The Fog (1980)

In a small village of Antonio Bay mysterious events starts to unfold. Car horns and alarms go off and other mechanical devices starts to activate by themselves.

A radio disc jockey named Stevie Wayne (Adrienne Barbeau) who works at a lighthouse announces the weather as well as warning that there will be some fog.
A group of fishermen don't see any fog but then suddenly it appears glowing and then kills them.
Also a man driving along the road named Nick Castle (Tom Atkins) picks up a beautiful hitchhiker named Elizabeth Solley (Jamie Lee Curtis) and things seem to go wrong since he picked her up. They also discover the corpses of the fishermen.

Then the terror begins as the glowing fog starts to hover in the small town killing off locals there.
The killers in the glowing fog are dead pirates looking for their lost treasure and won't stop killing till they get it.

An eerie plot by the makers of Halloween.
It looks very suspenseful at a quiet town thinking nothing terrible will happen but it eventually does.
The fog horn even sounds scary as well as the banging caused by the dead pirates.
Guaranteed to frighten you even for a movie of it's time I challenge you to check this film out as I can guarantee you all that you'll love every bit of it.

The acting is still exceptionally good for a film of it's time.
This was very much like a Halloween reunion as we have Jamie Lee Curtis, Nancy Loomis and Charles Cyphers from the first flick togther again as well as Tom Atkins from Part 3 and Jamie's mother Janet Leigh from Halloween: H20.
All of them are terrific in their roles playing totally different characters than from the Halloween flicks.
Adrienne Barbeau is the best out of all playing the single mother who works as a DJ. Her emotions are terrific when she is crying for her son to get out of the house on the radio when she sees the glowing fog heading towards her house.
Jamie Lee Curtis is splendid as a traveller knowing her character very well and of course knew how to act scared like she did in her other horror films.
Tom Atkins was another one who does well in the film proving to be a good character actor.
Nancy Loomis plays a less arrogant character too than her role as Annie in Halloween and it was a real treat seeing her in this.
Charles Cyphers really stood out with his part as a bubbly type who had a perfect charm to his role.

There are gruesome looking zombie pirates as well as some slit throats and a corpse.

John Carpenter was more on this at making a creepy film than in Halloween but the film in general isn't as good. Just better frights.
He has great scenes of the small town and the deadly looking fog.
He shows an impressive beginning with supporting actor John Houseman telling some children a ghost story.
There's perfect scene's on the sleepy town at night with gas stations activiating as well as car horns blowing automatically.
There's a good look at a wrecked up pirate ship sailing by in the deadly fog next to a fishing boat as well as a perfect shot on supporting actor George Buck Flower with a wide eyed open mouthed looked while he is about to be slayed.
He also had terrific chemistry directing Jamie Lee Curtis and Tom Atkins' scenes together as it looked naturally romantic.
Also a great look at the fog entering houses and the ghouls banging on the doors.
A good look at a board going on fire and Adrienne Barbeau panicking and trying to put it out.
She does well by phoning her son and firmly telling him not to find anything else he spots on the beach.
A good dialogue between Curtis and Atkins in the abandoned fisherman's boat and then a corpse pops out of the door behind her as she is great screaming in terror.
We spot another suspenseful moment with the camera coming towards Curtis with a with a hand holding a dissecting knife.
Barbeau and Charles Cyphers do well with a phone dialogue and a good background shot involving Cyphers with fog breezing at the window and is going to look at it as Barbeau calls for him on the phone to get him to stay put showing great concerns with her voice.
Barbeau is great on her radio microphone panicking in terror to try and get her son rescued from the fog.
A perfect dark setting between child actor Ty Mitchell and supporting actress Regina Waldron while spotting the glowing fog and showing a scared look on their faces after hearing a loud knock on the door as she tells him to go to his room.
We have good struggling moments with Curtis and Atkins trying to rescue Mitchell in his house as well as trying to drive away which keeps you glued.
A good shot on the fog rolling into a village as well as a telephone pole with fog blowing up to it
There's perfect terrorising in a church with the ghosts invading and trying to kill as well as Barbeau on the top of the radio lighthouse roof trying to escape from these ghosts which is terrorising as well wondering if she will fall off.
There was a great moment at directing Hal Holbrook as a preacher when he is holding a golden object with a great dark shot on Ric Moreno, Lee Socks and Tommy Lee Wallace (Whom was noted as a director) standing there as ghosts.
Carpenter is the man!

Carpenter also composed the music for this as it's very different than Halloween (But there are some similar elements).
His piano and synthesizer playing gives the flick the perfect touch. The soundtrack of his music is still available on CD.

Mr. Machen: 11:55, almost midnight. Enough time for one more story. One more story before 12:00, just to keep us warm. In five minutes, it will be the 21st of April. One hundred years ago on the 21st of April, out in the waters around Spivey Point, a small clipper ship drew toward land. Suddenly, out of the night, the fog rolled in. For a moment, they could see nothing, not a foot in front of them. Then, they saw a light. By God, it was a fire burning on the shore, strong enough to penetrate the swirling mist. They steered a course toward the light. But it was a campfire, like this one. The ship crashed against the rocks, the hull sheared in two, mars snapped like a twig. The wreckage sank, with all the men aboard. At the bottom of the sea, lay the Elizabeth Dane, with her crew, their lungs filled with salt water, their eyes open, staring to the darkness. And above, as suddenly as it come, the fog lifted, receded back across the ocean and never came again. But it is told by the fishermen, and their fathers and grandfathers, that when the fog returns to Antonio Bay, the men at the bottom of the sea, out in the water by Spivey Point will rise up and search for the campfire that led them to their dark, icy death.
[bells ring distantly]
Mr. Machen: 12:00, the 21st of April.

[Bennett has finished working at the church]
Bennett: Well, I'm finished.
Father Malone: Good, can you come in tomorrow at five?
Bennett: Father, can I get paid?
Father Malone: Ah... why don't you come in at six tomorrow instead of five.

[Referring to Stevie Wayne's voice on the radio]
Al Williams: Boy, would I like to meet her.
Dick Baxter: I saw her in the supermarket once.
Al Williams: Yeah?
Dick Baxter: You WOULD like to meet her.

Tommy Wallace: There's no fog bank out there.
[after a moment, fog begins to appear]
Tommy Wallace: Hey, there's a fog bank out there.
Al Williams: All right, I'm drunk enough. Let's go back.

Elizabeth Solley: Listen, I never hitchhiked before. I just really want to be careful. Can I ask you something?
Nick Castle: Sure
Elizabeth Solley: Are you weird?
Nick Castle: Yes, I am. Yes, I am weird.
Elizabeth Solley: You are weird. Thank God you're weird. The last one was so normal, it was disgusting.

Kathy Williams: Sandy, you're the only person I know who can make "Yes, Ma'am" sound like "screw you".
Sandy Fadel: Yes, Ma'am.

Kathy Williams: Are you going to give the benediction tonight, father?
Father Malone: Antonio bay has a curse on it.
Sandy Fadel: Do we take that as a "no"?

[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.

Stevie Wayne: Well, my gauges must be wrong. I've got a wind blowing due east. Now what kind of a fog blows against the wind?
Dan O'Bannon: You got me.
Stevie Wayne: I'm not so sure I want you.

Father Malone: Why not six, Blake? Why not me?

[a tape recording of K-A-B promos has just slowed down]
Blake's Voice: Something like an albatross around the neck. No. More like a millstone. A plumbing stone. By God. Damn them all.

[Nick and Elizabeth are on board The Sea Grass]
Nick Castle: I don't believe in luck, good or bad. I don't believe in anything much. Something did happen once. My father was a fisherman. He ran a trawler out of Whitley Reef. One night, late, he was coming back in. He was out beyond the reef, out near Spivey Point. He looked to windward and saw a brig under shortsail, heading right for him. And he radioed, there was no reply. Nothing moved on deck, but she held her course. My dad and two of his hands, they boarded the brig, the Risa Jane. No one was on board. There was food on the table, and a hot, steaming cup of coffee. But underneath, the tin cup was rusted to the table. And then something caught my father's eye. It was a gold dubloon, minted in Spain, 1867. My dad picked up the coin, put it in his breast pocket of his jacket, and zippered it up. He came home, told us the story, and he unzippered the pocket to give me the coin. It was gone.
[a locker door opens, spilling charts]
Elizabeth Solley: I think I'll go to Vancouver now.

[Dr. Phibes has just examined the body of Dick Baxter]
Dr. Phibes: What the hell happened out there?
Nick Castle: There was rust all over everything. It was like the boat had been out there a long time, taking on water. He was down below, near the bunks.
Dr. Phibes: Nick, his wounds are covered with algae, his lungs are full, and there's silt in his fingernails. I tell ya, I saw Dick Baxter three days ago in Salinas. Now he's lying there on the table looking like he's been underwater for a month.

[Dr. Phibes is recording his examination of Dick Baxter's body]
Dr. Phibes: Evidence of deep penetrating wounds into each ocular orbit, entering into the cranial cavity. Also jagged lacerations to the face. The right area of his throat has been crushed. Thorax has been crushed and the lungs are filled with fluid.

Nick Castle: Do you feel that?
Dr. Phibes: I'll tell you what happened...
Nick Castle: It just got cold in here.

Dr. Phibes: You see the water acts like ice. A whole body would take a year to decompose, longer if it was down far enough, cold enough.
Nick Castle: But he was on the boat. He was below decks.
Dr. Phibes: No. Dick Baxter died in the ocean. Remember last October those three kids that went diving for that old boat off the point. We got to 'em, they'd been down a week, maybe ten days. I swear to you right now, he's been down longer.

Stevie Wayne: [speaking into phone] Dan, where's the fog now?
Dan O'Bannon: It should be right outside my front door now.

Stevie Wayne: [speaking hysterically over radio] There's something in the fog!

Stevie Wayne: I don't know what happened to Antonio Bay tonight. Something came out of the fog and tried to destroy us. In one moment, it vanished. But if this has been anything but a nightmare, and if we don't wake up to find ourselves safe in our beds, it could come again. To the ships at sea who can hear my voice, look across the water, into the darkness. Look for the fog.