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The Fog (2005)
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Reviews Counted:64
Fresh:3
Rotten:61
Average Rating:2.7/10
Consensus: The Fog is a so-so remake of a so-so movie, lacking scares, suspense or originality.
Theatrical Release:Oct 14, 2005 Wide
Box Office: $29,511,112
Synopsis: An island off the Oregon coast is the setting for this salty yarn of ghosts, lepers, betrayal, vengeance, and teen angst. A fog-enshrouded schooner from 1865 returns from the bottom of the sea to... An island off the Oregon coast is the setting for this salty yarn of ghosts, lepers, betrayal, vengeance, and teen angst. A fog-enshrouded schooner from 1865 returns from the bottom of the sea to wreak vengeance on the locals of the island, and it's up to local DJ Stevie Wayne (Selma Blair), her charter-boat-captain lover, Nick (Tom Welling, from TV's SMALLVILLE), and his wayward girlfriend, Elizabeth (Maggie Grace, from TV's LOST), to save the day. All three are related to the town's founding fathers, with whom the shipbound ghosts have an ancient score to settle. What that score is no one seems to know, but they need to find out, fast. DeRay Davis (BARBERSHOP) provides comic relief as Nick's lusty first mate, but the real scene stealer here is the fog itself, which is much more animated than in the 1980 John Carpenter original. Thanks to some nice CGI work, it slithers in, around, and under everything. Though gussied up with an angst-rock soundtrack and beautiful young TV actors, THE FOG is, at heart, a good old fashioned ghost story, replete with period costumes and inter-dimensional romance. Director Rupert Wainwright (STIGMATA) is good at capturing little details like the eerie tinkling of deep-sea fishing hooks hung out to dry, the textures of moisture-beaded shower stall doors, and the perfectly toned skin of lead actress Grace as she wanders around in her negligee. John Carpenter and his partner, Debra Hill--co-creators of the first FOG--served as producers. [More]
Starring: Tom Welling, Maggie Grace, Selma Blair, Kenneth Walsh
Starring: Tom Welling, Maggie Grace, Selma Blair, Kenneth Walsh
Director: Rupert Wainwright
Director: Rupert Wainwright
Screenwriter: John Carpenter, Cooper Layne
Producer: John Carpenter, David Foster, Debra Hill
Composer: Graeme Revell
Studio: Columbia Pictures
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Reviews for The Fog
A pale remake of a 25-year-old horror film that wasn't all that memorable to begin with.
[It] pales in comparison to Carpenter’s original fogbanks, some of which were created by optical effects nearly as ancient as filmmaking itself but still vastly more believable than anything seen in this absolutely dreadful and just plain dull remake.
That John Carpenter, credited here as a producer, had a hand in diminishing his own legacy would be tragic if any of this mattered.
The acting is stilted and the direction clunky — not that the original was any masterpiece.
Making concessions at every turn to the youth-horror market, the film slashes the ages of its protagonists by some 15 years, and its IQ follows suit.
It seems to set a record for the quantity of shock moments that involve either a pane of glass breaking or something catching fire.
The foggy bottom boys are back and kicking up quite a fuss in The Fog, a fright-filled remake of John Carpenter's 1980 horror thriller.
You may jump and wince a couple of times, but only because the soundtrack features a few loud bangs that are cranked up beyond pain threshold.
Simply, irredeemably, insufferably boring -- the one thing a horror picture just can't survive.
We're meant to be unsettled by digital spectres, reckless Mack trucks, and rotting old pirates who look every bit as terrifying as the guy on the Fisherman's Friend cold-lozenge box.
"We gotta go!" Poor Nick (Tom Welling) says this a few too many times in The Fog.
It attempts to apply too much logic to the events going on that it distracts the viewer from pleasure and replaces it with boredom.
Yes, there’s “something in ‘The Fog,’” all right. Another weekend of low box office proceeds and more dismal reviews for yet another unnecessary, poorly made remake.
Lock your doors. Bolt your windows. And for heaven's sake, stay away from the multiplex.
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