The Fog (1980)

An unearthly fog rolls into a small coastal town exactly 100 years after a ship mysteriously sank in its waters.

Director:

John Carpenter

Writers:

John Carpenter, Debra Hill

Stars:

Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Adrienne Barbeau	...	Stevie Wayne
Jamie Lee Curtis	...	Elizabeth Solley
Janet Leigh	...	Kathy Williams
John Houseman	...	Mr. Machen
Tom Atkins	...	Nick Castle
James Canning	...	Dick Baxter
Charles Cyphers	...	Dan O'Bannon
Nancy Kyes	...	Sandy Fadel (as Nancy Loomis)
Ty Mitchell	...	Andy Wayne
Hal Holbrook	...	Father Malone
John F. Goff	...	Al Williams (as John Goff)
George 'Buck' Flower	...	Tommy Wallace
Regina Waldon	...	Mrs. Kobritz
Jim Haynie	...	Dockmaster
Darrow Igus	...	Mel

Storyline

The small fishing town of Antonio Bay is about to celebrate its centennial anniversary, little do the proud townsfolk realise though is that the towns founders built Antonio Bay on the foundations of deceit,murder and theft. Now 100 years later, the ghosts of the past are set to return to take a bloody revenge.

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Plot Keywords:

fog | lighthouse | small town | fishing boat | radio broadcast | 

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Taglines:

John Carpenter's tale of vengeance beyond the grave...

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 February 1980 (USA)

Also Known As:

John Carpenter's The Fog

Filming Locations:

Farm House Restaurant - 10005 Highway One, Olema, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$21,378,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Embassy Pictures, EDI, Debra Hill Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Actors Tom Atkins, Hal Holbrook and Adrienne Barbeau all later acted in George Romero's Creepshow (1982) around a couple of years later.

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Goofs

As Father Malone flips through his ancestor's journal, you can momentarily see obscenities unrelated to the story written on the preceding page.

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Quotes

Father Malone: [reading from Patrick Malone's journal] "December 9: Met with Blake this evening for the first time. He stood in the shadows to prevent me from getting a clear look at his face. What a vile disease this is. He is a rich man with a cursed condition, but this does not prevent him from trying to better his situation and that of his comrades at the colony. December 11: Blake's proposition is simple, He wants to move off Tanzier Island and re-locate the entire colony just north of here. He has ...
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in Being Human: Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Mouth (2013)

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Soundtracks

Jazz at The Maltings
(uncredited)
Music by Robert Cornford
Courtesy Studio G Ltd.

User Reviews

Creepy Atmosphere

John Houseman sits around a campfire telling children about the story of a ship that went down near their home Antonio Bay and how the drowned sailors will reappear 100 years to that very night in the fog. It is a wonderful beginning to a very chilling film, directed by the modern horror meister John Carpenter. As with most of his films, Carpenter creates a scary atmosphere through moody settings(the California coastline, a lighthouse, an old Church), relentless mood music as in Halloween, good character acting(Holbrook, Houseman, Curtis, Leigh), and a claustrophobic feeling of something vice-like gripping you. The story has some plot problems, but none enough to detract from the overall enjoyment of the film. Adrienne Barbeau is as lovely as ever in the lead, and the film is credible amidst the background of supernatural actions.