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:

100 years ago, it moved across a small town creating a terror no human being should ever live to see again! Now, it has returned.

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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

The film's opening prologue was a quote from the final two lines of Edgar Allan Poe's poem "A Dream Within a Dream". It states: "Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream".

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Goofs

Elizabeth takes off her gloves when she first gets into Nick's truck near the beginning of the film. When the windshield shatters and Nick is struggling to control the truck, she is wearing the gloves again in a few very quick shots.

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Quotes

Kathy Williams: Sandy, you're the only person I know who can make "Yes, Ma'am" sound like "screw you".
Sandy Fadel: Yes, Ma'am.

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Connections

Referenced in Sabrina, the Teenage Witch: The Gift of Gab (2001)

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Soundtracks

Joy Ride
(uncredited)
Music by Harry Gold
Courtesy Bruton Music Ltd., apm Music, Universal Music Publishing

User Reviews

A film that is truly terrifying?!? …It exists and it's named `the Fog'

A solid, powerful story…slowly developing and photographed with a unique sense for tension. THAT is `The Fog'. This story will leave a big impression on you and it's easily John Carpenter's best and most effective horror film. His most underrated as well, since people always refer to `Halloween' and `The Thing' when listing his best accomplishments as a director. Personally, I think The Fog is much more haunting and fascinating than these two, and it's one of the very few films that still scares me after all these years. Uniquely set in a small coast-town called Antonio Bay, where the inhabitants are preparing the celebrations for the town's hundredth anniversary. Only, they do not know that the genesis of their town went together with a devilish conspiracy, resulting in the unfortunate death of many seamen. These doomed victims rise again now, suddenly appearing from mysterious fogbanks that come from the ocean. If you're – like me - a sucker for ghostly myths set in abandoned surrounding, The Fog will be one of your most satisfying purchases ever. Carpenter brilliantly builds up an unbearable tension through simple methods, like long shots of an isolated countryside and a chilling musical score (not as famous as his `Halloween' score but equally effective). The bloodshed and images of cold-hearted monsters are kept to a minimum in order to leave it up to your own imagination. And for once, this actually works! The detailed sequences in which the town gets surrounded by an inescapable fog is more than horrific enough. Forget about all the overblown, big-budgeted and so-called `horrifying' films… This little, overlooked production scares the hell out of people since more than 20 years already. And it'll keep on doing so for yet another very long time!