“I don’t know what happened to Antonio Bay tonight. Something came out of the fog and tried to destroy us. In one moment, it vanished. But if this has been anything but a nightmare, and if we don’t wake up to find ourselves safe in our beds, it could come again. To the ships at sea who can hear my voice, look across the water, into the darkness. Look for the fog.” – Stevie Wayne
I love this 1980 movie for so many reasons. First, it was written by the fantastic duo of John Carpenter and Debra Hill (Halloween); second, it was directed by John Carpenter; third, it has a number of AWESOME actors in it, including mom Janet Leigh (Psycho) and daughter Jamie Lee Curtis (Halloween, Halloween II), Hal Holbrook, Halloween alums Nancy Loomis and Charles Cyphers, and…
wait for it…
ADRIENNE BARBEAU!
Fun fact 1: Adrienne was married to John Carpenter when he penned this script – as a matter of fact he wrote the role specifically for her. This was also her cinematic debut! (Adrienne later appeared as Brain’s girlfriend in Escape from New York, also written and directed by John Carpenter, and in George Romero’s horror film Creepshow).
Normally I don’t watch horror film remakes as they often don’t compare (in my opinion) to the originals. Examples of this include Psycho, When a Stranger Calls, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. However, I found myself channel surfing a few years back and ended up watching the remake of The Fog because it was on the premium movie channel I subscribed to. While it was a decent movie, I challenge anyone who saw the 2005 remake to watch the original and then tell me the remake was better.
The plots of both films are similar – The citizens of Antonio Bay are celebrating the town’s 100th anniversary, which has a dark beginning – lepers, who were promised the land for their colony, were betrayed by the town founders and murdered for their possessions. On the eve of the centennial celebration the lepers decide to exact revenge on the town, under the cover of fog.
Fun Fact 2: Adrienne Barbeau, despite being one of the film’s leads, spends 95% of the film alone onscreen, either talking on the phone, or working her job as a disc jockey for the town’s only radio station. The other lead, Jamie Lee Curtis, shares no screen time with Adrienne Barbeau.
Fun Fact 3: Getting killed by a leper with a sword is a pretty freaking sweet way to die. Just sayin’.
And, I gotta admit, every time the weather cooperates and we get a nice fog in the metro, if I’m walking to my car after a theatre rehearsal or after work, or I go to let my dog out to do her biz-ness, I always take a moment to look at the fog – look through it actually – because you just never know what might be a few feet in front of you… or behind you… or next to you…
Look into the darkness. Look for The Fog.
Spook du jour 