On the subject of Carpenter, I think The Fog is hideously under-rated.
Carpenter is often said to have "peaked" by the end of the late 80's, the cut off date specifically being 1982. How accurate that is I honestly can't say as the only films I've seen after then are Christine (YEARS ago, can barely remember much from it) and They Live, which I liked. Before that we had the likes of Halloween, The Fog, Escape From New York and The Thing. Both Halloween and The Thing seem to be better regarded than The Fog... Well that's half true in my opinion anyway: The Thing is his greatest movie BUT The Fog is literally a very, very close second place.
Its a ghost story which could've been dull but its done so well.
Firstly: that film soundtrack. John Carpenter strikes again. Of all the Carpenter films I've seen so far, including Halloween, this soundtrack is the best I've heard him compose. It works so well with the tone of the film: The campfire scene at the start in particular (and what a chilling opening it is). I've actually listened to the main theme from the film on YouTube probably as many times as I've watched the movie (a lot).
Secondly: Carpenter uses his locations exceptionally well. They lend a visual richness and depth to The Fog. The stuff on the beach looks nice, as does the surrounding areas around the town and the town itself. Antonio Bay at twilight in particular looks amazing, an example of The Fog's top-notch scenery and cinematography.
Thirdly: the cast. Carpenter tends to re-use a lot of the same cast in his films to the point where I've began to call them the "John Carpenter Family"- Adrienne Barbeau, Tom Atkins, Jamie Lee Curtis, Darwin Joston (in a cameo as the coroner), Charles Cyphers, Nancy Keyes and Hal Holbrook... As well as Janet Leigh from Psycho (incidentally she and her real life daughter Jamie Lee Curtis barely share any screen time together. I'm nit-picking but if there is one thing I'd liked to have seen, it would've been these two in more combined scenes. As it is their interaction in Halloween H20 was better)! Everybody works well here. Adrienne Barbeau spends most of the film isolated in the lighthouse but she plays a key role in observing the progress of the fog and explaining to people on the radio to stay away from it.
Speaking of the fog which is full of the murdered leper ghosts, I think should address it. As a threat it works well, both when its onscreen and not. For instance after the set-up at the beginning with the campfire, everything in the town starts to go crazy, car alarms going off, objects shaking etc. Its not done as a jumpscare but I feel it builds up the idea that something much worse is coming, which obviously it is. The ghosts work well and when the fog rolls in-land all hell breaks loose.
They already disposed of a helpless drunk crew out in the ocean and swiftly move onto the weatherman and an old lady, before encasing the town. This works really well as a threat: you can't get away from this fog. Eventually everybody is either boxed into an old church or fighting for survival on top of the lighthouse. It ends rather abruptly but it works. Stevie Wayne in particular warning everybody that the fog could come again is a highlight, as of course is Father Malone getting decapitated at the end. The only issue I guess I have with them is their motive. Do they want to kill the descendants of their murderers? Are they angry at the town itself to the point where they are only after six people? But if its only six then surely they would go for the descendants as opposed to everybody else? It can be interpreted in many ways: the novel apparently has the three men on the boat, the weatherman, the old lady and Father Malone as descendants but the problem there is the fact that one of the boat men, Al, is Mrs Williams wife (Janet Leigh), who the ghosts explicitly try to kill near the end... Which would make them related somehow as HUSBAND and WIFE. So based on that alone its not a theory I buy, although it does confuse you when you think really in-depth about it. Regardless though are we supposed to care? Until Halloween 2 Michael Myers never had a motive for killing the babysitters and going after Laurie Strode and he was scary as the ghosts are so its not an issue for me as such.
Overall I love it to the point where i'd compare it to Halloween as being a better film.
10 out of 10.
Its also genuinely creepy and beautifully directed.
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