The Fog (Film Review)

1980 AVCO Embassy Pictures
Directed by: John Carpenter; Written by: John Carpenter and Debra Hill
Starring: Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, John Houseman, Janet Leigh, and Hal Holbrook
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 90 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 6/10

100 years ago, a ship full of lepers attempts to sail into Antonio Bay, California, in order to establish a colony. However, the citizens of the recently created town deceive the leper ship into sailing into the rocks, killing everyone on board. Now, as the town gathers to celebrate its centennial celebration, a strange fog rolls into town...a fog populated by murderous ghosts, bent on revenge.
John Carpenter made 1980's The Fog between a couple of masterpieces, and it feels like a bit of a light breather in his filmography. As relaxed and breezy as a 90-minute horror film can be, The Fog offers a slice of life in a coastal North California town, with some beautiful shots of green mountains sloping into the sea, and the town DJ, played by Adrienne Barbeau, spinning records in her lighthouse radio station. Eventually, Jamie Lee Curtis shows up as an aimless but pleasant hitchhiker who ends up shacking up with the town nice guy, played by an amiable Tom Atkins. Eventually, the fog rolls in, and some non-descript, cloaked figures hack up a few people, but things turn out okay. Nothing is really ventured or gained. Carpenter himself has acknowledged the project never came together as something great. It isn't awful either. It just is for a pleasant yet unmemorable 90 minutes, and then it's over.