The Fog (1980)

Director:

John Carpenter

Writers:

John Carpenter (written by) and
Debra Hill (written by)
(more)

Release Date:

8 February 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

What you can't see won't hurt you... it'll kill you!

Plot:

A Northern California fishing town, built 100 years ago over an old leper colony, is the target for revenge by a killer fog containing zombie-like ghosts seeking revenge for their deaths.

Plot Keywords:

Fog | Leper | Bay | Revenge | Ghost

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

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
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
John Vick	...	Sheriff Simms (as John Vic)
Jim Jacobus	...	Mayor (as Jay Jacobs)
Fred Franklyn	...	Ashcroft
Ric Moreno	...	Ghost
Lee Socks	...	Ghost (as Lee Sacks)
Tommy Lee Wallace	...	Ghost (as Tommy Wallace)
Bill Taylor	...	Bartender
Rob Bottin	...	Blake
Charles Nicklin	...	Blake's Voice (voice)
Darwin Joston	...	Dr. Phibes
Laurie Arent	...	Child
Lindsey Arent	...	Child
Shari Jacoby	...	Child
Christopher Cundey	...	Child
John Strobel	...	Grocery Clerk
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
John Carpenter	...	Bennett (uncredited)
Debra Hill	...	Extra in Benediction scene (uncredited)

Directed by
John Carpenter

Writing credits
John Carpenter		(written by) and
Debra Hill		(written by)
Edgar Allan Poe		quotation (uncredited)

Produced by
Barry Bernardi	....	associate producer
Charles B. Bloch	....	executive producer
Pegi Brotman	....	associate producer
Debra Hill	....	producer

Original Music by
John Carpenter

Cinematography by
Dean Cundey		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Charles Bornstein
Tommy Lee Wallace

Production Design by
Tommy Lee Wallace

Art Direction by
Craig Stearns

Costume Design by
Stephen Loomis		(as Steven Loomis)
Bill Whitten

Makeup Department
Rob Bottin	....	special makeup
Tina Cassady	....	hair stylist
Dante Palmiere	....	makeup artist
Edward Ternes	....	makeup artist (as Ed Ternes)
Erica Ulland	....	makeup artist
Steve Johnson	....	special makeup effects assistant (uncredited)

Production Management
Don Behrns	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Larry J. Franco	....	first assistant director
James van Wyck	....	second assistant director (as James Van Wyck)

Art Department
Kathleen Hughes	....	props
Randy Moore	....	assistant art director (as Charles R. Moore)

Sound Department
Gregg Barbanell	....	foley artist
Gregg Barbanell	....	supervising sound editor
Joseph F. Brennan	....	boom operator (as Joe Brennan)
Ken Dufva	....	foley artist
Craig Felburg	....	sound mixer
Ron Horwitz	....	supervising sound editor
Bob Minkler	....	sound re-recording mixer
Bob Newlan	....	assistant sound editor
Frank Serafine	....	special sound effects
William L. Stevenson	....	sound designer: Stevensound Inc. (as William Stevenson)
Richard Tyler	....	sound re-recording mixer (as Dick Tyler)
Elliot Tyson	....	foley mixer
Ray West	....	sound re-recording mixer

Special Effects by
Richard Albain	....	special effects: A. & A. Special Effects (as Richard Albain Jr.)
Rob Bottin	....	effects: Blake
Dean Cundey	....	effects: Blake

Visual Effects by
James F. Liles	....	special photographic effects

Stunts
James Winburn	....	stunt driver (as James Windburn)
Mags Kavanaugh	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Scott Buttfield	....	electrician (as Scott Butfield)
Tim Doughton	....	grip (as Tim Doughten)
Steven Fierberg	....	electrician (as Steve Fierberg)
Kim Gottlieb	....	still photographer
Ben Haller	....	key grip
Steve Mathis	....	best boy electric
Dave Michels	....	grip
Krishna Rao	....	second assistant camera
Dylan Shepherd	....	best boy
Raymond Stella	....	camera operator
Raymond Stella	....	director of photography: second unit
Stephen St. John	....	first assistant camera (as Steve St. John)
Mark Walthour	....	gaffer

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Richard Bloore	....	wardrobe master

Editorial Department
Joe Woo Jr.	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Jim Cypherd	....	music mixer
Bob Walters	....	music coordinator (as Bob Walter)
Dan Wyman	....	electronic orchestrator

Other crew
Donald P. Borchers	....	production accountant (as Don Borchers)
Mary Francis Flynn	....	production assistant
Alexandra Hawler	....	production assistant
Burke Mattsson	....	title designer
Steve McMillian	....	production assistant
Ed Pine	....	unit publicist
Jeanne Rosenberg	....	script supervisor
Katy Sweet	....	unit publicist
Dan Wyman	....	electronic realization
Randy Zook	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• AVCO Embassy Pictures (present) (as AVCO Embassy)
• EDI (present) (as E.D.I.)

Distributors

• AVCO Embassy Pictures (1980) (USA) (theatrical)
• Astral Films (1980) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Entertainment Worldwide Inc. (1980) (USA) (theatrical)
• J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors (198?) (UK) (theatrical)
• Tobis (1980) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• BMG Video (1997) (UK) (VHS)
• Best Buy Movie GmbH (BBM) (2000) (Germany) (DVD)
• Globo Vídeo (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (2004) (Germany) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2002) (USA) (VHS)
• Momentum Pictures (2004) (UK) (DVD)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (USA) (VHS)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (USA) (laserdisc)
• Universal Pictures Benelux (2007) (Netherlands) (DVD) (HD-DVD)
• Universal Pictures Benelux (2008) (Netherlands) (DVD) (Blu-Ray Disc)

Special Effects

• A&A Special Effects (special effects) (as A. & A. Special Effects)

Other Companies

• Bowling Green-Warren County Chamber Orchestra, The  music performed by
• Get Set  sets
• Mag City  special sound effects (as Mag City, Hollywood)
• Mag City  supervising sound editing (as Mag City, Hollywood)
• Maslansky Koenigsgerg  publicity (as Maslansky-Koenigsberg)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)  titles and opticals (as MGM)
• People of Inverness, California, The  our thanks to
• People of Pt. Reyes Station, California, The  our thanks to
• Samuel Goldwyn Studios  post production sound
• Sonoton Musik-Verlag  music
• Sound Arts  music recording studio
• Steven Sound  sound design (as Stevensound Inc.)
• Workroom 27  costume design

Also Known As:

John Carpenter's The Fog (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:AA (Ontario) (original rating) | Canada:PG (Ontario) (re-rating) (2002) | Iceland:16 | West Germany:16 (f) | Denmark:15 | USA:R (Approved No. 25792) | Netherlands:16 | Italy:T | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Norway:16 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | Canada:PG (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Altadena, California, USA

Company:

AVCO Embassy Pictures

Trivia:

The role of Father Malone was originally offered to Christopher Lee who believed the character to be the 'father of the community'. However Lee proved unavailable and Hal Holbrook was eventually cast.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: The light used to illuminate the inside of Nick's truck is visible on the dashboard when the truck turns to go to the weather station.

Quotes:

[on the phone]
Stevie Wayne: You're just a voice on the phone.
Dan O'Bannon: And you're just a voice on the radio. We'd make a perfect couple. You let me take you to dinner tonight, I'll prove it to you.
Stevie Wayne: Sorry, Dan. My idea of perfection is a voice on the phone.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Feeling the Effects of 'The Fog' (2006) (V)

A rare real scary movie.

"The Fog" is one of the very few real scary movies. For some reason phones that begin ringing on their own and car alarms that go off without any reason, is still much more scarier than a CGI-ghost appearing out of a wall. John Carpenter has always been a master in creating scary, creepy scene's with minimal resources but maximum scare. If you also liked this movies, I also recommend "In the Mouth of Madness" to you, a criminally underrated horror masterpiece, also directed by John Carpenter.

The movie has a good and original creepy story with awesome ghostly figures and gore, without any blood. It is notable that this movie had a low budget which works perfectly for the dark, depressing atmosphere. The movie is quite short and because of that the movie feels 'incomplete', if like not all of the events are covered in the story, this is also due to the fact that the movie has an open ending of course like almost every horror movie has. For some reason, because of this 'incomplete' feeling the movie feels even creepier.

The movie has some good actors in it. Remember this movie was made back in the days when it still was OK for well known actors to appear in horror movies. Present day, only young unknown actors seem to appear in horror movies. This movie stars; Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh ("Psycho") and Hal Holbrook. Not the worlds worst actors if you ask me. It's especially amazing that all of those three are in this one movie, considering the low budget of the movie.

This movie is perfect in what it tries to achieve. It creates a perfect horror atmosphere, with a typical creepy musical score by John Carpenter himself and has some good creepy moments in it. This is one of the rare real scary movies ever made. "The Fog" is an unique and original horror movie and sadly, horror movies like this will never be made again.

10/10