The Fog (1980) | Rotten Tomatoes (2024)

75% Tomatometer 69 Reviews 65% Popcornmeter 25,000+ Ratings

Strange things begin to occurs as a tiny California coastal town prepares to commemorate its centenary. Inanimate objects spring eerily to life; Rev. Malone (Hal Holbrook) stumbles upon a dark secret about the town's founding; radio announcer Stevie (Adrienne Barbeau) witnesses a mystical fire; and hitchhiker Elizabeth (Jamie Lee Curtis) discovers the mutilated corpse of a fisherman. Then a mysterious iridescent fog descends upon the village, and more people start to die.

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The Fog

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Critics Consensus

A well-crafted return to horror for genre giant John Carpenter, The Fog rolls in and wraps viewers in suitably slow-building chills.

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Critics Reviews

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The Fog (1980) | Rotten Tomatoes (1) Vincent Canby New York Times Unlike Halloween, which was a model of straight-forward terror and carefully controlled suspense, The Fog is constructed of random diversions. Jan 30, 2020 Full Review The Fog (1980) | Rotten Tomatoes (2) Dave Kehr Chicago Reader It's a failure, but it's a failure in the right direction. Jan 29, 2020 Full Review The Fog (1980) | Rotten Tomatoes (3) Will Lawrence Empire Magazine Ghoulish, tense and utterly fantastical, John Carpenter's tale of shipwrecked spectres squelching their way through a fluorescent fog to wreak vengeance on a seaside town is a classic campfire yarn. Rated: 4/5 Jan 29, 2020 Full Review The Fog (1980) | Rotten Tomatoes (4) Cody Leach Cody Leach (YouTube) The Fog is a neat twist on the classic ghost story. Carpenter achieves a palpable sense of dread and atmosphere and his score remains a signature piece of the experience he sets out to provide. The characters are unfortunately the weakest element here. Rated: 3.75/5 Sep 15, 2022 Full Review The Fog (1980) | Rotten Tomatoes (5) John Brosnan Starburst The Fog sets out to be nothing more than a straight-forward chiller with the emphasis on the shocks rather than the characters or the story and on that level succeeds perfectly. Jul 26, 2022 Full Review The Fog (1980) | Rotten Tomatoes (6) Travis Johnson sbs.com.au Carpenter, a rather minimalist, formally restrained filmmaker even when employing the grand guignol excesses of The Thing, knows when to let pure story do the work, and The Fog is a story about stories. Oct 24, 2021 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Antonio O A true classic that relies on a good story and score rather than CGI and gratuitous gore. Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 10/16/22 Full Review Kai H The Shorthand Critic: Director John Carpenter followed up the success of “Halloween” with 1980’s “The Fog”. That off-the-wall choice alone deserves consideration. This is a curious little slow-burn chiller. Its rhythmic vibe and energy is just slightly off-beat. Yet that is what makes it linger in the memory like, you guessed it, fog. This clever direction divided critics of its day, and the film slipped away into the beyond until later gaining a cult-following. This has given it the staying power it deserves as “The Fog” is very unique and peculiar. The cast includes the first pairing of Jamie Lee Curtis from “Halloween” and her mother Janet Leigh from “Psycho”—although their screentime together leaves something to be desired. The story is lean but slick involving a radio DJ (Adrienne Barbeau) hulled up in the top of a lighthouse warning the town of an eerie fog rolling in claiming that—“There’s something in the fog!” The best scene takes place on the roof of the lighthouse where a scary attack ensues with Barbeau delivering the goods. It seems unfathomable that it was not even part of the original cut and came about from a necessary reshoot to jive up the chills. The fog effects are great in their rawness. The major complaint is not seeing more random townspeople being effected by the terror. It would have been easy to incorporate this into the vengeful denouement as the DJ was directing everyone to safety—yet we see no one but the main cast. Still, “The Fog” has an old-fashioned ghost story feel and a creepy score by Carpenter that gets under the skin and haunts. Like Hitchcock’s “The Birds”—you will never see fog the same way again! And that’s saying something. Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 10/19/24 Full Review Jonathan O The Fog is a good spooky revenge horror film with really fantastic cinematography it really captures the atmosphere of the bay area and some of John Carpenter's cast members from his latest blockbuster slasher hit Halloween they did really fantastic performance and really fantastic special fog effects and chilling musical score by John Carpenter. Rated 4.5/5 Stars • Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 10/17/24 Full Review Christian K Immaculate vibes (Carpenter!) with slow, deliberate plotting in the middle act to set up a fun climax. Rated 3.5/5 Stars • Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 10/14/24 Full Review james c Love the film after Haloween, a simple ghost story in a simple time. A good watch and it is reasonable short. Rated 4.5/5 Stars • Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 09/13/24 Full Review Wyatt E A truly great classic horror movie Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 07/17/24 Full Review Read all reviews

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Cast & Crew

John Carpenter Director Adrienne Barbeau Stevie Wayne Hal Holbrook Father Malone Janet Leigh Kathy Williams Jamie Lee Curtis Elizabeth Solley John Houseman Mr. Machen
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The Fog

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Synopsis Strange things begin to occurs as a tiny California coastal town prepares to commemorate its centenary. Inanimate objects spring eerily to life; Rev. Malone (Hal Holbrook) stumbles upon a dark secret about the town's founding; radio announcer Stevie (Adrienne Barbeau) witnesses a mystical fire; and hitchhiker Elizabeth (Jamie Lee Curtis) discovers the mutilated corpse of a fisherman. Then a mysterious iridescent fog descends upon the village, and more people start to die.

Director
John Carpenter

Producer
Debra Hill

Screenwriter
John Carpenter, Debra Hill

Distributor
RCA/Columbia, AVCO Embassy Pictures, MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc.

Production Co
AVCO Embassy Pictures

Rating
R

Genre
Horror, Mystery & Thriller

Original Language
English

Release Date (Theaters)
Feb 8, 1980, Original

Rerelease Date (Theaters)
Oct 26, 2018

Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 8, 2016

Box Office (Gross USA)
$69.5K

Runtime
1h 29m

Aspect Ratio
Scope (2.35:1)
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