The Fog Review - Off The Shelf Reviews 

Have to disagree with you on this film. ‘ The Fog ‘ is one of my favourite films ever. Absolutely brilliant. The first time I watched it, I was scared shitless!!

I find the Fog to be one of Carpenter's most elegant, minimalistic and atmospheric horror movies. Hands down. This is one of the best examples of engaging storytelling.

The shots in the final scene in the chapel with Blake and the priest are fantastic. Blake is iconic.

One of my favourite John Carpenter films

When I attended middle school back in the early 1980s in Yorkshire, UK an English teacher ran movie nights every Wednesday. Unbelievably he had convinced the school to buy a 35mm cinema projector and would actually hire proper film prints. Movies were shown in the school hall and it was always packed with about 300 excitable kids. That said, he seemed a bit vague on what should and shouldn't be shown to children of our ages which is why, at 11 years old, I saw The Fog on the big screen - my first horror/supernatural film experience. It scared the life out of me and I don't think I slept right for a week afterward. Numerous complaints and concerns from parents flooded the school the day after it was shown as children across Mirfield (the town where I lived) were left traumatised by the experience. So, as a result, the film has always stayed with me and I think even to this day it has my all-time favourite movie ending. Decades later I visited the area North of San Francisco where a lot of the exteriors were shot - the lighthouse, some of the town, the beach, etc. It genuinely feels quite eerie there, mostly due to the wind that whistles across the landscape from the Pacific ocean. I actually found a piece of driftwood on the beach and brought it home with me a souvenir. I'm not sure if that was the best idea.

Adrienne Barbeau was hardly a “first time actress” when she appeared in THE FOG. From 1972 till 1978, she was the third featured player in the network TV show, MAUDE and (with the exception of John Houseman) was probably the most recognizable person in the cast.

I first saw this film on TV as a kid, it was a foggy night, fog horns sounding across from the harbour. Quite an experience.

13:05 The ghosts appearing on the desk is one of the greatest, spookiest shots ever.

I'm 45 years old. I saw this movie for the first time when I was 9. I remember realizing all of the music was made by a 'machine' ... and I had nightmares for years that I running away from the fog ! I love this fucking movie way more than Ghosts of Mars ! (Sorry Gary !)

The Fog is not scary to me but nonetheless remains among my top 5 favorite John Carpenter films. Beautifully atmospheric and that soundtrack is itself a classic. My favorite will always be In the Mouth of Madness !

These guys are great reviewers. Always enjoy their stuff.

Your editing keeps getting better! Very cool and in depth review as always! As for the movie... Carpenter has always been a master in creating desolate, creepy scenes with minimal resources but maximum scare unlike the remake which isn't probably even worth mentioning!!!

Yesterday i was scrolling through your videos and saying "There is no review of The Fog.I wish they do it" Today i look at my recommendations "Whoop there it is"

The Fog had awesome cover art

I remember watching this at the drive-in movie theater back in 1980. For some reason I'm always reminded of "When a Stranger Calls" from 1979. Perhaps they were showing a double feature of the two on the big screen. Anyway, cheers.

This is a great film! I love most of John Carpenter's work (not all though, by God!), and when you look at his first 5 proper studio movies you can see what a groundbreaking and visionary film maker he was; Assault on Precinct 13; Halloween; The Fog; Escape From New York, and The Thing. No-one in cinematic history has had a run like that - especially at the beginning. It's just a shame he didn't make one last big effort and direct Halloween 2018. It would have been a fitting finale for him to make the best ever sequel to his most famous ever film.

Jamie Lee Curtis always plays a woman unaware of her sensuality . Adrienne Barbeau always seems aware yet unimpressed with it .

Adrian Barbeau was packing some serious heat lol.

Great work guys. This movie scared the heck out of me when I saw it aged 12.

How about looking at "Someone's Watching Me!" and "Memoirs of an Invisible Man"? The former is a TV movie Carpenter made before working on "Halloween" and it's bit of an overlooked and forgotten film. The same could be said for Memoirs despite having Chevy Chase as the lead character.

Carpenter's weakest film??? Gary, how dare you!

I know how Tom Atkins got Jamie Lee Curtis into his bed, she was just like ''Well, where do you wanna sleep mister Atkins?'' and he was like ''That's a dumb question Miss Curtis'' i know his moves, i've seen halloween 3!

they live , prince of darkness & Assault on Precinct 13 all worth a watch as well :)

One of my all-time favorites!

one of my favorites,, thanks for these reviews. you two are awesome.

I would say the six original conspirators probably were: The priest The lighthouse keeper A fishing company magnate and employees (3 on the boat) Mrs Kobritz could have been the daughter of the original mayor The weatherman’s grandfather could have been a town elder

I do love The Fog (1980). But honestly the real reason I visit it each year is Adrienne Barbeau. That body (I only wish I had x-ray vision) and her voice. She had the perfect voice for radio. And it enhances her beauty! John Carpenter was a lucky dog!

Weakest film?!? It’s almost my fav honestly.

Another great review guys! On the way to 10K :)

fucking love this channel since subbing the other day. Been binge watching the lot!

I can understand why some people wouldn't like this movie, it does have some flaws. I personally love it, it's one of my favorite ghost stories ever. The story, characters who are likable despite us not getting to know some of them that well, the cool effects, the hauntingly beautiful score, the setting of a quaint town with this unmistakable feeling of foreboding and dread hanging above due to the impending danger, and yes, that lighthouse is so damn cool and I'd so want to own one myself. This one's definitely a favorite, and your review was great.

One of those horror movies I saw as a kid and it scared the hell out of me. Especially the end scene.

Can you review Ghost Story from 1981, it also has John Houseman, the sea captain telling the campfire story in it!

By the way : I found you guys 6 months ago and watch every video !

Dude on the left is high. The Fog is great. Easily in his top 5.

The job was incredible, such amazing atmosphere and tension. Love it

This is one of his better films! Ghost of mars are you kidding me? The worst movie he ever made! As far a Jamie sleeping with the guy who picks her up that’s how it was in the 70s this movie is one of the best ghost stories ever

Debra Hill at 19:26 in the background.

The Fog is one of my all-time Carpenter favorites! Moody, atmospheric, ADRIENNE BARBEAU!!!! She has never been so lovely! WelI....not true. She will always be beautiful and wonderful for me! I love love love this film!

that random shot of the dining room table and chairs on the beach was creeping

Atmospheric movie to say the least. Its right up there with Halloween for me.

What a coincidence that I just bought the movie today

That being said... great conversation about a fantastic 80’s film. I think knowing things about the production, about him not being happy with it at times. The reshoots. I think it taints a persons ability to embrace it and fully love it. I fell in love with the film before knowing any of that. And now I relish in the details, the making of documentary. The locations. Its all just so fkn great. Awesome episode.

Agree to disagree this is my favorite carpenter film

This film features his most atmospheric musical compositions, hands down, and I think the cult membership requires you to have seen it on TV in the early eighties as a kid, which I did.

Love doing a recap of these reviews.

3 years later watching this and a ghost of mars review would be excellent

Welling was actually STILL filming Smallville during the remake. He was driving from one set to another. Dude's gone on record saying, along with others, that he stretched himself so thin he was worried he'd end up in a crash from driving exhausted. It led to him getting a driver. Also, the best part of the remake is how the guy on the boat survived the fog.

Adrienne Barbeau wasn't a new actor in this film. She had been on the tv series Maude for years.

You guys should do John Carpenters "Body bags"

One of my faves, in fact my son's middle name is Blake after the undead pirate

Nice Halloween shirt sir!

John Houseman, RIP

I'd love for you guys to review another Carpenter cult classic, 'They Live'. Would love to know what you two think of that one!

Very solid old school ghost horror. 7.5/10

7:09 BRILLIANT :D Never have noticed that before!

Who wouldn't want to get with Adrienne Barbeau, she has always been gorgeous!

Was "lucky" enough to watch this when I was about 11 years old.. and was scared shitless 🤣🤣I sort of miss that feeling while watching a movie.

Man this movie crushes hard and blows the damn water out!

I really like these guys but putting ghosts of mars over this is crazy lol. I think the fog is incredible.

Just watched this for the first time since i was a kid basically. Love watching a classic then watching your review on it. Not my favourite Carpenter film. That's the thing then they live but I'd actually kinda forgotten about this.

This is one of my fav movies of all time. My 2nd fav john carpenter movie after the Thing (82). I effing love this movie. I like this waaaaay more than Halloween. YEAH I SAID IT!!!!!!!

I would presume that the hundred people or so who were at the centenary party either got home or stayed in the bar until the fog lifted!! Maybe!!

Could you do The Outsiders or Willow or at least consider it? You two remind me of my friends I used to kick it with when I was a teenager and we use to ditch school occasionally and go to one of our houses and get high and watch older B rated horror and riff on them even though we really were fans of them for most of the reasons you two are. Thanks for all that you guys do, I really dig your work and how much thought, insight, and effort you put into it, by far the best in your field hands down.

I was just 20 when this came out. The only other scary movie I had seen was The Exorcist and I loved this movie. The remake doesn't even touch John Carpenters movie!!! I have a copy of it on vhs and DVD. I'll never get tired of it!!

Great review guys. Could you please review They Live?

I personally love this film! One of the scariest movies from my childhood! I think the problem for most people is that this movie wasn't gory enough! Just when you think theres gonna be some kinda scary gory scene it just ends up being a fog with outlines of what appear to be angry human beings in really tattered clothes moving as slow as zombies lol. It's like having sex with a really gorgeous women but never climaxing 😂🤣 it's still great and still pretty satisfying but it just could've been a little better. That's my take on the fog

The Fog and Assault On Precinct 13 are two of my favourite creepy movies. And they ARE creepy. I remember seeing this in a cinema and being chilled. THEN - a few days later some friends and I were walking home very late, next to a foggy cemetery and... YIKES! I love films that let YOU think of what's out there, lurking... Too awesome. One of my favourites. And c'mon... TOM ATKINS and ADRIENNE BARBEAU... The remake... I can't say anything nice, so I won't say anything LOL

Good review. Not one of my favorite Carpenter films, but without a doubt, it is very good horror film.

To this day one of my favourite horror movies - scared the bejeezus out of me when I was a kid in the 80s and the minimalistic soundtrack has *so* influenced my own music... :D

I feel like The Fog is only truly scary to people who can feel a movie. There's different ways of watching movies, it's about different components. There's the ambience, the music, the plot and the visuals. If you watch a movie and you're not able to combine those components and experience them all together, you don't get to really feel a movie the way it's supposed to be felt.

Recommend First Blood , Black Christmas, LA Confidential, Swamp Thing, Point Break, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah and Out of Africa.

It doesn't say Only 6 must die, that being said great review

A great low budget thriller. One of my favorite John Carpenter's movie

This is my favourite John Carpenter film, 2nd being They Live 3rd Assault on Precinct 13

Just wondering have you guys ever seen "Assault on Precinct 13"? Probably the first John Carpenter film I ever saw, although I didn't know it was John Carpenter at the time, just this movie I caught on cable one night that was so intense I couldn't stop watching. Just saying if you haven't seen it, yo're missing a treat. It's two years before he was to do Halloween, but you can already tell that this was a director to watch out for and I easily rank Assault on Precinct 13 among some of his best work.

Excellent review of a nice classic! And I agree with Iain...you should review the remake one day to show the audience how bad it is compared to the original! ;)

This is my go too film to help my sleep

My third favourite Carpenter film after Halloween and The Thing, this film was 'almost great'. I get the feeling watching it that, had they only spent a little longer on the script they could have made it as good as either of those filims because it did manage to spook the shit out of me. i feel like they were onto something that wasn't consistently realised leading to people ripping the film's logic apart in later years in a way you can't rip Halloween and The Thing apart.

Some of the music soundtrack slightly reminds me of the Exorcist type music.

It didn't scare me even as a kid, but I still like the movie. It had a lot of potential.

Its Miller time -- Tom Adkins 🤗

fuck the remake this is the best version of the fog

I’m going to join the minority(?) but I do think that the modern remake of “The Fog” had great potential that was badly handled - basically, “good idea, bad execution”. I actually love the idea of making Elizabeth Williams both a descendant of one of the killers of the people on the Elizabeth Dane ship as well as a physical doppelgänger of Elizabeth Blake, wife of William Blake. Unfortunately, they put in way too many flashbacks and jump scares and aside from the subpar CGI, I like that the ghosts are not limited to using giant fish hooks and swords and actually use multiple means to take out their revenge but as others have pointed out, the bad CGI, the badly constructed overall plot, the subplots that go nowhere, bad acting, etc is what mars the potential it has. Likewise, the original does have problems with it also. I think the red eyes effect with Blake is unnecessary, and the bit with Jamie Lee Curtis is redundant, etc. What I wish had happened is they sort of combine the two films plots but with good acting and good practical effects with limited but good CGI effects and I wish they better tied in the modern cases of leprosy with Elizabeth and the spirits. Another idea they could have done was they could have made Elizabeth Williams the actual descendant of Blake and yet she is the adopted daughter of one of the killers - basically her mother was pregnant with Blake’s child and as her husband was dead, she took the offer of one of the killers and the killer thought Blake’s daughter was his own (but she wasn’t) and now, in the modern day, the only one who can stop this is Elizabeth as she finds out that she’s neither a reincarnation (which was a horrible idea) and neither is she a descendant of one the killers but that she is actually the descendant from Blake himself and she has to be the one to stand up to Blake and negotiate for the peace of the town once and for all, especially if she tries to protect one of the citizens who have leprosy from one of the vengeful spirits and that stops Blake and the crew. Sadly, they didn’t go with any of those potential ideas at all. I will say the score for the original “The Fog” is superior and quite haunting and somber. I don’t think, though, either the original or modern films are the worst I have seen - not even close. Both have substance but both could have been handled better. If there is two things to take from all of this - the soundtrack is great and worth getting and the basic idea/story of murdered spirits demanding revenge for their murders and that perhaps the only way to stop them is a descendant of Blake protecting modern lepers is the only way to appease Blake and the other spirits and let their souls pass on and perhaps make a statue in honour of the victims of the Elizabeth Dane. So yeah, I do recommend both with those in mind.

Watched this last night for the second time ever, probably been about 15 years from I watched it when I was 10. Its a great film, very atmospheric, creepy, the score is amazing and the premise is fantastic but it struck me; there's no real main character. Adrienne Barbeau I suppose you could say is supposed to be the main character, but Jamie Lee and Tom Atkins get just as much screen time, and as you guys said, her character is basically void. Very weird lol

Please review 1983 Bad Boys!

The biggest question is .... what is a stomach pounder ??

oh I watched the remake of this the other day on Netflix.. makes more sense now.

The Ward was good.

Hey There's a fog bank out there.

so when's the remake review lads! you'll both suffer beautifully 😅

I cannot understand the hate. I really love this movie.

I was disappointed the first time I saw this, but I have grown to appreciate The Fog.

Not Carpenter's best but certainly his best zombie/ghost/slasher film

Oh, so great that you've gone back and done this classic. When I was in California I actually visited the shooting locations. How dare you Waingrow! The Fog is a million times better than Ghosts of Mars, even with Natasha Heinstridge in her tight black PVC catsuit.......mmmmm...... and I'm back. Love this movie, as you state mentioning the trainwreck of the remake this isn't just a bunch of dumb teenagers waiting to be slaughtered, much like The Thing this is a bunch of very capable, believable characters slowly coming together and figuring it out in a situation beyond their comprehension. It's a great example of a reasonably low budget classic (it actually made 20 times its' budget back in the US alone). Personally I figure the ghosts would have kept killing until they got the gold, when they did they were happy with just the 6 deaths. And I always thought that Elizabeth was really Laurie Strode, the way she won't talk about her past yet observes that weird things are always happening to her and that she attracts them? Why don't you practice what you preach? Go back and go through all the John Carpenter films from scratch? And don't forget Assault on Precinct 13, it came after Dark Star and before Halloween. I mean you sat through all those Hellraiser and Halloween sequels, I'd have thought this would be a pleasure in comparison?

As I understand it, the premise of The Fog is partially based on the actual history of Goleta, CA.

✌😎👍 Carpenter all the way.

see sheriff again at bar

Gotta say I always found it funny that John carpenter said this is the worst movie he ever made and that ghosts of mars was one of his favourites

RIP Hal Holbrook. 😔😔😔