{Note: This is my wife's review of the movie. While she was watching it, my daughter and I were watching Wallace and Gromit. Horror isn't my thing.}
First, a confession—I had given up on horror flicks. After all, they were all retellings of the same story with different names and gorier special effects. They all seemed to be "slasher" films designed to drive young women into the arms of their boyfriends. Not suitable fare for a 37-year-old wife with a 4-year-old daughter. Then, I got a free ticket to The Fog.
The movie is actually a remake of a classic 1980s horror movie. A hundred years ago, a boatload of lepers was shipwrecked in a fog — intentionally, as it turns out. The folks who lived in town really didn't want a leper colony in their neighborhood — might hurt the property values. Plus, one of the lepers was rather wealthy, and the money taken from the wreckage of the ship was used to establish the town, and turn it into something worthwhile. We find out about the plot thanks to the discovery of an old journal by Father Malone (Hal Holbrook) — a descendant of the person who wrote the journal. The fog from 100 years ago has returned, and people who enter it are dying. Tom Welling stars as Nick Castle, a fishing-business owner who is understandably concerned about this mystery fog that is killing people on the water. Maggie Grace is Nick's girlfriend Elizabeth, who has been plagued recently by some very strange dreams. She's just recently returned home from New York to try to sort out what those dreams mean.
The nineteenth-century fishing attire in the opening scene caught my attention immediately. After all, I was a history major. Within two minutes of the beginning of the movie, the six-foot-tall, 225-pound, 50-year-old man two rows in front of me had jumped six inches from his seat. And that wasn't the scary part of the scene.
Article comments
1 - Jordan
A bit predictable?
this movie was wretched. It was nearly unwatchable if you're seeing it for free - totally unwatchable if you make the mistake of paying for it. There are so many ridiculous parts of the movie but my least favorite must be the entire radio DJ character played by Selma Blair. Just awful.
And girls get scared of anything. You'd be better off bringing your date to see Wallace & Gromit: Curse Of The Were-Rabbit.
2 - Jaymoo
I have to agree with Jordan up there. The idea that horror is rehashing everything is only evident in crappy horror remakes like the ones Hollywood has been pumping out (aka, Fog, Amityville, Texas Chainsaw, etc.). Real horror movies like Saw, The Roost, and The Ring have made there mark, keeping the genre alive!!!
3 - Marilyn Marshall
Although the current version of The Fog is a remake of the 1980 film, that was NOT the original. This was a film that was shown on British TV in approximately 1968-70 . If I remember correctly it was set in Cornwall and not in America. I have been trying to track it down for a long time. It was creepier in a way because, pre-computer graphics, the film relied upon make up (wriggly worms exiting from putrifying flesh - ugh!)and sunken eyes - yuk! A much better film altogether!