Director: John Carpenter
Starring: Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh, Tom Atkins, John Houseman, Hal Holbrook
The One Where I Have JC On My Mind (Again)
So I had a tidy up on my own Blog, and listed all of the films I’ve reviewed for LFF. Know what hit me? I’ve only reviewed 4 John Carpenter movies, and one of those got a slap on the wrists from the old man, for “not doing justice” to Escape From New York.
What does all that mean? Well, essentially, it means that I’m going back to JC. Don’t worry. Don’t panic. Nothing is forever, and I appreciate that it may have felt like that when I started going on, and on, and on, (and on) last time.
Plus it’s not as random as you think it is. Why?
Well, in the next few weeks, Carpenter makes his long awaited return to the cinema.
This site has covered that better than any other. So much so, that flicking through Total Film this month, I got all the way in before seeing a tiny review of The Ward. Lets be clear, a tiny review of The Ward is better than no review of The Ward, but something tells me this might not even be on at my local cinemas.
So, if you see it showing, make the most of it. Because the trailer at least reminded me of another…
I remember the front cover of The Fog on VHS. Dad may have had the Laserdisc, too. But the light/glow bursting through the door at Jamie Lee Curtis had me entranced.
I knew of John Carpenter as the guy that made films my Dad loved but invariably I couldn’t watch. Apart from Big Trouble In Little China. Because in that, people literally exploding is funny.
The first time I saw The Fog was really late, actually. Not late in the day, late in the films life. And what surprised me was that I still found it quite effective. Why? Well a major part is the music, for sure. Another is that JC just lets the film play out.
Yes, there are loud jump scares early on. But we get to see a fair bit of Jamie Lee before the fog actually rolls in (and the terror begins – great tag line).
The shot where the lighthouse and the entire coast becomes engulfed in fog is class. And classic Carpenter. Very eerie, and a little unsettling.
Carpenter knows while he’s making this film that he has a reputation, and I think he has fun with it, here. For a start, he begins the film with a group, all huddled around a campfire, snuggling together to keep warm. They tell a ghost story to pass the time. I like to think of that as JC poking fun at himself that he has become this wise old man that tells ghost stories. Wanting people to scare easy. Because this was back in the day when scaring was fun. Far more about jumps than gore, (a big misconception about JC films in general, maybe apart from some of the later ones). There is very little torture porn on show here. If a ghost pirate (or whatever) slashes someone, its probably the screeching sound that makes you wince… there are no severed heads flying towards you in 3D (Yeah, I’m looking at you saw 3D).
Another reason I think The Fog stands the test of time is because the remake was so awful. And one of the main reasons? They CGI’d it to death. I really hope they don’t do this for the follow up to The Thing later this year.
Carpenter had a grasp on practical effects that meant a fog machine could create the scares. A ghost pirate (or whatever) appearing through dense fog, maybe with glowing eyes, and a cutlass. Well, you’re half way there.
When The Fog reaches its conclusion, bringing in buried treasure, a surrounded church and a lighthouse, you realize that Carpenter has been playing all along.
All of those elements you would want from a horror film have been there all along.
We get the damsel in distress, but through JC, that damsel isn’t scared to kick a ghost pirate (or whatever) in the nuts if she needs too. I’m not sure if Carpenter ever really got credit for casting females in the lead role in films like this. People act like another JC led the way with Sigourney, but Carpenter was ahead of his time. Jamie Lee Curtis is still the original scream queen, but she’s not completely helpless in this. And in The Ward, JC has gone back to a female lead. In familiar settings. I have no reason to have such faith, except for his back catalogue.
But you know what? That might be enough…
