The Fog

After his breakthrough film Assault on Precinct 13 and genre classic Halloween, John Carpenter took a break from feature films to make two for television.  This marked his return to feature films and an eight year period where, apart from Halloween, he arguably made his finest films as it included Escape From New York, The Thing and They Live.
 
The story takes place in Antonio Bay, California, a small seaside town which is approaching its centennial year.  Almost providing a Greek Chorus is Stevie Wayne (Adrianne Barbeau), a mother who owns the KAB radio station in the lighthouse overlooking the town.  Taking calls from the weather centre, she passes on information to local sailors about adverse weather conditions.  When she hears a report of a fog bank moving in, she can see it glowing and moving against the wind so puts out a warning to ships in the area.  The next day one is missing and is found floating with the crew missing or dead, one apparently drowned in his cabin.
 

The priest, Father Malone (Hal Holbrook) finds his grandfather's diary which explains, to his dismay, how the town was built using gold belonging to a wealthy leper whose boat was intentionally led onto the rocks by the town's founders.  When the cloud returns the next night the dead seem to be back for revenge on Antonio Bay.
 
Told very much as a ghost story - it even begins with an old man telling a group of children scary tales around the campfire - The Fog begins innocuously enough but the tension escalates as the body count rises to a thrilling conclusion.  Although The Fog is not one of Carpenter's best films, without the long-term impact of  The Thing or Escape From New York or Halloween's groundbreaking nature, it's still a an extremely effective chiller and modern ghost story.
 
Although the effects are a little cheesy by today's standards, it's incredible that they are far more effective than those created by computer in Rupert Wainwright's appallingly bad 2005 remake.  Just because something has a bigger budget, it doesn't mean that you care about the characters or are emotionally invested in the story - this is precisely the case for The Fog where it was a relatively small film with surprisingly big names (Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh, Hal Holbrook) but one that was interesting and extremely well edited.  This may well be Adrianne Barbeau's finest performance and it's great to see Jamie Lee Curtis and her mother in the same film years before they repeated the feat in Halloween: H2O.
 
Carpenter's direction is very good and keeps the tension high with an intelligent and well written screenplay by him and Debra Hill.  Whilst no classic, The Fog is an enjoyable movie and a rare example of an American ghost story that, if you haven't seen it, is worth catching.
 

The Disc

 
Extra Features
Oh boy is this a letdown!  The DVD has an excellent commentary and other features but, when you go to the Extras section here, all you get is a THX-type optimiser to help you set up your picture and sound correctly.  Optimum have obviously released this as a stripped-down version and not bothered to secure the extras from the DVD releases.
 
The Picture
Unlike the regrettable and impotent remake, the fog is either real fog made using a 'fogger' or dry ice and it's surprising that such archaic techniques produce an effect far superior to anything done by CGI.  The fog is supposed to be a living thing and it really does have presence with the glowing mass approaching the town and moving down the streets.
 
The transfer is excellent, with superb contrast and colours, and is clear of any major grain or noise.  For a movie of limited budget, the pirate effects are remarkably effective as they are shot in shadow or backlit to avoid showing unnecessary detail that would probably spoil the illusion.
 
The Sound
The DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack is clear, benefiting from a fine score by John Carpenter, with the atmospherics and surrounds adding to the tension, especially in the scenes when the fog is present. 
 
The authoring is a little odd as there isn't just one menu with a series of language and subtitle selections.  The first menu asks you to choose a country then that takes you to a menu in that language where you can choose your setup.  The French and German options have a dub in that language whereas the others have the English soundtrack with subtitles.
 
Final Thoughts
I recognise that The Fog isn't the best film that John Carpenter has ever made as he has set such high standards that movies that other filmmakers would be overjoyed to have made don't appear in the top half of Carpenter's oeuvre.  Had this been released with all of the extras that came with previous DVD releases then it would be a near automatic purchase for horror fans but, as it is, you're buying the disc for an improved AV package and keeping your DVD for the extras.  It doesn't currently retail for a great deal - I bought it for £6.99 - so is one for big fans of the film.