- Title: The Fog (1980)
- IMDb: link
Flashback Friday takes us back to John Carpenter‘s ghost story about vengeful spirits returning to Antonio Bay to enact revenge 100 years after their death. The film is more notable for its feel and atmosphere than its script. Despite Carpenter being dissatisfied with the project following principal photography, leading to reshoots, and earning mixed reaction from critics, the film was a tremendous box office hit for Carpenter and AVCO Embassy Pictures whose next collaboration would be Escape from New York.
The film begins with one of the later-added scenes involving a campfire ghost story to set the mood and provide context about a ship crash on the costal town’s shore a century ago which will foreshadow the return of the clipper ship. Returning for the centennial, the ghosts who were led to their death by the town founders, who robbed and killed them to prevent a leper colony being started on the island, arrive to enact revenge.
We get the local Nick (Tom Atkins), the hitchhiker Elizabeth (Jamie Lee Curtis in a role that Carpenter added to the script for her), and local radio DJ Stevie Wayne (Adrienne Barbeau). We also get the town preacher (Hal Holbrook) and the various descendants of the town founders. There’s a journal, secrets uncovered, and more, but really it’s just an excuse for the characters to run around as the fog creeps in. The cast of characters fighting for their lives against the ghost-filled fog feels a bit thrown together. For instance, once the shit hits the fan there’s no reason for Elizabeth to stick around.
However, to its benefit, the script finds ways to play up the use of the fog to hide the ghosts whose creepiness works better as half-seen shadows. While none of the deaths are all that notable, the setting and camera work does succeed in drawing out suspense. The fog works better than the ghost themselves often leading the characters to put themselves in harm’s way and allow the ghosts to take advantage. It’s far from a classic, but for a cheaply-made horror movie now nearly 45 years-old, The Fog holds up better than many modern contemporaries (including the attempted 2005 remake).
Watch the trailer
