Review of “The Fog” (1980)

For our Saturday night pizza and bad movie selection, we chose a flick that started with a ghost story around a campfire.

Plot:

As midnight nears before the centennial of the founding of the northern California seaside town of Antonia Bay, old Mr. Machen (John Houseman) sits with a group of kids around a campfire. He tells them of the wreck of the old sailing ship, Elizabeth Dane, and how she was led to her destruction in a fog by a campfire the crew mistook for a lighthouse. Now, sailors tell of the men at the bottom of the sea who rise when the fog rolls over Antonio Bay to find the campfire that lured them to their deaths.

Sleep tight, little guys.

Once the clock strikes midnight, several odd things happen. A glowing fog appears on the horizon over the bay. Weatherman Dan O’Bannon (Charles Cyphers) picks up fog on his radar and warns DJ Stevie Wayne (Adrienne Barbeau) about it and a fishing vessel called the Sea Grass in its path. (He has a really good radar, I guess). Stevie broadcasts from a lighthouse to warn the Sea Grass of the incoming fog.

Something of an earthquake strikes, knocking bricks loose from a church wall. Episcopalian priest Father Malone (Hal Holbrook) discovers the journal of his grandfather (another Father Malone). He realizes where the money came to found not only his church but the whole town. His grandfather misbehaved in some pretty serious ways.

It does not look good for any of the town fathers—oh, irony!—and just when Antonio Bay is getting ready to celebrate its 100-year anniversary.

The crew of the Sea Grass is drinking heavily. For shame! They hear Stevie’s warning but see no fog until—out of the fog, a massive 19^th-century sailing ship nearly rams them. What the hell? Silent figures board Sea Grass and slit the throats of the unsuspecting crew with what appear to be hooks. It’s terrifying to watch.

Murdering the innocent (if loaded) crew doesn’t satisfy the ghosts’ thirst for vengeance. They’re looking for descendants of those who murdered them, and they work their way ashore in the glowing fog, where they wreak havoc and leave a trail of corpses.


Thoughts:

The opening screen flashes an epigram from an Edgar Allen Poe poem:

“Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream?

I’m not sure of its relevance. The poem (…I think?) speaks of how fleeting life is, and the movie depicts sailors who hold a grudge and visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and other bystanders a hundred years after their demise.

Overall, my feelings about this flick are mixed. Moments of genuinely scary stuff are tossed in with some tedious melodrama. Additionally, there’s the tired trope of not daring to have sex if you’re in a horror flick. Not to be overlooked is the obtuse town elders, who insist on going through with one thing that will ensure disaster descends on the town despite all the warnings by people who know better.

A lot goes on; several story threads work their way through the tale. The ghosts/zombies are out for vengeance and won’t be put off. The people they hunt down have done them no harm but have benefited from the wrong the ghosts suffered. Unanswered at the end is the question of whether the ghosts are satisfied—will they be back for more when the fog rolls in again?

Some of the special effects work nicely, but others don’t. The viewer never really gets to see the ghosts/zombies. The fog on TV doesn’t really look like fog in real life. It might on the big screen. Yet, it is creepy. Seeing the silhouette of some guy standing outside the door in the fog, holding a sharp object, is enough to raise the hair on the back of anyone’s neck. Where are the lights coming from? Probably not car headlights.

The Fog was a 1981 nominee for the Saturn Award for Best Horror Film and Best Special Effects from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. John Carpenter won the 1980 Critics Award at the Avorias Fantastic Film Festival (France) and was nominated for the Grand Prize from the same film festival.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find it anywhere to stream for free. Amazon Prime will show it to you with a subscription. YouTube will rent or sell it to you.



Title: The Fog (1980)

Directed by
John Carpenter…(directed by)

Writing Credits
John Carpenter…(written by) and
Debra Hill…(written by)

Cast (in credits order)
Adrienne Barbeau…Stevie Wayne
Jamie Lee Curtis…Elizabeth Solley
Janet Leigh…Kathy Williams
John Houseman…Mr. Machen
Tom Atkins…Nick Castle

Released: 1980
Length: 1 hour, 29 minutes
Rated: R