- Title: The Fog (2005)
- IMDb: link
Flashback Friday takes us back to the 2005 remake of John Carpenter’s film of vengeful spirits returning to enact revenge 100 years after their death on the town that wronged them. While the effects of the remake are noticeably better than the original, and effort has been made to tie the characters closer together, the 2005 version of The Fog is lacks the vibe, style, and unsettling nature of the original.
The second time around we get Tom Welling in the role of local fisherman Nick. This time around the hitchhiker Elizabeth (Maggie Grace) is actually Nick’s former girlfriend and local who left the town without saying goodbye. But she has been drawn back on the eve of the centennial by prophetic dreams about the return of the ghosts whose murder provided their ancestors the wealth to build the town. As with the original Nick and Elizabeth will uncover clues helping decipher what occured a century ago and why the ghosts are back for revenge.
Making the new Elizabeth part of the town also gives the remake relationships to explore, including her contentious relationship with her mother (Sara Botsford) and complicated on-again/off-again relationship with Nick, as well as provide her with a reason to stick around given her stake in the town and the safety of her loved ones.
Welling and Grace work fine together and while Selma Blair’s version of Stevie may lack Adrienne Barbeau‘s sultriness (who doesn’t?), her relationship with Nick after Elizabeth’s departure provides a bit more to work with in terms of tying the key characters together (even if its a thread that never develops into the triangle it could have been). However, the new town preacher (Adrian Hough), drunk and crazy well before things starting going wrong, is certainly a downgrade and most of the other characters are simple monster fodder.
While the result is less than the original, The Fog does attempt to update the story in ways that work more often than not, with one notable exception. But it wasn’t the story or its characters that really sold the 1980 horror film. It was the atmosphere and suspense. And despite Welling, Grace, and Blair all doing what they can with the material, the remake lacks the thrills of the original (even if it does deliver more memorable deaths along the way). I think the quality of the films is closer than most are willing to admit as this version is more forgettable than anything else. However, I’ll admit the problematic ending, trying a bit too hard to do something different by basically cursing the character you’re most likely to care about for all eternity isn’t likely to leave a great taste in your mouth.
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