The Fog: Special Edition
October 2002 Reviewed by: Anthony Di Marco Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

Let’s face it, John Carpenter has lost his edge. Watch a film like Ghosts of Mars, or the promising but ultimately disappointing Vampires, and you’ll witness the work of a director whose recent efforts pale when compared to the movies made early in his career. I remember films like Halloween, The Fog and The Thing as creepy. But, I was a boy at the time those movies were released. So, it is possible that my age affected my perception. Maybe films like The Fog were more frightening to a nine-year-old than a guy now just entering his 30s.

Or maybe not . . .

The Fog was Carpenter’s follow-up to the highly successful Halloween. Written by Carpenter and Producer Debra Hill, The Fog was a departure from the serial killer genre in favor of a ghost story that involved 19th century specters taking revenge for their deaths. Its special effects are simple yet effective and the plot is an exercise in economy. No complicated subplots or connections between characters, just a good-old-fashioned ghost story about payback.

The Fog steadily builds an unsettling atmosphere. It is a film that allows your mind to imagine more than what is actually occurring onscreen. Most of the violence is implied and not sensationalized. Ah, yes, this is the John Carpenter I once knew -- the director who had the uncanny ability to make me uncomfortable in my own skin, building incredible suspense using the simplest of camera shots. When Carpenter composed an image with a meat hook in frame, your mind would conjure up the most heinous act that could be performed with that meat hook. What makes The Fog different? It’s not so much the weapons that create tension in this film, but the title character.

Though its actors are excellent, the real star of The Fog is the fog. Director Carpenter and his team do a remarkable job at creating a non-human entity that seems entirely "aware" of its surroundings. The fog moves like a cat stalking its prey, then attacks swiftly. Carpenter’s music gives voice to the fog’s nature. It helps immeasurably to instill fear and anxiety in the viewer as the pervasive mist seals the fate of each victim it contacts.

The filmmakers also did a nice job with the apparitions that live within the fog. The way each ghost floats suggests an entity that is not only inhuman, but also deeply sinister. Every time I saw a ghost, within the shadows or behind glass, it gave me a severe case of the creeps, which forced me to peer over at my windows. When a film makes you to feel insecure in your own home, it is a good horror film. The Fog, though not profoundly terrifying, qualifies as a good scare -- especially if you live on the edge of a lake in the middle of nowhere.

One would expect a low-budget horror film made in 1979 to have a very low-budget look. But cinematographer Dean Cundey (Jurassic Park, the Back to the Future series) gives The Fog a richness that is well preserved on this DVD. Colors are vibrant, with excellent saturation. Blacks are deep, solid, and rarely muddy. Especially beautiful are the lighthouse scenes with Adrienne Barbeau as a radio DJ, in which pictures seem to have an almost three-dimensional quality. The look of the fog is also impressive. Normally, high frequencies, like those making up the menacing mist, take a toll on MPEG compression, but not here. In the majority of its scenes, the fog has a smooth, consistent quality.

The soundtrack (remixed and remastered to 5.1 from the original mono) adds to the chill in the air. The new processing has a reduced noise level, allowing one to experience the music, and more subtle elements of environmental ambiance, more acutely than before.

Special features are good, especially considering that The Fog was made 20 years before DVDs and their attendant special features became popular. Two documentaries -- one made during The Fog’s production and one made for the DVD release -- contrast the filmmaker’s state of mind nicely. It was interesting for the "geek" in me to hear how the filmmakers went about creating and controlling the character of the fog. Overall, the features section was well balanced with anecdotal information. Better yet, the feature commentary avoids superficiality. It is apparent that Hill and Carpenter genuinely liked, and still like, each other. Their discussions about the film made me feel that two friends had gotten together to talk about a time in their lives that was tough, but highly enjoyable.

As the old adage goes: "Things seemed so simple back then." And The Fog is a classic example of how less is more. It was nice to get a genuine chill out of a horror film that didn’t rely on elaborate special effects or gruesome violence. I just wish this talented director still had more to give.

Oh how I long for the old John Carpenter!

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