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Adrienne Barbeau, Hal Holbrook, Janet Leigh, Jamie Lee Curtis, John Houseman ... see more see more... , Tom Atkins , Nancy Loomis , Charles Cyphers , Ty Mitchell , Jim Canning , Jim Haynie , Darrow Igus , Jim Jacobus , Darwin Joston , John Allen Vick , Rob Bottin , John Carpenter , George 'Buck' Flower , John F. Goff , Bill Taylor , Tommy Lee Wallace , Richard Rimo Moreno , Frederic Franklyn , Charles Nicklin , Regina Walden

Following the phenomenal box-office success of his seminal horror classic Halloween, director John Carpenter teamed up with producer Debra Hill for a second independent horror project, this time in th... read more read more...e mode of an old-fashioned ghost story. The end result was The Fog, a spooky romp about a dark secret that returns to haunt the Pacific fishing community of Antonio Bay on the 100th anniversary of the town's charter. Carpenter sets the mood in the film's prologue, which features grizzled old sea salt Mr. Machen (John Houseman) spinning ghost stories for a group of local children. For his final tale, he recounts the legend of the Elizabeth Dane -- a ship which crashed 100 years ago against the very rocks upon which the children are sitting. Meanwhile, as the clock strikes midnight on the fateful anniversary of that disaster, eerie phenomena begin to plague the town as a dense fog bank creeps toward the bay. Seeming to appear from nowhere and emitting a ghostly glow, the fog surrounds a small trawler filled with drunken fishermen, who glimpse the vague outline of a decrepit sailing vessel before being brutally killed by shadowy figures brandishing hooks and swords. That morning, news of their disappearance is relayed to the town by Stevie Wayne (Adrienne Barbeau), owner and operator of the local radio station. The news reaches the wife of one of the fishermen, city councilwoman Kathy Williams (Janet Leigh) and local boy Nick Castle (Tom Atkins), who takes a trip out to the abandoned boat to investigate, accompanied by teenage drifter Elizabeth Solley (Jamie Lee Curtis). As the day progresses, a grim series of events paints a decidedly unpleasant picture of Antonio Bay's founders, and foreshadows the ghostly retribution that awaits the town's present-day residents. When Mrs. Williams visits local priest Fr. Malone (Hal Holbrook) about a benediction for that night's centennial ceremony, he relates a ghastly tale discovered in his grandfather's journal, which details the town fathers' decision to murder a group of lepers who had planned to build a commune outside of Antonio Bay. Just as the night's proceedings are haunted by the horrors of the past, the ghosts of the murdered dead have returned to seek symbolic revenge by claiming the lives of six townspeople, arriving amid the ominous fog bank which has completely engulfed Antonio Bay. Carpenter reportedly shot and inserted additional gory scenes after the original 'PG' cut failed to impress preview audiences. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

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61% liked it

47,133 ratings

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68% liked it

34 critics

R, 1 hr. 31 min.

Directed by: John Carpenter

Release Date: June 1, 1979

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DVD Release Date: August 27, 2002

Stats: 2,111 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (2,111)

  • blacksheepboy
    May 25, 2012
    blacksheepboy
    A simple but efficient horror movie with an atmospheric score and some good scares, even if the script is sometimes illogical and full of plot holes. Besides, it proves that showing dead people knocking on the doors before entering can be really scary.
  • fb619846742
    November 10, 2011
    fb619846742
    A very misable horror film from the otherwise dependable John Carpenter, concerning a mysterious fog that overtakes a small ocean-side Californian town and how monstrous beings kill anything that is in front of them. This remains an underseen movie, but in this case it is probabl... read morey better that way. There is nothing special about it whatsoever. Stupid horror characters doing stupid things ("Oh it's just some kids playing a joke..."), and Carpenter's main shortcoming as a story-teller pops up yet again, that being character development. He got away with it in both "Halloween" (where suspense and a wonderful soundtrack helped amp up his story) and "The Thing" (where outrageous gore and a realistic conclusion kept it above level), but here it is badly shown. Not one character in this story is three-dimensional or even close to being sympathetic (something Jamie Lee Curtis and Hal Holbrook, two talented performers, definitely could have accomplished given more material for their respected parts). Sure, give credit to Carpenter for still doing some things right in terms of atmosphere and making that fog creepy, but in this case this film is a dud because not one character is colored and the pace could not be slower for a horror film.
  • fb1664868775
    November 5, 2011
    fb1664868775
    With Halloween, John Carpenter struck gold. But for his next project, The Fog he definitely struck out. Other than Janet Leigh's role, none of the characters develop, the ghost fishermen with hooks are not scary and the whole story totally falls apart somewhere around the middle ... read moreof the film. The only truly great thing about this film is some of the music John Carpenter made for it.
  • movieguru12
    October 13, 2011
    movieguru12
    Even though this was more or less a thriller/suspense movie it still was creepy and highly entertaining. It DEFINETELY kept me interested!!! (:
  • StarCrossedVoyager
    September 25, 2011
    StarCrossedVoyager
    Another great (but slow) film from Carpenter. It was enjoyable to watch and although cheesy from time it was a cleverly crafted thriller with fantastic sound which really made it creepy and uncomfortable to watch.
  • theylovealexis
    July 18, 2011
    theylovealexis
    I didn't expect too much. I had heard the remake was pretty awful. But this, the original one, was really spooky. I ended up loving the story and becoming attached to the characters, I didn't want to see them get swallowed up by The Fog.
  • ironclad1609
    May 9, 2011
    ironclad1609
    One of John Carpenter's finest horror films, fitting into the category: They don't make movies like that anymore (only as horrible remakes maybe). The atmosphere is wonderfully gloomy nforeshadowing, the fog effects cool and the cast tries its best to breathe life into the somewh... read moreat shallow characters. That doesn't lessen the fun of this even one bit. There are several nail bitingly exciting sequences, Carpenter's own soundtrack and a shocker finale, making this one of the most rewarding horror films of the late 70s.
  • mumby1988
    February 19, 2011
    mumby1988
    Having caught the public's imagination with Hallowe'en, John Carpenter needed another big hit to cement his position as an ascendant low-budget filmmaker. After the release of Hallowe'en in October 1978, he began his working relationship with Kurt Russell on the Elvis TV-movie, w... read morehich famously beat a re-run of Gone With the Wind in the American ratings.

    The Fog is the kind of film that Hallowe'en would have been if Carpenter were not so adept at marrying storytelling to special effects. It contains a number of technically impressive set-pieces which foreshadow more expensive mainstream films, along with all Carpenter's directorial trademarks including a very good score. But although the story is as brutally simple as its predecessor, the film ultimately fails to make the most of it and ends up surprisingly dull.

    Like Prince of Darkness after it, The Fog is on one level Carpenter's tribute to one of his favourite horror writers - in this case Edgar Allan Poe rather than H. P. Lovecraft. The film begins with a quote from Poe and a spooky prologue in which John Houseman sets the scene. This scene is very well-played, not only in creating the mood but in the level of horror it orchestrates. The fact that there are children present leads us to believe that the story is just another old wives' tale to stop people going out at night. But Houseman's delivery is so precise and dolorous that we can't help wondering whether we're mistaken.

    Sadly, the suspense created in these first five minutes is completely undone by the following forty. With the exception of the prologue the first half of The Fog is very dull, with very little going on that is engaging or threatening in any way. Carpenter sets up a host of different characters who begin interacting in various ways, but none of these encounters on their own are enough to sustain our interest. Our emotional responses vary from annoyance directed at Janet Leigh to confusion as to how Tom Atkins and Jamie Lee Curtis ended up sleeping together so quickly.

    Such shortcomings in the characters undercut the film's ability to truly frighten us. Until the sequence in the lighthouse with the burning driftwood, The Fog simply isn't scary, and its attempts to rectify this are desperately obvious. The scene of Father Malone reading from Blake's diary is so hokey that all we can do is smirk, and elsewhere all Carpenter comes up with is a few loud bangs in broad daylight. Even the elaborate opening involving clinking glass and car alarms contains nothing which is capable of generating a sustained level of terror.

    In the absence of either engaging characters or proper scares, all we have left to admire in this section of The Fog are the special effects - which, as it turns out, are quite impressive. The low budget meant there simply weren't the resources to fill entire streets with artificial fog, let alone make it move in a certain way. To get around this all the wide shots of the coast and Antonio Bay's streets are done with scale models shrouded in black cloth, something you wouldn't notice unless you had studied the production in detail.

    As for the fog itself, it's real fog. In contrast to the blatant CGI used in the remake, Carpenter used machines known as mole foggers to generate the sepulchral clouds and then guide them as best he could with carefully positioned fans. Dean Cundey, Carpenter's long-time cinematographer, lights the fog to get the greatest amount of menace out of what is essentially an inanimate object. When it's coming in off the sea, it shimmers with an iridescent blue, while in the boy's house it is the same lurid combination of red and green of 1950s Hammer.

    Fittingly, it is one particular special effect which finally kicks The Fog into life (and no, it's not the TV turning itself on in the manner of Poltergeist). It comes when Adrianne Barbeau is in the radio station testing some pre-recorded demo tapes near the piece of driftwood her son found on the beach. While her back is turned, the wood begins to drip with water, until it works its way into the tape machine and garbles the sound. Barbeau turns round to find the writing on the plank has changed from 'Dane' to '6 will die', and then the whole thing bursts into flames.

    Quite apart from its technical proficiency, this sequence is the first time in the film where we have both a real sense of tension and a provable physical threat. The execution of this scene conveys the supernatural elements of the story - water catching on fire - while retaining the physical grounding of the film's villains. And because the action happens so close to us on screen, we feel the beginnings of a connection to these characters and their rapidly darkening predicaments.

    But again there is a problem. As the screen time accorded to the ghosts increases, we begin to ask questions about how they function on a physical level. Blending a supernatural force with natural elements (i.e. ghosts in fog) is a hard act to pull off, and as the film rolls on more inconsistencies come to light. Perhaps this is a result of the various production problems, which necessitated reshooting a third of the footage.

    The Fog never sets out any kind of parameters in which the fog or the ghosts operate, and yet every time we try to impose our logic on it, it very quickly defies it. We assume that the fog has no power of its own - until it creeps of its own accord into the boat's generator. We accept that the ghosts cannot have influence without the fog - until the driftwood gets soaked. And we embrace the fact that the ghosts are physical, having to knock on doors rather than walk through them - except at the end, when they magically re-materialise in the church. Errors like this not only make the film confusing but work against our desire to become involved in the story and our desire to be scared by it.

    Fortunately, there is just enough in the way of atmosphere created in the last half hour to prevent The Fog from completely collapsing. Carpenter's dynamic score is well-matched to the ominous shots of the fog creeping in off the coast, and several of the set-pieces work pretty well. The scene of Jamie Lee Curtis being attacked by the reanimated corpse is pretty creepy, as is the final confrontation in the church involving Father Malone and the shimmering cross.

    The performances in The Fog are also pretty decent. Adrianne Barbeau, who was then married to Carpenter, gives a convincing performance as a local radio DJ, even if she does spend a little too much time screaming out repetitive instructions. Hal Holbrook brings a brooding presence to Father Malone, turning his few lines into something which seems more significant. And Janet Leigh gives her all in her last film role, sharing scenes with two graduates of Hallowe'en - one being Nancy Loomis, the other her real-life daughter Jamie Lee Curtis.

    The Fog is a disappointing follow-up to Carpenter's greatest work. Its special effects, score and performances are just about enough to carry it through its running time, and there is some appeal in seeing a cutting-edge horror filmmaker re-approach an old-fashioned ghost story. But while technically interesting, it's also narratively inept, coming nowhere near the heights of its predecessors or Carpenter's subsequent greatness on Starman and The Thing.
  • ajv2688
    January 8, 2011
    ajv2688
    A watchable horror movie, it can be a bit confusing at times, and the story isn't that great, but it's an okay movie, it very eerie.
  • TheDudeLebowski65
    November 22, 2010
    TheDudeLebowski65
    This movie is a follow up to the highly successful film Halloween. The story is top notch and has a very eerie feel to it. The plot revolves around a small town that has a dark secret. A 100 years ago the founders of the town Antonio Bay murdered a group of Lepers. Now, a 100 ye... read morears later the ghosts of the dead men have come back in a ghostly, glowing fog to murder the descendants of the murderers. This film is great from start to finish and has a great cast to accompany it. John Carpenter was never happy with the finished film, and it's quite surprising, the film is one of his best. The Fog is an old fashioned ghost story, the plot is quite simple, but very effective. The Fog is a prime example of supernatural horror at it's best. Carpenter successfully conveys a dark, creepy atmosphere as the fog roles in, and thus delivers an atmosphere of nonstop shocks. No horror fan will likely see a better, more frightening ghost story than The Fog. The film is cleverly paced, and Carpenter doesn't spend his time delivering cheap scares. The scares here are effective, and spine tingling. The Fog is a very well done old fashioned ghost story with some of the best names in the Horror genre.Many past actors who've previously worked with Carpenter on Halloween star in this spook fest. John Carpenter has made great films after Halloween, and The Fog is one of them. Carpenter knows exactly how to unleash the tension and scares upon the audience, and you feel genuinely frightened when you watch the film. Everything from the music to the acting to the plot are top notch, and The Fog remains a classic of the horror genre. This may not be as legendary as Halloween, but this film has definitely made it's mark on the horror genre. A truly neglected film.

View All The Fog Reviews

Critic Reviews

Roger Ebert
October 23, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

The movie's made with style and energy, but it needs a better villain. Full Review

Sarah Boslaugh
October 27, 2011
Sarah Boslaugh, Playback:stl

... makes the most of the dramatic possibilities inherent in an isolated coastal town, as well as the scare potential of darkness, fog, and silent strangers bearing longshoremen's hooks. Full Review

Charles Cassady
December 15, 2010
Charles Cassady, Common Sense Media

Not much gore, but still too intense for kids. Full Review

Brian Holcomb
January 31, 2010
Brian Holcomb, Kinetofilm

During this period, Carpenter and his fine collaborator the late Debra Hill were so good at crafting suspenseful, slow burn horror stories with multiple storylines. Full Review

Dustin Putman
October 24, 2008
Dustin Putman, DustinPutman.com

Orchestrates a thick pall of apprehension and good-time suspense. Full Review

John J. Puccio
July 7, 2007
John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis

...a good, old-fashioned ghost story. Full Review

Staci Layne Wilson
January 30, 2006
Staci Layne Wilson, About.com

The Fog still holds up. Full Review

Urban Cinefile Critics
January 27, 2006
Urban Cinefile Critics, Urban Cinefile

Crucial factors are missing in yet another horror flick serving up a dull collection of stock types whose illogical and frequently stupid actions are necessary to advance plot and generate what passes... Full Review

Pablo Villaca
January 22, 2006
Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena

O roteiro é de uma tolice pavorosa, mas Carpenter consegue gerar tensão e bons sustos até mesmo com o recurso absurdo de fazer seus vilões baterem na porta antes de entrar.

Dan Fienberg
November 10, 2005
Dan Fienberg, Zap2it.com

Fairly dull ghost story occasionally given a boost by the cast and by Carpenter's proficiency with the genre. Occasionally.

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Facts

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    • Father Malone: Blake, I have your gold. My grandfather stole it from you. I'm the one who must answer for it.
  • Bolt Your Doors. Lock Your Windows. There is Something in The Fog!
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The Fog Trivia

  • Spooky update of the John Carpenter classic about a quiet seaside town terrorized by mysterious "weather". With Tom Welling, Maggie Grace?  Answer »
  • Janet Leigh played Marion Crane, the woman from the famous shower scene in 1960's "Psycho". She would later have a daughter who would also star in a number of horror movies. Who is her daughter?  Answer »
  • This film opens with John Houseman telling ghost stories to a bunch of kids late one night on the beach. The eerie story he relays tells of a terrible mistake involving the community and in particular the lighthouse which had directed a ship to its watery grave.  Answer »
  • Which Actor Stars In Smallville & The Fog (Remake)  Answer »
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