DVD Review: The Fog

By Patrick Luce Jan 22, 2006, 16:19 GMT

In fact, in many ways the remake of The Fog is a little bit better than its 1980 predecessor – mostly thanks to better special effects that help the fog actually become sort of a character in the movie. The new version stars a fresh batch of young actors including Tom Welling (Smallville), Maggie Grace (Lost), and Selma Blair (Hellboy).

The new version of the film retells Carpenter’s original and provides some changes to make the plot a blend of traditional ghost story elements (like the first film) with even a bit of romance thrown in for good measure.

The film follows several residents of Antonio Bay – a costal town that is preparing to celebrate its 100th anniversary – who are slowly being terrorized by a mysterious fog and the ghostly creatures that dwell there. The ghosts (who we quickly find out are the spirits from a ship of lepers) are coming to the town to exact revenge for the murders and robbery committed by the town’s founding fathers, and to reunite one spirit with his lost love – who has been reincarnated into Grace’s character.

The special effects allow the fog to be its own character in the film

The Good:
While it may not live up to some aspects of the original film, the remake is a fun popcorn horror movie that manages to keep you entertained from the beginning until the end. The computer generated fog and ghost are a step up from the 1980 original – gone are the standing ghost with the glowing red eyes – and the story has been updated to make a bit more sense. The ghosts are no longer just seeking a big gold cross, but are searching for revenge against the original founding families and to reunite the lost love.

Welling, Grace and Blair all do solid jobs in their roles, and Blair is able to hold her own against the sexy Adrienne Barbeau. The actors give their characters enough originality that they don’t just seem like imitations of the first film, and Grace’s back story gives a reason for her to be in the town – unlike the Jamie Lee Curtis character that was simply drifting.

The Bad:

The Fog captures all the fun and scares of the original, but fails to really live up to what made the first film great. Instead, it comes across as a carbon copy with computer generated ghost, a slick dumb-downed story (the love story is a bit lame), and lacking the unique touch of John Carpenter – who serves as a producer but didn’t have anything to do with writing the new script or the directing.

The film changes many of the key moments that made the original great - one is the ghost story told on the beach by firelight at the beginning of the film - and replaces them with a series of flashbacks that tell the story of the lepers flight to Antonio Bay. These flashbacks are mostly told through the dreams of Maggie Grace’s character as she slowly begins to remember her past life as a leper, and the love she had for their leader.

While these flashbacks and new “love” story are interesting, fans of the old film will find themselves counting the differences in the two films and wondering why certain things were changed – such as the piece of driftwood that is found by Stevie Wayne’s son being changed to a hairbrush.

Blair lives up to the sexy image established by Adrienne Barbeau

People who have never seen the original film or who didn’t like the first one might enjoy this new take on the movie, and it really wouldn’t be that bad if it wasn’t a remake of what many consider a horror classic. The 1980 version of The Fog is the first horror film I ever watched as a kid with my parents, and I couldn’t help but feel this film lacked something and was just a slick remake.

The DVD comes loaded with the standard special features you would expect from this type of movie. They include feature commentary with director Rupert Wainwright (Stigmata); three “making of” features – Whiteout Conditions: Remaking a Horror Classic, Seeing Through The Fog: The Making of “The Fog,” and Feeling the Effects of The Fog: Special Effects Featurette; and deleted scenes – which expand a little on the back story and also feature all of the flashback scenes cut together.

In the making of special features, Wainwright and screenwriter Cooper Layne discuss why they wanted to remake what many consider a classic horror film, and how they felt the tweaks made to the story helped it be a better film. There are also discussions about how the computer-generated fog gave them the ability to make it a character in the film -which was something Carpenter was not able to do in the 1980 version.

With Hollywood being remake crazy and cranking out really bad new versions of classic films, The Fog manages to rise above some of what has come before it (such as House of Wax). However, it still falls short of the masterpiece that Carpenter’s version managed to become.

Welling and Grace discover there is a reason for the fog

The Fog is an entertaining “popcorn” horror film that captures some of the elements that made the original fun. I would recommend giving the film a chance and checking it out. You may enjoy it – even if you loved the original.

The Fog is available for pre-order at Amazon for a Jan. 24th release. As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD’s database for more information.