The Fog (John Carpenter's) - Special Edition 1979 MGM DVD John Carpenter's Official Website Buy It Now

So, what was your first horror movie experience?  Was it a midnight showing of a classic monster flick?  How about a best friends birthday party where you and 10 of your closest friends all huddled around the TV watching a rented Nightmare on Elm Street?  Maybe nothing as scary as all that...perhaps you watched The Blob on late night TV and laughed your ass off that no one could escape a big, slimy pile of goo.  Well, no matter what that first experience was...I am sure you remember it.  I know I do!

My mom was never one to let me watch horror movies...although she loved them herself (try getting her to admit it now though)!  But one time she made a fateful error.  She took a babysitting job for a next door neighbor in our Lake Tahoe apartments, so that the parents could go out for a Halloween party.  Being only right next door, I was allowed to stay in our apartment, by myself....and I suddenly found myself in front of a movie called The Fog.  I sat in mortal terror..7 or 8 years old and in way over my head...while John Carpenter proceeded to change my world. 

I didn't sleep for 2 straight days; just sat in my room staring at the door, waiting for the knocking to start and a fish-hook to plunge into my stomach.  I know it may sound strange, but that is my first, clear happy memory.  My addiction to horror had begun and there was no cure.  And through all the years of my love of being scared through cinema...I have never watched The Fog again...maybe because of slight amount of trauma, but more-so because it as always held a sort of magic for me.  My first scary movie.

So I imagine I may not be able to write a review that is totally unbiased, but then again if any reviewer tells you he *is* unbiased, he is a liar.  So what you are going to get here folks is more like my tribute to this classic film. 

Antonio Bay is a small California coastal town, about to celebrate its 100th birthday.  Only like most sleepy and innocent towns in horror cinema, this one holds a secret.  It seems that 100 years ago a ship ran aground...costing many men their lives...during some very strange circumstances and some even stranger fog.  Now it's a century later, but time hasn't healed all wounds.  It seems that a certain group of long-dead sailors is returning to Antonio Bay with one thing on their mind.  Revenge.

I suppose it should stand as the greatest testament to this movie that after having seen it nearly 20 years ago and then holding it to some amazing standards of memory since then, that I still found The Fog to be a great movie.  It holds all the greatest pieces of John Carpenter's style: showing us where the action isn't to build tension where it actually is; giving the "evil" a faceless, unidentifiable persona; and a Carpenter written score that thrills and chills (this time around sounding like a cross between Halloween and The Exorcist). 

One difference that I did note however was how GREAT this new transfer looks!  It may not hold up to current glossy standards, but all you have to do is watch the original theatrical trailer (included as one of the many bonus features) to see just how crappy an old film print can look.  Especially being as dark of a movie as it is, where over half the film is set at night, this Special Edition is a blessing.

Through the various character names (almost all tributes to Carpenter's associates) as well as the casting, you become aware of the incredible amount of connections made within and outside The Fog.  First is the most obvious: the team-up of mother/daughter Janet Leigh and Jamie Leigh Curtis.  Janet Leigh of course is the star of Hitchcock's Psycho and made an appearance in Halloween: H20.  The original Halloween of course being John Carpenter's breakthrough horror masterpiece, also staring...Jamie Leigh Curtis.  In The Fog there is mention to another coastal town of Bodega Bay.  Bodega Bay being where Hitchcock filmed one of his greatest works, The Birds.  Last but not least is the obvious connection of star Adrienne Barbeau and director John Carpenter...seeing as how they were married at the time this film was made.

The extras that are included provide a great look into what it took to get this film made and the expectations that it lived up to and fell short of.  Both documentaries as well as the commentary track bring to light the fact that The Fog was written mostly in post-production due to a first cut that was horrible.  Much of the violence and back-story were added during later shoots, as well as a great deal of the "creepy" shots (look for Jamie Leigh Curtis' hairdo change during one added scene).  All in all though, The Fog is an enduring classic that delivers real frights and a lot of that "Carpenter creepiness" that we all know and love.  And speaking of love, that is exactly the feel that I get from MGM's treatment of several of their most recent horror releases.  If the big boys keep realizing that there are a lot of fans that have a special place in their heart for classics like these, than the years to come are bright indeed.

-aaron-
 

Directed by: John Carpenter   Written by: John Carpenter & Debra Hill   Cast: Adrienne Barbeau Jamie Lee Curtis Janet Leigh John Houseman Tom Atkins Hal Holbrook

DVD Features: Double-Sided Disc (Widescreen / Standard) Commentary From Director/Writer John Carpenter & Writer/Producer Debra Hill Original 1980 Documentary "Fear on Film - Inside The Fog" All New Documentary "Tales From the Mist - Inside the Fog" Outtakes TV Spots / Theatrical Trailers Advertising Gallery Storyboard to Film Comparison Collectors Liner Notes By John Carpenter