it is all pretty much what you'd expect.

Originally this movie was meant to be a more supernatural ghost story and not so much a horror containing gore, but the insistence was made to add more length to the movie and make it nastier and gorier for the audiences.  I for one, would have loved to see the original as I thought the kills didn't add to the story at all.  The movie would have been just as powerful had we seen nothing of how anyone met their end.  In actual fact, it may have been more powerful.

I love the ominous feel of the movie, the setting, the casting and the storyline.  I enjoyed it when I first watched this movie and again on a repeat viewing.  I would recommend anyone watch this as I struggle to think of much negative to say about this movie.

Lisa Recommends.