The Fog (1980)

Directed by John Carpenter. Starring Adrienne Barbeau, Tom Atkins, Jamie Lee Curtis, Hal Holbrook, Charles Cyphers, Janet Leigh, Nancy Loomis, James Canning, Ty Mitchell, Regina Waldon. [R]

The denizens of a small coastal California town are terrorized by the ghostly revenants of seafarers who died in a shipwreck a hundred years prior. Well-produced horror pic with a good musical score from the director, but the results are often middling thanks to the flawed, shopworn storytelling and a disposable batch of characters. The spooky supernatural atmosphere is consistently undermined by routine slasher shocks and violence. Film buffs are likely to appreciate several character names. In an amusing bit of casting, Atkins—who shares most of his scenes with Curtis (as a hitchhiker he picks up and takes to bed)—would go on to briefly take over the Halloween franchise from the same actress in part three. Remade in 2005. The leader of the vengeful spirits is played by makeup effect guru Rob Bottin; Carpenter and John Houseman make cameo appearances.

55/100