John Carpenter’s THE FOG

I watched this for the first time a few months ago.

It's high on atmosphere, and I really enjoyed that aspect of it. I loved how black the night looked (I just said a similar thing on the recent The Texas Chainsaw Massacre thread). I thought it did well all up, though I didn't like it the way I liked Halloween and The Thing.

Other things I enjoyed - the casual relationship between that guy and Jamie Lee Curtis' character. I enjoyed how sweet it was, while you knew that she would be moving on soon, I liked them together.

All the radio stuff was good at creating atmosphere too. There was something really creepy about radio back then.

I didn't love the storyline, but as I say, the atmosphere was effective. Interesting to see Janet Leigh and JLC in a film together too.

It's 40 years since I've seen it so you'll have to cut be some slack but I only recall being bored out of my mind.

Only highlight of the screening that I attended was Jamie Lee Curtis was there to introduce it and walked past in sitting in the last row and the end of the asile.

That scene in the morgue gave me nightmares for weeks. Same goes for the scene with the radio transmission turning all twisted and evil. As OP points out the movie wasn't full on gory, but it created probably one of the most effective scary moods in a horror movie.

The only positive thing I can say about the remake is that it fleshed out the zombie army's backstory with a flashback I thought that was good. Not much of a fan of Tom Wellington (the shirtless scene didn't do much for me).

R1 The atmosphere in this is perfect.

Adrienne should have won an Oscar.

I loved it as a teen. I'm not as impressed now watching it but it's still quite entertaining.

A lot of horror fans have wildly varying opinions of this film. Some hate it, some love it, but most agree its not Carpenter’s strongest film even if it just works.

I remember in the 80’s thinking it was okay. There was something corny about sone of the effects (but some effects where remarkable). I always thought it was so cruel they murdered the sweet grandmother (an unusual horror movie trope). NOW? I love it and watch it often.

I honestly think a lot of it’s appeal is the setting. The quaint, beautiful little town. And Adrienne Barbeau’s job seems zen-like and peaceful. Speaking into that microphone with the ASMR-like voice. And she always plays relaxing records. And climbing down those long windy stairs with the sea wind constantly whipping around. It’s all very sensual and seems like a place I’d find restful. Then... visceral horror and gore happen right there. And is resolved. A nice story set-up.

This was one of those mythic movies I always heard about as a kid but never got to see. It was never on TV ad we didn't have a VCR to be able to rent a copy. When we finally got a machine in 1985 it as one of the first movies I rented and Goddamn it as worth it.

Watching this movie is still one of my Halloween night traditions.

A fun little film! Great ensemble cast. Only thing was, the guy playing that priest was miscast - didn't have the aloof, sophisticated, yet slightly "off" quality that all Catholic priests have - and the music playing on Ms. Barbeau's station was truly god-awful - can't imagine that station being a success anywhere. 1950s-style exotica or lounge music, I could see - but that Muzak-style, cheap film library music they used was ridiculous. Apart from that, I agree with everything already stated above. A delight to see Janet Leigh make an appearance as well!

Possibly the most immersive atmosphere ever created for a movie from the 1980s. Those scenes with Barbeau in the lighthouse peering out over the Pacific as the fog rolls in are transcendent.

[quote] I honestly think a lot of it’s appeal is the setting. The quaint, beautiful little town. And Adrienne Barbeau’s job seems zen-like and peaceful. Speaking into that microphone with the ASMR-like voice. And she always plays relaxing records. And climbing down those long windy stairs with the sea wind constantly whipping around. It’s all very sensual and seems like a place I’d find restful. Then... visceral horror and gore happen right there.

You highlighted everything I love about this film [italic]perfectly[/italic], R7.

[quote] the music playing on Ms. Barbeau's station was truly god-awful

I love it! It adds to the atmosphere. It’s like they’re in some netherworld.

I also love this one OP. Just a good solid horror film with some slasher elements and another top notch Carpenter score.

Debra Messing is doing Cameo - is her career over

Even now, I greatly desire with all my heart those platform boots Barbeau is wearing when she's on the lighthouse roof toward the end of the movie.

What great dialogue:

[quote]I think I'll move to Vancouver now. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!

Excellent movie. But you should've started this thread on the 21st of April.

Nancy Loomis continues to show her range playing a sarcastic and snarky woman.

R17 Lol.

R18 I love Nancy! She had such potential.

Great video interview with Nance from 2020. It’s long.

I love her too, R20 but she always playing the same character. It got a bit much for me, and I'm a snarky cunt.

The scenery is gorgeous in the film. I would love to visit the lighthouse someday.

R23 I agree and me too!

This was the very first horror movie that genuinely scared me so bad I couldn't fall asleep. I saw it at a friends house during a sleepover. His mother had to give me a sleeping pill to get to bed.

R14, what on earth are you talking about? Did you accidentally respond to the wrong thread? Debra Messing isn't even in this movie.

I love this movie. Personally, I think it's Carpenter's best score. He said wrote the movie as a valentine to EC comics which he read avidly as a kid. If you know anything about them, you'll totally see this.

The set piece at the end with Barbeau battling the ghosts was inspired by Hitchcock.

I watch it every year around Halloween, along with The Innocents.

I just watched it the other night on SHUDDER.

Great film that I can always go back to and find something new or interesting to like.

[quote] He said wrote the movie as a valentine to EC comics which he read avidly as a kid.

I honestly never knew this! He did a great job.

They have the full making of doc on YouTube. The piano score is so wistful and melancholy.

I was 11-years-old and begged my dad to take me to see "The Fog" back in 1980. It was on a double-feature with another movie that I had never heard of at the time. I remember being disappointed in "The Fog", but I ended up loving the other movie. The other movie was "Dressed to Kill", which is now one of my all-time favorites.

I gotta see that one, R30. People here keep raving about De Palma. I've only seen Carrie, which I love, so am keen to watch more. It's just finding them that's the problem at the moment.

Dressed to Kill is a good one, R30/R31.

I adore The Fog. I remember being disappointed the first time I saw it. But I gave it another chance and I loved it.

The atmosphere, the score and Adrienne Barbeau's performance are all top-notch. I did a Meet-and-Greet with John Carpenter a few years back and he signed my copy of The Fog score.

I also want to visit the lighthouse. Pre-pandemic, I had been planning to travel to California. Who knows when that will happen now?

So glad to see so many fans of this classic.

It got mixed reviews when it was released. I think people were expecting another Halloween-esque type slasher flick and were disappointed when it wasn't. The problem was it came out at the height of the slasher craze which didn't work in its favor.

But it's a good movie whose reputation has definitely grown in years. The same thing happened to Carpenter's The Thing.

It's one of my favorite movies and has one of the best final scenes ever. Every time it's foggy out I get the urge to re-watch the film.

Wasn't there some bad blood between Adrienne and Jamie Lee Curtis when they decided to use a close up of Jamie Lee, a supporting character in the film , for the film's poster art over Adrienne, the LEAD character?

Fun fact, Bea Arthur, Adrienne's Mom from Maude, was a guest at Adrienne's 1978 wedding to director John Carpenter

R36 I must research this!

R9 that guy is non other than Hal Holbrook

R38 I loved him in this.

Jamie didn't have a great experience making The Fog, because she was close friends with John Carpenter and Debra Hill, who were a couple when they made Halloween. Carpenter dumped Hill sometime after making the movie and hooked up with Adrienne when they did a TV movie together with Lauren Hutton. Apparently it wasn't an amicable breakup.

Jamie was not happy when Adrienne would show up on set (they had no scenes together) when Jamie was filming, so she refused to speak to her and would give John a hard time over it. Jamie admitted it was childish in retrospect, but she knew how bad the breakup was for Debra, and felt she was looking out for her friend. Jamie remained good friends with Debra up until her untimely passing.

Yes, the whole drama over John/Debra/Adrienne is covered in the Shout Factory edition of The Fog.

R40 yeah Avco/Embassy used JLC on the posters and marketing material to glum off the huge success of Halloween

JLC didn't get cast in anything after Halloween, it took her mom Janet Leigh calling into good friend Aaron Spelling and asking if he could put her daughter on his shows, so Spelling hooked JLC up with guest spots on Charlie's Angels and The Love Boat opposite Janet Leigh as her mom and Conrad Bain (Adrienne's Maude co star as Arthur Harmon and Mr.Drummond on Diff'rent Strokes) as her dad

R41 I never knew about the Shout! Factory release. I [italic]love[/italic] the cover art; it’s gorgeous.

I remember Jamie Lee being interviewed after Aaron Spelling died around 2006-2007 and she said, "he helped my career after no one would hire me after Halloween, and John Carpenter too by casting me in The Fog"

R44 Interesting.

[quote] 8. Among the “before they were famous” actors to guest star on “Charlie’s Angels” were Tommy Lee Jones, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kim Basinger, Jonathan Frakes and Tom Selleck. Veteran performers who made appearances included Dean Martin, Ida Lupino, Hugh O’Brian, Robert Reed, Cesar Romero and Barbara Stanwyck

Never knew this.

I love how so many of us want to visit the lighthouse used in the movie. It's just one of those locations that stays with you forever.

I think most people were disappointed the first time they saw The Fog. It was so different from Halloween and it threw everybody off. I remember it getting poor reviews when it first came out. Now, of course, it's a cult classic. I think I might even like it better than Halloween.

A blog post drawing connections between The Fog and Hitchcock’s The Birds. I do love both seaside villages and think they’d be charming places to live despite the horror the happens the movies

The Lighthouse.

I love this movie. I think it was on ABC as the movie of the week the first time I saw it around age 11 or 12. I bought the novelization of the film (when they used to publish those). I've watched this more than Halloween, which is my favorite horror film. This is one I would love to see on the big screen at least once.

How does it end? I usually cum to the Barboobs about halfway through the movie and then fall asleep.

R51 You must finish it!

I remember Siskel and/or Ebert disgustedly complaining that ghosts don't kill people. Which is true. They might lead you off a cliff or torment you into committing suicide but they don't hack you to death.

R53 Jesus. 😂

Funny, I just watched a good new review of The Fog on YouTube yesterday. OP, are you the creator?

Carpenter staple and “Scream King” Tom Atkins played Nick Castle in this. The character was named after the filmmaker who is John Carpenter’s good friend and who also played the original Michael Myers. Tom would go on to appear in Escape From New York and Halloween III. He was also the dad in the wraparound story in Creepshow and was in Night of the Creeps.

[quote]An underrated classic, in my opinion.

OP is another "ME KNOW MUCHER" tool who, like so many people here, can't start a thread without a false announcement that she alone has declared a film or book good.

Hey, dumbshit. People in the know don't "underrate" this "classic."

But even those of use who like it can see its flaws. That's what having a mind is about.

Moderate spoilers:

R7-I loved the Adrienne Barbeau set-up. As she drives along the coast, it appears that the one-woman radio station that she bought years before is in the middle of nowhere and when she finally arrives, there's an endless set of steps jutting out into the sea. Later on, after she starts using the airways to warn the town about the fog, she looks out and you see the fog tumbling over the hill and down the steps. Completely isolated and vulnerable, you really get the feeling she's screwed.

How the hell did she climb those steps after leaving work every night? In heels, no less???

Tom was also in Cujo, no?

No. It was Christopher Stone. I always thought they were the same actor!

Here, r57. This might help.

R53, it’s so good to know those lowbrow queens were doling out the paranormal factzz on their teevee show.

But r52, the tip is so sensitive when I’m done, I just want to pass out. Just tell me.

R57 Chiiile… you seem to be in a fog all your own, dear.

R63 😂 No!

Intrigued by the film's reputation, I saw this for the first time about fifteen years ago, and I was disappointed. So much of the film depends on Adrienne Barbeau's performance, since she's on the air hysterically narrating in the last half of the film, and she just wasn't up to the challenge--she is physical actress, not a voice actress. The special effects seemed very dated and cheesy--it seemed like the sort of movie that might have been scary in its day but did not hold up now.

Everyone, Adrienne Barbeau is not a voice actress, according to R66.

R66 sounds like that asshole you instantly regret engaging in conversation at any social event.

r68: Oh, honey, you're just not impressively scathing or fearsome. Let's just face it.

I remember this playing in the bedroom of a random hookup in my early 20's. He had the smallest dick I've ever encountered. It was like a pinky finger when erect. The movie was pretty boring too.

Carpenter thought the finished film was about as scary as an episode of Quincy, so he went back and shot more scenes, including the morgue dead body jump scare and the duel between Stevie and the ghost atop the lighthouse at the end.

R70 😂

R40 yeah JLC said it was like being a child of divorce when they split because she was close to both John and Debra

I thought Adrienne Barbeau was excellent in this. I thought her voice was PERFECT. It was very soothing and sexy.

Rewatching Maude, she was serviceable but not very funny. Here, though, she was terrific.

R74 Her radio voice in this truly is beyond.

I think Carpenter is very good at directing actors in addition to create major tension. Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween, Adrienne Barbeau in The Fog, the cast of The Thing, Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen in Starman, Keith Gordon in Christine -- all great performances.

Goodness, I am confusing this with The Mist - which I loved. Not sure now if had seen The Fog. Gonna check it out now.

R77 I think I’ve worked myself into wanting to watch it again. It’s been a while.

Would you buy this?

YES it's real.

R79 oh hell no 😂

[quote] Goodness, I am confusing this with The Mist - which I loved. Not sure now if had seen The Fog. Gonna check it out now.

We really do need to consider combining the two movies. We could call it “The Fist.” Now that I’d like to see!

"Get away from the fog!!!"

[quote] I remember Siskel and/or Ebert disgustedly complaining that ghosts don't kill people. Which is true. They might lead you off a cliff or torment you into committing suicide but they don't hack you to death.

They were not ghosts. They were zombies, Flying Dutchman ship type of zombies.

[quote]I remember Siskel and/or Ebert...

[quote]They were not ghosts. They were zombies, Flying Dutchman ship type of zombies.

I once saw some clips on YouTube of those two discussing movies, and honestly they didn't impress me with their understanding of film that much, so it doesn't surprise me they would complain about something they misunderstood.

The old babysitter is my favorite part of the movie.

"Andeeee!"

“Mrs. Kobritz!”

[quote]Carpenter thought the finished film was about as scary as an episode of Quincy, so he went back and shot more scenes, including the morgue dead body jump scare and the duel between Stevie and the ghost atop the lighthouse at the end.

The Quincy quote he made about Halloween 2. The original version was structured differently and had next to no gore in it. So he went back in and shot the needle in the eye scene, the kid with the razorblade and a couple of other things.

^Youre right. But he did go back to shoot those extra Fog scenes to up the scare factor.

[quote]I love it! It adds to the atmosphere. It’s like they’re in some netherworld.

I agree, R12. 'The Fog' is not the only film which benefited greatly from the use of library tracks; 'Dawn of the Dead' 1978 (US theatrical version) is another.

I was sufficiently fond of the library tracks in 'The Fog' that I spent a couple of years hunting them all down and collecting them (this was back before they were all made available online - see link below). 'The Fog' shares one track in common with Carpenter's 'Halloween III: Season of the Witch' - the classical flute piece Adrienne is listening to on her drive to the lighthouse - Stagione Vivaldiana by Giancarlo Gazzani. In Halloween III, it's used in the hotel as Marge Guttman is fiddling around with the 'Silver Shamrock' microchip with a bobby pin, just before she gets zapped.

I love how it’s clearly Tommy Lee Wallace doing the announcer voiceovers in The Fog and Halloween III.

So much mood and atmopshere in this one. As a big Halloween fan, I saw this on VHS when I was about 8 or 9 years old and was a bit disappointed, but then I saw it again when it hit DVD, preserving the original aspect ratio, and it was like a completely different movie. John Carpenter masters that widescreen frame like no one else. His music score is one of his best as well and I love the whole ensemble cast. It's not a scary movie in the traditional sense even though there are a few jolts that do work. It's more about the mood and vibe more than anything which makes it kind of cozy. Sort of like a Twilight Zone or Are You Afraid of the Dark episode. It's just creepy enough.

R89 It’s good to feel warmed by one of your posts after our recent icy exchange regarding theology. Also, I love that you actually went through the trouble of “hunting” these library tracks down back when they weren’t so readily available. Thank you for sharing them! Thanks for sharing the extra info, too :)

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the John Houseman intro, where he tells the story by campfirelight on the beach, utilizing the same indignant affect he was then utilizing to great effect in the series of commercials for Smith Barney. ;)

^^ sorry for the use of 'utilizing' twice in the same sentence.

[quote] It's not a scary movie in the traditional sense even though there are a few jolts that do work. It's more about the mood and vibe more than anything which makes it kind of cozy. Sort of like a Twilight Zone…

This is so true, R91. In fact, I almost used “cozy” in the op to describe the film but thought to myself, people are not going to get that descriptor, lol.

Carpenter creates and wields mood and atmosphere with aplomb.

R93 I love his voice!

OP/R96, it was 'long about that time that I had a John Houseman nightmare. My grandmother on my mom's side had just died, and we had bad blood between us. She was one of those people who makes sacrifices no one asked her to make, and then tried to guilt them about it.

Houseman led me at gunpoint to the cemetery, all the time monologuing about my grandmother in that gruff, indignant voice of his. We descended into a catacomb that was inundated almost chest-deep in water, as Houseman groused, "One year, in order to afford to buy a deluxe Lego set for her ungrateful grandson" (an allusion to me), "she cut her grocery purchases and food intake to the bone in order to be able to do it, subsisting almost exclusively upon her mattress."

At this point, my grandmother's corpse bubbled up to the surface beside me, just as Houseman concluded, "She 𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑖𝑡."

I screamed, and he shot me.

R97 What a strange and disturbing dream.

R98, a memorable one, to be sure. I awoke from that one, screaming.

In retrospect, however, I find it funny.

I love John Houseman, and always have.

Not a scary movie.

NEXT.

R100 It is blood-curdlingly terrifying! A tour de force of horror and suspense!

I'm getting hungry. I'm gonna go have a stomach-pounder and a Coke. ;)

R102 :*

I may be mistaken...but I'm almost certain that Stagione Vivaldiana by Gazzani crops up as the chamber piece heard in the background of the cocktail party in Creepshow where Adrienne's "Billie" Northrup is grousing at Hal Holbrook's Henry.

Creepshow is full of in-jokes, particularly "The Crate" sequence.