The Fog

Director: John Carpenter, John Carpenter

1980 / 89min / DCP

John Carpenter’s first post-Halloween venture into the H.P. Lovecraft-inspired, apocalyptic vein that he would continue to mine in films like The Thing and Prince of Darkness, The Fog depicts the seaside California town of Antonio Bay in the grips of an ancient curse and a creeping mist. Drenched in malevolent atmosphere and packing an ensemble cast that includes Adrienne Barbeau, Tom Atkins, and the mother-daughter duo of Janet Leigh and Jamie Lee Curtis, this is Carpenter at his ingenious, chilling best, servicing a contemporary taste for gore while simultaneously evoking the spirit of Val Lewton, Breathtaking color cinematography by Dean Cundey deftly captures both the daylight beauty of the Point Reyes shore and the ghostly goings-on after dark. Studiocanal's 4K restoration was made from the original camera negative, with color grading approved by the film's cinematographer, Dean Cundey.