7.5 | / 10 |
Users | 4.1 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Strange things begin to occurs as a tiny California coastal town prepares to commemorate its centenary. Inanimate objects spring eerily to life; Rev. Malone (Hal Holbrook) stumbles upon a dark secret about the town's founding; radio announcer Stevie (Adrienne Barbeau) witnesses a mystical fire; and hitchhiker Elizabeth (Jamie Lee Curtis) discovers the mutilated corpse of a fisherman. Then a mysterious iridescent fog descends upon the village, and more people start to die.
Starring: Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh, John Houseman, Tom AtkinsHorror | 100% |
Thriller | 25% |
Supernatural | 21% |
Mystery | 15% |
Sci-Fi | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
John Carpenter relays an anecdote about what sparked his idea for The Fog in the commentary ported over from the previous DVD release included on this new Blu-ray release. Carpenter and producer Debra Hill recount having visited Stonehenge on a blustery day filled with the famous English mists, at which point Carpenter turned toward Hill and asked, “What if there were something in that fog?” Having just returned from a visit to Stonehenge myself, on a crystal clear blue day where the iconic monument was in fact overrun with so many different avian species I felt I had wandered into a traveling road show version of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, I have to assume that this only goes to show that while Stonehenge will invariably suggest the horror genre to different visitors, the particulars may well be dependent on that day’s weather. This is obviously said in jest, but it provides a nice insight into how a transitory moment of observation can be woven into such an unlikely film. Carpenter and Hill might have used that moment to craft a film of zombies emerging from the British mists and marauding through Salisbury Plain (hey, I need to patent that concept), but instead that seminal idea was fleshed out (no pun intended) to become a fun little ghost story that takes place not in England but on the similarly fog enshrouded coast of Northern California. The Fog combines the fanciful spark of inspiration of “killer fog” with some quasi-historical accounts of an intentionally scuttled ship and the after effects of the wreck on nearby inhabitants who arranged for its demise in order to plunder its gold. The Fog crept out in the wake of Carpenter’s overwhelming success with Halloween, and so expectations were perhaps unreachably high for the film. The Fog has not enjoyed quite the reputation that Halloween has, but looking back on it now from the vantage point of some 30-plus years, it holds up surprisingly well and delivers a number of significant chills along the way.
The Fog is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout! Factory imprint Scream Factory with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Cinematographer Dean Cundey supervised this new high definition transfer and the results are largely laudatory if one understands a few things about the original film and its look. The Fog was not luxuriously budgeted to begin with; as Debra Hill clearly states in her commentary, the film's principal photography was completed for less than $1 million, a paltry sum even in 1980, with an additional couple of hundred thousand added for reshoots after the first screenings didn't go very well. As Hill and Carpenter also discuss in their commentary, at least some of the film was shot under less than ideal circumstances, with natural (almost nonexistent) lighting sources and on the fly framings. Most importantly, many if not most of the special effects are opticals, a technique that in and of itself frequently adds dirt, grain and softness. Therefore, anyone expecting The Fog to offer a pristine, digitally pure, appearance are simply not being realistic. This new edition of The Fog features much better saturated color than previous versions (including the region free Blu-ray from a few years ago), and I personally noted no egregiously tweaked color grading that has stirred up a storm on some forums (including ours here at Blu-ray.com). Grain is completely intact, and in fact is rather overwhelming in some darker scenes, and there is also a minimal amount of damage to be seen in isolated moments. The inadequate lighting situations do result in some unavoidable loss of shadow detail and outright crush on more than one occasion, but these are endemic to the source and not a fault of the transfer. Overall, though, the image is reasonably sharp and well detailed and is certainly head and shoulders above previous versions on home video.
The Fog features a repurposed lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround mix as well as the original mono mix delivered via DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. The 5.1 mix is not overly aggressive and so prefers a lot of the charm of the original mix while subtly opening things up, especially with regard to Carpenter's synth drenched score and at times some of the spooky foley effects. Fidelity is strong, though a little boxy sounding at times (my hunch is swaths of this film were post- looped), Dynamic range is very wide.
The Fog has never quite attained the cultural cachet that Carpenter's Halloween has, but it's a very entertaining and often fairly spooky entry in Carpenter's filmography. There's an undeniably silly aspect to some of the scares, but the moral fiber of the film is where it derives some unexpected power from. This new Collector's Edition features excellent video and audio and comes jam packed with great supplements. Highly recommended.
Collector's Edition | Limited Edition to 10,000
1980
Collector's Edition
1980
1980
Limited Editon | Exclusive Limited Edition 7” Black And Blue Merge Vinyl+Poster
1980
Limited Editon | Exclusive Limited Edition 7” Half Blue/Half White with Black splatter
1980
Limited Editon | Exclusive Limited Edition 7” Black And Blue Merge Vinyl+Poster
1980
SteelBook + Collector's Edition | Includes 2 Posters + Enamel Pin Set + Blue Splatter 7" Vinyl + Adrienne Barbeau as "Stevie Wayne" NECA Action Figure
1980
2014
Collector's Edition
1987
2005
Limited Edition
1980
1977
1981
2018
2020
2014
2009
2002
1982
2010
Standard Edition
1981
Unrated
2007
2017
Collector's Edition
1978
2015
Uncut
2013
Special Edition | Includes The Little Shop of Horrors
1963