Fog, The (1980)
Starring: Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh, John Houseman
Director: John Carpenter
Synopsis: Atmospheric chiller… creepy and scary
Reviewed by: Omar Khan

It has taken years for The Fog to slowly emerge from beneath Halloween's enormous shadow and finally be judged on its own considerable merits as one of John Carpenter's finest achievements.

The film arrived burdened with the almost impossible task of following Carpenter and Debra Hill's phenomenal Halloween, and legions of viewers left cinemas disappointed because they had expected little more than Halloween revisited. Instead, they got an old-fashioned ghost story wrapped in sea mist. The movie performed only modestly at the box office, largely because audiences were already developing an appetite for the burgeoning stalk-and-slash cycle that would soon be dominated by films such as Friday the 13th. The Fog simply wasn't the film many people wanted it to be.

Looking back now, one can appreciate just how unfair those comparisons were. Seen on its own terms, The Fog is not only one of Carpenter's most effective films but also one of the finest ghost stories committed to the screen in many years. It may occasionally be a little uneven and certainly doesn't rely on graphic gore, yet it contains sequence after sequence that perfectly illustrates Carpenter's extraordinary ability to squeeze every last ounce of tension from even the simplest situation.

The scenes in which the fog slowly rolls ashore are simply magnificent. Carpenter creates an overwhelming sense of impending doom as his sinister, malevolent fog creeps relentlessly, inexorably and murderously towards its unsuspecting victims. The tension is heightened immeasurably by Carpenter's own pulsating electronic score, which drives the suspense forward with hypnotic intensity.

There are moments throughout The Fog that bear the unmistakable hallmark of Carpenter at the absolute peak of his powers—the same effortless mastery that stamped itself all over Halloween, The Thing, Escape From New York and Assault on Precinct 13. Sadly, one could argue that this was the last occasion on which Carpenter consistently displayed that particular brand of genius before his later career became increasingly erratic.

The story itself belongs firmly to the tradition of the classic ghost tale, albeit presented with the atmosphere and menace of an undead horror film. Exactly one hundred years earlier, a mysterious ship disappeared off the coast of the isolated fishing community of Antonio Bay, swallowed by an unnatural blanket of fog. Now, precisely a century later, the same ghostly mist returns, no longer merely local legend but a terrifying reality, rolling silently into town and leaving death in its wake.

Once again Carpenter demonstrates his remarkable control of atmosphere. The Fog is another masterclass in sustained suspense, with the director gradually tightening the screws until the second half contains several sequences of almost unbearable tension. It may have disappointed audiences who were expecting another Halloween—and, in truth, any film attempting to follow that masterpiece was always destined to disappoint. Time, however, has been extremely kind to The Fog. It has weathered the passing decades beautifully, steadily acquiring the reputation it always deserved and is now quite rightly regarded as a minor horror classic.

Interestingly, some of the film's more violent moments were added only weeks before release after the producers decided the original cut lacked sufficient shock value for audiences who were rapidly becoming desensitised by the flood of horror films then reaching cinemas. Carpenter obliged by filming several additional gore and shock sequences to inject a little more bite into proceedings. Even so, The Fog remains a film that is far more interested in atmosphere than cheap jolts. Those looking purely for graphic violence or endless jack-in-the-box scares may well be disappointed.

For viewers willing to immerse themselves in a beautifully crafted supernatural tale dripping with atmosphere, style and sustained tension, however, The Fog remains essential viewing. Jamie Lee Curtis is wonderfully assured in only her second or third screen appearance, and there is an undeniable thrill in seeing her share the screen with her real-life mother Janet Leigh. The pair would, of course, reunite many years later in Steve Miner's admirable Halloween H20, providing horror fans with another memorable family reunion.