The Fog

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I always have loved British humor, having grown up with the likes of Monty Python and Benny Hill, and have only recently discovered that their horror is wonderful as well. I guess it was bound to happen. James Herbert was perhaps the best known modern British horror authors, and I can see why! Wilson, Mike (July 4, 2022). "Scream Factory Announces 4K UHD Editions for 'The Fog', 'Army of Darkness' and 2013's 'Evil Dead' Remake!". Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on January 2, 2023.

James Herbert was Britain's number one bestselling writer (a position he held ever since publication of his first novel) and one of the world's top writers of thriller/horror fiction. Almost Lethal Weapons / Plot Armor: The fog drives everyone exposed to it permanently insane, except for the protagonist who was the first one to be exposed to it, and this for some reason conferred lifelong immunity to it after suffering its effects for about a week. He spends the rest of the novel being only one of two people (the other being Casey when she's also cured) who can get close to the fog without succumbing.By the time he died last year he was a mainstream success, but his two earliest books are nasty, mean, angry pieces of anti-establishment sleaze torn straight out of his id, redeemed by Herbert’s complete conviction to Go There. That conviction is what keeps these two books in your hands long after you might otherwise throw them across the room. Read Herbert and you’re like a baby gripping a 10,000 volt cable, hands smoking, unable to tear them away even as your brain turns to cinders. THE FOG first shows its ugly face in a small peaceful village in England with two lovely children entering and happily exiting a candy store with their booty when the ground begins to rumble. Enter John Holman returning from a secret assignment for the Department of Environment who happens to turn up at just the wrong moment when the earth opens up....swallows those near..and emits its dense, yellow tinged, smelly life altering mist. Meanwhile, a strange, glowing fog envelops a fishermen's trawler. The fog brings with it the Elizabeth Dane, carrying the vengeful ghosts of Blake and his crew, who kill the fishermen. The following morning, local radio DJ Stevie Wayne is given a piece of driftwood by her son Andy, who found it on the beach. It is inscribed with the word "DANE". Stevie takes it with her to the lighthouse where she broadcasts her radio show. A man's voice on the tape swears revenge, and the words "6 must die" appear on the wood before it bursts into flame. Stevie extinguishes the fire and sees that the wood has turned to normal and once again reads "DANE". The Fog is not a great book, and James Herbert is not a great writer. This isn’t without its charms though, and I’m planning to read Herbert’s Rats trilogy and The Spear in the future.

The early books still retain an amazing power over me to this day, showing his skill as one of the greats of the horror fiction genre." Police Are Useless: Downplayed and soon subverted. While Detective Inspector Barrow is aggressively suspicious of Holman, Chief Superintendent Wreford more patiently considers Holman's outlandish report, and against the anticipated mass-insanity, takes precautionary measures. When the Fog starts to infect people in their thousands, the Commissioner for Police refers Holman, with his firsthand knowledge of the Fog, to Whitehall. I didn't like how some of the characters got a lot of space in the story only to show how they or other people around them would be influenced by the fog (the Bournemouth episode was preceded by quite a long story).

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Scanlon, Paul (June 28, 1979). " 'The Fog': A Spook Ride on Film". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on February 28, 2015 – via TheOfficialJohnCarpenter.com. And it sort of is for the first 30 minutes ... all the little set-piece stories you remember ... madness spreading through a town ...and school

After viewing a rough cut of the film, Carpenter was dissatisfied with the results. [18] Recalling the experience, Carpenter commented: "It was terrible. I had a movie that didn't work, and I knew it in my heart". [19] As THE FOG grows and government types struggle to search for answers, normal folk turn into raving lunatics with superior strength who only aim to do harm or commit suicide while John fights for his life strapped to a hospital bed...until...well, you'll see. I am sure I have said several times that James Herbert was one of the writers I gained my introduction to horror from (the other being Stephen King). Now at the time a mixture of nativity and a limited range of choices (not sure if that is really the result of the former) meant that second hand markets and rummage sales were the only sources I knew of.I love that "moist cave" isn't enough, he has to specify that there are multiple caves and this is the moistest. Elaborate Underground Base: When the fog overwhelms London, high-ranking government officials take refuge in their secret headquarters. This book begins with a bang and, fortunately, this sets off a series of ever louder and more violent bangs. For a book published in 1975, it was surprisingly fresh. There were a few scenes that felt dated, and of course, 40 years on, the technology is going to be antiquated, but that is all of little consequence, and I hardly noticed. Herbert was a masterful purveyor of in your face horror, and I could see him giggling with maniacal glee while writing some of the more outrageous sequences. There are some scenes in The Fog that managed to make this somewhat jaded horror fan squirm, and that's no easy feat. Donnelly, K. J. (2009). "Hearing Deep Seated Fears: John Carpenter's The Fog (1980)". In Lerner, Neil (ed.). Music in the Horror Film: Listening to Fear. New York City, New York: Routledge. pp.152–167. ISBN 978-1-135-28044-4.

After everyone leaves the church, Malone contemplates why he was spared given that there were only five deaths. The fog then reappears along with the ghosts and Blake decapitates Malone. Hutchings, Peter (2017). Historical Dictionary of Horror Cinema. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-538-10243-5. This time through I’ve got about 45 minutes to go and I’ve decided I’m going to drag myself to the end just to prove I can do it this time.The film was shot by cinematographer Dean Cundey, and Carpenter stated the appearance of the film was inspired by the Val Lewton-produced horror films I Walked with a Zombie (1943) and Isle of the Dead (1945), which he described as "very shadowy, all suggestion, and he has all sorts of melodrama going. I was a real fan of that sort of thing." [18] Although a lower-budget independent film, Carpenter chose to shoot in the anamorphic 2.35:1 format to elevate its visual appearance.