“The Fog” (1980) isn’t John Carpenter’s best film, but it might be his best achievement. He makes a roiling wall of glowing fog off the California coast … not exactly scary, but … very atmospheric and moody. Other than “Twister,” it’s arguably the best scare flick featuring weather.
A coastal ghost story
Rob Bottin, later famous for his work on “The Thing,” helps a bit with his dead sailor ghost-zombies, although Carpenter and cinematographer Dean Cundey only show glimpses of them. I often criticize “The Blair Witch Project” fans’ breathless assertion that “what you don’t see is scary,” but in the case of “The Fog,” less is indeed more.
Simple, short and to the point, “The Fog” is like 90 minutes of gripping build-up to a fully realized picture; then it’s suddenly over and we realize we were into it. We gradually learn a little more about the situation, we see relationships build, and we’re taken to well-worn coastal abodes.
“The Fog” (1980)
Director: John Carpenter
Writers: John Carpenter, Debra Hill
Stars: Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh
Most interesting is the lighthouse/radio station where Adrienne Barbeau’s Stevie uses her sultry, soothing voice to broadcast music and news to the sleepy fishing town. The burg is so small that it’s not strikingly unprofessional that Stevie uses the airwaves to beg her young son and babysitter to run away from the fog.
Carpenter’s first post-“Halloween” effort doesn’t see him going bigger in scope, but instead smaller, proving a mood can be created through practical, technical filmmaking. I rate rotting zombie sailors middle-of-the-pack among scary horror villains, so when the opening campfire monolog speaks of ghosts who haunt the town from midnight to 1 a.m. every April 21, I wasn’t automatically won over.
The script, co-written with Debra Hill, isn’t the sharpest at the start. Despite being a local legend, apparently such events have never truly happened; however, on the 100th anniversary, they do, in earnest. Events ratchet up nicely when Father Malone (Hal Holbrook) discovers the formerly bricked-up diary of his ancestor and reads the dark tale of the town’s founding to the current town leader (Janet Leigh).
The fog of time
The relationship between Jamie Lee Curtis’ and Tom Atkins’ characters might shock some modern viewers, but those familiar with Eighties horror are more likely to smirk; an Atkins character likewise appreciates younger women in “Halloween III.”
Beth (Curtis, 21) is hitchhiking up the coast to Vancouver when trucker Nick (Atkins, 41) picks her up. A crisp and funny scene establishes their bond: She asks if he’s weird and he says heck yes. The film almost smash cuts to them post-sexual intercourse, and – as inappropriate as the age gap may be – from that point it rings true that they are a duo investigating this mystery.
Though not a wholly original idea – Stephen King’s similar novella “The Mist” came out the same year, and it’s accepted that neither project influenced the other – what’s really impressive about “The Fog” is that the titular effect is never laughable. The glowing fog in wide composite shots is beautifully eerie, while the smoke-machine fog in close-ups is foreboding, helped by the electronic score composed by Carpenter.
“The Fog” knows to not overdo it; at what feels like the midpoint (if this were a modern movie), I hit pause and found there were only 20 minutes left. Carpenter is content to make a tasty snack of a movie rather than flailing for a low-budget epic.
What might’ve been dismissed by some as throwaway shlock horror in 1980 now plays as a treasured gem, because it’s so clear this movie couldn’t be made in the digital age. It’s too easy to use CGI fog, and it wouldn’t have the same grounded, tactile effect (even, ironically, if it looked more real). Indeed, it’s no surprise that the 2005 remake rates a 3.7 compared to this film’s 6.8.