Movie Info
Movie Name: The Fog
Studio: Revolution Studios
Genre(s): Horror
Release Date(s): October 14, 2005
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Somebody save me…because I’m Lost
Antonio Island is preparing to celebrate its founding fathers, but there is something on the water that could change everything. A fog is rolling in, and there is something in the fog that is deadly. Antonio Island has a history that some have fought to keep covered. Now, a small group of citizens are fighting for survival and the secrets of the town will be revealed!
Directed by Rupert Wainwright, The Fog is a supernatural horror thriller. It is a remake of the 1980 John Carpenter film. The film was largely panned by fans and critics.
The original version of The Fog had everything. It had a cool poster, atmosphere, ghosts…and a so-so ending I never really loved. With potential to fix the problems in The Fog, a remake of The Fog had potential…but instead of fixing the problems, they got rid of a lot of the horror and created an even more lackluster ending.
Oh well…she was annoying. I’m glad the weirdly acidic super-fog got her
The movie dumbed down the horror to get the popular and more inclusive PG-13 rating. The original film while not totally gory built a lot of suspense and did have some real horror. This movie does some nice jobs building suspense, but it just really lacks the scares and fears that should accompany ghosts.
With less scares, I had hoped for a fix to the ending of the original film which always seems very anticlimactic. The film had the same problem. The revenge story still works, especially as more and more is being done on the crimes committed to indigenous people which mirror this story…but the ending remains a garbled mess.
The cast tries to bring in the young and hip of today’s films. Tom Welling of Smallville plays the likable good guy (just like on Smallville) and Maggie Grace of Lost is his romantic interest. You get Selma Blair as the Adrienne Barbeau replacement who just doesn’t have the same appeal. I do have to say that I wasn’t too sad to see the irritating aunt waxed by the ghosts.
Arggg….we come from “The Fog”
Advances in special effects allow for a more advance “fog” effect but I like the charm of the old film (plus, the fog gets some weird, undefined superpowers that can burn people, control glass, etc.). With all the digital special effects, I found myself wishing I was watching a more classic horror film with more solid and “real” effect.
The Fog isn’t a very good horror film and isn’t a good remake. The movie brings nothing new to the story and doesn’t improve on what could be fixed about the original script. With a classic EC Horror type tale, the movie could have been and should have been a lot of fun…instead it is a bore. I wish that The Fog was a terrifying ghost story, but you get a weak and limp horror story that isn’t worth fishing out of the ocean.
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