The Fog (1980)
Year: 1980
Country: USA
Director: John Carpenter
Reviewed: March 2014
Country: USA
Director: John Carpenter
Reviewed: March 2014
Because of my love for Halloween, I was really looking forward to The Fog. I’d actually heard of this film before, via a trailer on another movie I was watching years ago. I’ve always wanted to see it since then and so when I discovered that my local library had bought a collection of John Carpenter films (containing this movie, Escape From New York, The Thing and They Live), I was more than a little excited. What I was expecting was a mildly unnerving experience, a camp joy. My expectations were completely shattered, in the very best of ways. The Fog is just one of the most absolutely terrifying films I’ve ever seen. Its premise doesn’t prepare one for such terror. A small coastal town is celebrating its 100th anniversary when suddenly an ominous fog begins appearing over the town. This seems mildly creepy, but what this doesn’t tell you is that there’s something in the fog and that you can’t stop it. There is no way to stop fog, it just comes under the door and through the windows and there’s nothing you can do. It’s absolutely bloody terrifying. Helped considerably by Jamie Lee Curtis (god, I do love her), Adrienne Barbeau (who I’ve seen somewhere else. I just can’t remember where) and Janet Leigh (who’s in Psycho!), the film is 90 minutes of the creepiest and scariest horror you’re ever likely to see. It’s gothic and spooky and not very violent but it scares you because it’s something we all have experienced. Being surrounded by fog is quite frightening because anything could be in there. One of the film’s masterstrokes is that we don’t get to see the monsters in the fog up close; they’re only shadows, which just adds to that fear (because they’re unknown and unknowable). There are jump scares aplenty (including one which I really wasn’t expecting. It made me almost grab my leg so hard, my hand and leg were sore for the rest of the film), so much tension you can almost taste it and filled with an atmosphere of absolute dread. While it may not be as good as Halloween (because that’s surely the best horror movie ever made. Psycho isn’t counted) and while its conclusion may be poorly foreshadowed (you’ll never guess the ending, because you’ve never heard of certain key aspects before which is why it doesn’t get the highest score), it is far better than many horror films you’re ever likely to witness. It puts gore aside in favour of far more terrifying moments. I’ll never be able to go into fog alone again.
Best Scene: Move the frickin car! (because it gave me a heart attack. While
it’s a fairly common horror movie scene, I’ve never seen it done better than it
is here)
Overall Verdict: 9
it’s a fairly common horror movie scene, I’ve never seen it done better than it
is here)
Overall Verdict: 9