I love a lot of John Carpenter movies. HALLLOWEEN, ASSAULT ON PRECINT 13, THE THING, THEY LIVE. Before watching it to review it, I wasn’t sure I had ever seen THE FOG. Now that I have, it’s unfortunately not one of my faves.
I might draw some flack for this review. I know THE FOG has become a cult favorite among horror fans. I don’t think it deserves that status. It’s not engrossing enough or scary enough to reach the status of HALLOWEEN or THE THING. And it’s not campy enough to be as meme-worthy as THEY LIVE has become.
Apparently, in 1980, sordid tales of condensed water vapor were all the rage. It’s the same year Stephen King released the novella THE MIST as part of the DARK FORCES anthology. THE MIST would eventually be turned into one of the most underrated horror films of all time, Frank Darabont’s 2007 film of the same name. Damn, I should have reviewed that instead, but there’s always next year. Aside from similar titles and things going jump in the mist/fog, there are not many more similarities.
THE FOG is a ghost story, and appropriately so, set up to creep out your loved ones at night around a campfire. When the ocean air rolls into town and the visibility goes down, supernatural occurrences are afoot. The creatures and special effects here are goofy, perhaps because they were meant to be. But the film never leans in enough to give us some over-the-top thrills. THE FOG was Carpenter’s follow-up to HALLOWEEN (1978), but there’s never any real sense of danger. Not anything that could compare to Michael Myers’s menacing teenager Laurie Strode. There were a few moments when I could see how the modern film I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER may have been inspired by THE FOG. Or how it feels like a 1970s take pulled from R.L. Stine’s GOOSEBUMPS or SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK. I love an old-fashioned ghost story, and as much as THE FOG wants to be that, it never quite delivers.
John Carpeter’s THE FOG is currently streaming on Prime Video, The Criterion Channel, and Freevee as well as being available to rent for less than $5 on most digital platforms.
