The Fog (1980 film)

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Promotional poster for The Fog (1980)

The Fog (1980), AKA John Carpenter's The Fog; the remake (2005) is probably best avoided

Summary

"When the fog rolls in... the terror begins!" As the centennial of the small town of Antonio Bay, California approaches, paranormal activity begins to occur at midnight, accompanied by a sinister fog....

Details

Ratings

MPAA Ratings

  • Rated: R (Violence, mild Adult Content)

Most violence occurs off-screen, but the film is probably a bit too frightening for younger audiences, thanks to some effective, atmospheric scares.

Tentacle Ratings

A rough measure of how "Lovecraftian" the work is:

  • SS___ (Two Tentacles: Barely Lovecraftian; could be a very loose adaptation)

A loose adaptation of Lovecraft's "The Doom that Came to Sarnath" (a story about the supernatural revenge from beyond the grave of a race of repulsive aliens for their massacre at the hands of the human inhabitants of Sarnath, as the seaside town is engulfed in strange mists during the town's anniversary celebration of the aliens' slaughter), translated to the coastal town-with-a-dark-secret Antonio Bay, near Whateley Point and Arkham Reef, California(!).

Note: This rating is not intended as a measure of quality, merely of how closely related to Lovecraftian "Weird" fiction the work is.

Reviews

Review Links:

  • Scott Ashlin at 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting (3.5/5 Stars) (link) - " To me, The Fog plays like one of those arty slice-of-life movies, only with all the usual boring bullshit about people’s unremarkable existences interrupted before it’s even gotten properly underway by a sudden attack from an army of undead lepers."
  • Paghat the Ratgirl at Wild Realm Reviews, (link) - "The Fog... has a timeless look to it, in character design & set design, just as it tells a timeless ghost story."
  • Richard Scheib at the Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film Review (3.5/5 Stars) (link) - "... The Fog is a film that exists only in terms of the scares that John Carpenter provides but feels as though it is built on a network of swiss cheese logic when one looks underneath in any way. ...that said, the jumps that Carpenter produces are eerie and unsettling and The Fog is certainly well above average."

Synopsis

 Spoiler Section (Highlight to Read)

As the centennial of the small town of Antonio Bay, California approaches, paranormal activity begins to occur at midnight. 100 years ago, the wealthy leper Blake bought the clipper ship Elizabeth Dane and sailed with his people to form a leper colony. However, while sailing through a thick fog, they were deliberately misguided by a campfire onshore, steering the course of the ship toward the light and crashing her against the rocks. While the townsfolk prepare to celebrate, the victims of this heinous crime that the town's founding fathers committed rise from the sea to claim retribution. Under cover of the ominous glowing fog, they carry out their vicious attacks, searching for what is rightly theirs.


Comments, Trivia, Dedication

  • John Carpenter is a fan of H.P. Lovecraft's stories, and has acknowledged that The Fog was inspired by them.
  • "Arkham Reef" and "Whateley Point" are references to Lovecraft Country
  • Edgar Allan Poe is quoted in the film's prologue ("Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream". - Edgar Allan Poe's poem "A Dream Within a Dream")
  • The quote "like an albatross around the neck" can be heard on the record cassette in the lighthouse at one point; this is a reference to "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
  • Names of background characters include references to the Vincent Price character Doctor Phibes, and to Arthur Machen.
  • John Carpenter has stated two other inspirations for the film, both of which are related to Great Britain. The first was the British film The Crawling Eye (1958 film) which dealt with monsters hiding in the clouds. He also stated that he and his co-writer/producer, Debra Hill, were inspired by a trip to Stonehenge, the ancient monument in South West England, which was covered in fog during their visit.
  • Carpenter and Hill produced a poorly-received 2005 remake of this film; the remake was fairly faithful to the original, but suffered from its inferior command of atmosphere, its dated CGI effects, and a weak cast.

Associated Mythos Elements

Keeper Notes

  • This film is essentially a retelling of "The Doom that Came to Sarnath (fiction)", reset in the modern era with a human leper colony replacing the repulsive moon-things inhabiting Ib; Keepers can use this as a model for adapting The Fog to other eras, or for adapting Lovecraft's Dreamlands stories to the modern era.
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