rsoonsa Review of Fear on Film: Inside 'the Fog'

Fear on Film: Inside 'the Fog' (1980 TV Short)

Documentary Fails To Raise Viewer Interest For A Subject In Which There Is Much To Appreciate.

[5/10 · 6 October 2006]

MGM nicely manages here to bonus its 2002 DVD release of John Carpenter's 1980 horror film THE FOG with a good many appealing special features, of which this 1980 promotional "documentary" offers the least amount of value. A bit of poorly transferred footage from the original is utilized, but in the main for this concise (eight minute) affair interviews predominate, of Carpenter, producer Debra Hill, along with female players Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis and Janet Leigh, all necessarily lacking those production details that viewers find of relevance concerning an ingenious thriller structured from a screenplay that is intent upon sleight of hand. TALES FROM THE MIST, a latter-day item made especially for the MGM DVD package, offers a great deal more of merit, with only the Curtis monologue repeated from this work, and gives due credit to a proficient editing process that becomes the cardinal reason for the cultish success of THE FOG. Perhaps the most telling aspect of this piece is limned by the mentioned disparity in quality between it and the recent documentary, the latter a more appropriate supplement to a cleverly cobbled feature film.