I will never forget renting this movie for the first time. My friend kept raving about it as one of his favorites, and I never would have even looked twice at it, but he talked me into it and from those opening few minutes it became an instant fave of mine as well. The thing that really sticks out in my memory, though, is when we walked back to the video store to return the tape the next day. A fog was creeping in as we made our way down the hill, and we imagined ghosts in that fog, closing in on us. I’ll never forget that.
This is one of my favorites from my favorite director, John Carpenter. And one of my favorite ghost stories ever committed to film. THE FOG is a movie about the ugly side of American history, about the notion that you could take any town in America, and if you could pick it up like a rock, you'd see the capitalism, the greed and brutality of its origin squirming like worms in the dirt underneath.
The quaint seaside California community of Antonio Bay is celebrating its 100th birthday, but it is about to be besieged by a mysterious fog, which carries within it the ghosts of the past. The local priest uncovers a journal that tells the long-buried secret of the town's origin, that the settlers who founded the town deliberately sank a ship captained by a leper who planned to establish a neighboring colony, who had amassed a great deal of wealth he was more than happy to share, but knowing their town would never thrive with a leper colony only a mile away, they sank the ship, killed the crew, and stole the money to found their town.
This history was buried and the town is celebrating, and the anger of the ghostly crew of the sunken Elizabeth Dane is so deserved, and that's the scariest part. These spirits are murderous, and frightening, and yet their rage is almost righteous. Add to that the fact that the film is shot within an inch of its life by Dean Cundey, and oozes absolutely terrific atmosphere.
When it comes to ghost stories, THE FOG is one of my all-time favorites. Even though it's set in California, the little fishing town reminds me so much of my own hometown more than many horror films that are actually set in Maine. Plus, there's something so unique about a heroine who never interacts with any of the main cast, to have Adrienne Barbeau as Stevie Wayne, a woman who has to struggle to save her community by essentially using only her voice.