Post by Tim on Aug 23, 2016 18:52:32 GMT -5
***taken from Wikipedia***
The Californian fishing town of Antonio Bay is about to celebrate its centennial. As midnight strikes and the date of the town's centennial begins, various strange phenomena starts to happen all over the sleeping town - objects move by themselves, cars and televisions turn themselves on, gas stations seemingly come to life, and all the public payphones ring simultaneously.
That same night, priest Father Malone is in his church when a large piece of stone falls from the wall revealing a cavity. Inside is an old journal, his grandfather's diary from a hundred years earlier. Father Malone removes the journal which reveals that, in 1880, six of the founders of Antonio Bay (including Malone's grandfather) deliberately sank and plundered a clipper ship named the Elizabeth Dane. The ship was owned by Blake, a wealthy man with leprosy who wanted to establish a colony near Antonio Bay. During a foggy night, the six conspirators lit a fire on the beach near treacherous rocks, and the crew of the ship, deceived by the false beacon, crashed into them. Everyone aboard the ship perished. The six conspirators were motivated both by greed and disgust at the notion of having a leper colony nearby. Antonio Bay and its church were then founded with the gold plundered from the ship.
A supernaturally glowing fog appears, spreading over the sea and moving against the wind. Three local fishermen are out at sea when the fog covers their trawler. They see an old clipper ship pulling alongside their trawler. The mysterious fog contains the vengeful ghosts of Blake and the clipper ship's crew, who have come back on the hundredth anniversary of the shipwreck and the founding of the town. The three fishermen are slaughtered.
At the same time, town resident Nick Castle drives down a country road and picks up a young hitchhiker named Elizabeth Solley. While the two drive towards town, the radio and headlights of Nick's truck start to fail and all the windows inexplicably shatter.
The following morning, local radio DJ Stevie Wayne is given a piece of driftwood that was found on the beach by her young son Andy. The wood is inscribed with the word "DANE". Intrigued by the object, Stevie keeps it and takes it with her to the lighthouse where she broadcasts her radio show from. Stevie sets the wood down next to a tape player that is playing, and while she is momentarily distracted, the wood inexplicably begins to seep water. The water spreads and causes the tape player to short out. Suddenly, a mysterious man's voice emerges from the tape player swearing revenge, and the words "6 Must Die" appear on the wood before it bursts into flames. Shocked, Stevie quickly extinguishes the fire, but then she sees that the wood once again reads "DANE" and the tape player begins working normally again.
After locating the missing trawler, Nick and Elizabeth find the corpse of Dick Baxter with his eyes gouged out. The other two fishermen are nowhere to be found. The town coroner, Dr. Phibes, is perplexed by the body's advanced state of decomposition considering Baxter died only hours earlier. Whilst Elizabeth is alone in the autopsy room, Baxter's corpse rises from the autopsy table and grabs Elizabeth. As Elizabeth screams, Nick and Phibes rush back into the autopsy room, where they see the corpse lifeless again on the floor, it appears to have scratched the number "3" into the floor with a scalpel. Baxter was the third victim to die.
While this is happening, Kathy Williams, the organizer of the town's centennial, visits Father Malone to ask him to give the benediction at that night's ceremony. He reads some of the journal to her, revealing how the town was founded and that their celebration would be honoring murderers.
That evening, the centennial celebration begins in the center of town. At the same time, Dan, the local weatherman, calls Stevie at the radio station to tell her that another fog bank has appeared and is moving towards town. As they are talking, the fog gathers outside the weather station and Dan hears a knock at the door. Leaving Stevie on the phone while he goes to answer it, Dan is killed by the ghosts as Stevie listens in horror.
As Stevie continues her radio broadcast, the fog begins moving inland and neutralizes the town's phone and electricity lines. Using a back-up generator, Stevie begs her listeners to go to her house and save her son when she sees the fog closing in from her lighthouse vantage point. Nick and Elizabeth hear this on the car radio and go to help. At Stevie's home, her son's babysitter, Mrs. Kobritz, is killed by the ghosts as the fog envelops the house. The ghosts then pursue Andy, but Nick arrives just in time to save him and they escape.
As the town's celebration comes to an end, Kathy and her assistant Sandy are driving home when they turn on the car radio and hear Stevie warning people about the dangerous fog that is sweeping through the town. Stevie advises everyone to go to the local church, which appears to be the only safe place. Nick, Elizabeth, and Andy hear the same message and the group gather there. Once inside, they and Father Malone take refuge in a small back room as the fog begins to roll outside. Inside the room, they find a huge gold cross buried in the walls, made of the gold that was stolen from Blake and his people a hundred years earlier. As the ghosts of Blake and his crew begin to attack the church, Father Malone takes the gold cross out into the chapel. Knowing he is the offspring of one of the conspirators, Malone confronts Blake in an attempt to sacrifice himself and save everyone else.
Back at the lighthouse, two of the ghosts try to attack Stevie. She climbs onto the roof, but the ghosts follow and trap her.
Inside the church, Blake seizes the golden cross, which begins emitting an eerie glow, becoming brighter and brighter. Nick manages to pull Father Malone away from the cross only seconds before it disappears in a blinding flash of light, along with Blake and his crew. The ghosts attacking Stevie on the roof of the lighthouse disappear as well, and the fog vanishes. Stevie gets back on air and warns the boats at sea to watch out for the fog.
Later that evening, Father Malone is alone in the church pondering why Blake did not kill him and thus take six lives. At that moment, the fog reappears inside the church along with Blake and his crew. As Father Malone turns to face him, Blake swings his sword at Father Malone and decapitates him.
Cast
Adrienne Barbeau as Stevie Wayne
Jamie Lee Curtis as Elizabeth Solley
Janet Leigh as Kathy Williams
John Houseman as Mr. Machen
Tom Atkins as Nick Castle
James Canning as Dick Baxter
Charles Cyphers as Dan O'Bannon
Nancy Loomis as Sandy Fadel
Ty Mitchell as Andy Wayne
Hal Holbrook as Father Malone
John F. Goff as Al Williams
George 'Buck' Flower as Tommy Wallace
Darwin Joston as Dr. Phibes
Rob Bottin as Blake
John Carpenter as Bennett
************
I watched this a couple of weeks ago. Every year, around Halloween, I break out my DVD and give it a watch. This movie, despite being made more than thirty years ago now, totally holds up. Okay, the special F/X look dated, but the story itself is still scary as ever.
If you want to enjoy The Fog, this is the version to watch.
AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE: The 2005 remake. The less said about this, the better. All it does is make one realize how great the original is.
