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Post by cryptoflovecraft on Feb 3, 2018 0:10:32 GMT
Love it. It's one of my favorite horror films.
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Post by anthonyrocks on Feb 3, 2018 13:56:27 GMT
Love it. It's one of my favorite horror films. Agreed! |
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Post by moviemouth on Feb 3, 2018 18:43:54 GMT
Interesting idea but poorly executed imo. One of Carpenter's worst films. It does have some nice visual moments and a good score though. I will admit that the first 15 minutes are pretty creepy. funny that once the ghosts actually come into the movie is when it starts not being creepy anymore.
5.5/10
It's a masterpiece compared the remake though.
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Post by moviemouth on Feb 3, 2018 18:54:23 GMT
… Hal Holbrook is well cast also. You really think so, huh? Not to denigrate your opinion, but I’ve always felt that Holbrook is more or less just phoning it in. The Fog is a movie that I really want to like, a movie for which, every time I start watching it, I think, This is gonna be the time. I’m going to like it this time—and I always come out of it disappointed. The opening is marvellous, and mystical, and even atavistic—it recalls primal notions of night and fog, and what we don’t see in the shadows. For all of his minute or two of screen time, Houseman is the perfect fit for this: “gather around me, lads, and I’ll tell a tale that will chill your blood…” In a way, it’s kinda similar to the beginning of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean ride: to quote what a blogger wrote about that ride, as Houseman weaves his tale, “…we sense rather than are told that the layers of reality are being stripped away.” By the time he’s finished, we are full-believers, thoroughly in the story’s thrall. And the rest of the movie never matches that. Nope. In the climax, Carpenter even commits the unforgivable sin of showing us the goddam monster! At least in Halloween the tone is consistent throughout; here, we are given a superbly-told Jamesian ghost story, only for it to turn into a special-effects show by the end of the picture. Too, none of the characters gets much screen time, as we’re constantly cutting between them, and I simply can’t feel for these people as I can for Laurie and her friends. The “twist” comes out of nowhere. Adrienne Barbeau, who’s great (the image of her alone in the lighthouse is the best in the movie after the opening), has a wonderful Hawksian name (“Stevie Wayne”) but never becomes a true Hawksian woman because she’s given no opportunity to do so. The plot goes nowhere; plot-points are raised, characters glimpsed (what does Janet Leigh have to do with anything again?), and what we have is a slasher flick (and, unlike Halloween or Scream, not a particularly accomplished one) masquerading as a ghost story. The eternal problem is that a director of scary movies has to decide whether he is going to do a horror picture (horror, shocks, scares) or a ghost picture (terror, ominous dread, atmosphere above all else). At brief, punctuated moments, it’s possible to combine the two: Mrs. Markway at the trapdoor in The Haunting, for example. But only at brief punctuations, or else we’re left with neither kind of picture but rather a big, ugly mess ( vide the remake of The Haunting or the 2003 Haunted Mansion). I wish—I wish!—I could like The Fog, in view of that brilliant opening. But, unfortunately, I just don’t think it’s a good movie. I agree with all of this. My opinion is very similar to yours in this case.
The Fog is fantastic compared to The Haunted Mansion though, which is one of the worst movies I have ever seen.
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Post by vegalyra on Feb 4, 2018 2:27:49 GMT
… Hal Holbrook is well cast also. You really think so, huh? Not to denigrate your opinion, but I’ve always felt that Holbrook is more or less just phoning it in. The Fog is a movie that I really want to like, a movie for which, every time I start watching it, I think, This is gonna be the time. I’m going to like it this time—and I always come out of it disappointed. The opening is marvellous, and mystical, and even atavistic—it recalls primal notions of night and fog, and what we don’t see in the shadows. For all of his minute or two of screen time, Houseman is the perfect fit for this: “gather around me, lads, and I’ll tell a tale that will chill your blood…” In a way, it’s kinda similar to the beginning of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean ride: to quote what a blogger wrote about that ride, as Houseman weaves his tale, “…we sense rather than are told that the layers of reality are being stripped away.” By the time he’s finished, we are full-believers, thoroughly in the story’s thrall. And the rest of the movie never matches that. Nope. In the climax, Carpenter even commits the unforgivable sin of showing us the goddam monster! At least in Halloween the tone is consistent throughout; here, we are given a superbly-told Jamesian ghost story, only for it to turn into a special-effects show by the end of the picture. Too, none of the characters gets much screen time, as we’re constantly cutting between them, and I simply can’t feel for these people as I can for Laurie and her friends. The “twist” comes out of nowhere. Adrienne Barbeau, who’s great (the image of her alone in the lighthouse is the best in the movie after the opening), has a wonderful Hawksian name (“Stevie Wayne”) but never becomes a true Hawksian woman because she’s given no opportunity to do so. The plot goes nowhere; plot-points are raised, characters glimpsed (what does Janet Leigh have to do with anything again?), and what we have is a slasher flick (and, unlike Halloween or Scream, not a particularly accomplished one) masquerading as a ghost story. The eternal problem is that a director of scary movies has to decide whether he is going to do a horror picture (horror, shocks, scares) or a ghost picture (terror, ominous dread, atmosphere above all else). At brief, punctuated moments, it’s possible to combine the two: Mrs. Markway at the trapdoor in The Haunting, for example. But only at brief punctuations, or else we’re left with neither kind of picture but rather a big, ugly mess ( vide the remake of The Haunting or the 2003 Haunted Mansion). I wish—I wish!—I could like The Fog, in view of that brilliant opening. But, unfortunately, I just don’t think it’s a good movie. Just to comment on Holbrook, I've loved just about everything the man has been in, and might have a little bias when it comes to his roles. I thought he did a stand up job in the film. But others might have a more objective eye than I do when it comes to Mr. Holbrook...  I suppose regarding your other points I definitely can see your point of view. I honestly believe though it feels quite like a late 19th century "horror" story like something Algernon Blackwood would have written. |
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Post by anthonyrocks on Feb 4, 2018 20:32:57 GMT
I actually thought that Hal Holbrook was Fantastic in it!
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Post by anthonyrocks on Feb 5, 2018 13:50:11 GMT
What about everybody else here ?
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plasma
Sophomore
@plasma
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Post by plasma on Feb 6, 2018 2:30:29 GMT
Wonderfully atmospheric film. The ghost pirates are like something out of Scooby Doo though, and the film is kinda plotless at points, but other then that, it really works. One of Carpenter's more underappreciated films.
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Post by Nalkarj on Feb 6, 2018 18:53:16 GMT
Just to comment on Holbrook, I've loved just about everything the man has been in, and might have a little bias when it comes to his roles. I thought he did a stand up job in the film. But others might have a more objective eye than I do when it comes to Mr. Holbrook... I suppose regarding your other points I definitely can see your point of view. I honestly believe though it feels quite like a late 19th century "horror" story like something Algernon Blackwood would have written. Oh, I understand just liking an actor… I’m kinda that way with Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly. I just like them both so much that—well, I can’t help liking them. Anyhoo, thanks for the kind words. I suppose my problem is that I am a fan of the M.R. James-Algernon Blackwood school of ghostly tale (I believe Houseman’s character is even named after Arthur Machen), and I just feel that the rest of the movie doesn’t live up to that kind of story, which is promised in the opening. The tonal whiplash kinda ruins it for me, along with those elements I cited before. But, as I said, I really, really want to like The Fog. |
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Post by Nalkarj on Feb 6, 2018 19:00:04 GMT
I agree with all of this. My opinion is very similar to yours in this case.
The Fog is fantastic compared to The Haunted Mansion though, which is one of the worst movies I have ever seen.
Thanks. I agree that The Fog is superior to The Haunted Mansion, but that latter movie has a few good elements: the set-design, Terence Stamp, the credits sequence, and (perhaps above all) the lovely Marsha Thomason. In fact, digressing from Miss Thomason for a minute (woe!), The Haunted Mansion’s credit sequence, which is gorgeously filmed (all those bright reds, that haunting melody, those callbacks to Tim Burton, that Phantom-esque ball—all of it) is its own version of The Fog’s opening: a false promise. Indeed, I find that montage remarkable, so of course it’s over in a matter of seconds. Then we get Eddie Murphy, whom I like but who doesn’t belong in this haunted mansion any more than Jerry Lewis does. Pfui. |
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I suppose regarding your other points I definitely can see your point of view. I honestly believe though it feels quite like a late 19th century "horror" story like something Algernon Blackwood would have written. 