Hacker Cinema
The Fog
1980 · Film · 90 min
Directed by John Carpenter
Strange things begin to occur as a tiny California coastal town prepares to commemorate its centenary. Inanimate objects spring eerily to life; Rev. Malone stumbles upon a dark secret about the town's founding; radio announcer Stevie witnesses a mystical fire; and hitchhiker Elizabeth discovers the mutilated corpse of a fisherman. Then a mysterious iridescent fog descends upon the village, and more people start to die.
1 positive2 neutralfrom 3 commenters
Where to watch
No streaming data for this title.
Videos commenters linked
From YouTube links in the comments below. Most are clips and trailers; “Full” means the uploader says so.
3 comments on Hacker News
- The "Esper Edition" of the Blade Runner soundtrack, by Vangelis et al., is a must: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQFRtbDK9Yk
- The classic horror movies made by Hammer Films had terrific soundtracks, James bernard's being my favorites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isG3-rQqxZA&list=PLs3T-t417YhSZSUSAIDgcLjvhE4h2n1Vl
- David Lynch's Twin Peaks, by Angelo Badalamenti: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDbSYAJ9Tvw
- Everything and anything by Bernard Hermann: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owm8RkA3FtA
- I'm not sure if it ever received a proper release but the Hannibal TV show's soundtrack, by Brian Reitzell, is highly regarded for, IMO, good reasons.
- David Lynch's Dune, by Toto and Brian Eno: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMnM1Qww2xs
- Goblin's horror soundtracks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQejiArD608
- John Carpenter wrote the soundtrack of most of his films himself. My personal favorites are The Fog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKGzUxH9GyQ and Christine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEwN1-Gaj5s
- John Schlesinger's Marathon Man, by Michael small: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh8osZAYTjo
- Classic Godzilla soundtracks by Akira Ifukube et al.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3FnS6lx-Ds
- David Cronenberg's The Naked Lunch, by Howard Shore with Ornette Coleman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBh_4_i2zLk
> Running dog-Thing has earned its customized bass lurk, composed by Ennio Morricone, which, in fairness to your ears and mine, could be an expensive John Carpenter imitation.
> Carpenter’s Thing, for its part, discouraged the future of dog whispering, if not mankind in general. Running dog-Thing was played by Jed, a half wolf that neither growled nor barked. Richard Masur, who played the station dog handler, remembers how Jed would just give you “that look” when he grew uncomfortable on the set. That Thing look. So watch Jed closely. Watch Jed pad down empty hallways. Jed nosing the door open, looking out of windows. Jed listening to Stevie Wonder.
> In the film, Wilford Brimley’s Dr. Blair supposes this while performing an autopsy on Norwegian Two-faced Thing, his eraser head traveling directly from an astro-parasitic entity to his own bottom lip. A clear violation of Thing health code.
> Rob Bottin, who played the ghost of a vengeful seagoing leper in The Fog, was in charge of special effects for The Thing. ... Bottin would do such a thorough job—literally ending up inside the Thing, for the finale—that he’d check himself into a hospital after the shoot completed.
> Meanwhile, I’m left wondering if the Thing can retain the dream memories of those it absorbs, turning to Freaks and Geeks for answers. For it was the great leveler Millie Kentner who once cried, “Life is not that dog’s dream!”
I was able to follow the author's meaning in parts but it's certainly challenging.
IMDB reports that 2322 movies were released in 1939 alone, is it really surprising that there were a handful of good movies among them?
1980 for comparision, IMDB lists 6007 movies (8000+ if you include TV movies), and contains modern (popular) classics such as Stir Crazy, Superman II, Empire Strikes Back, Airplane!, The Blue Lagoon, Ordinary People, Urban Cowboy. The Shining, Caddyshack, Raging Bull, Friday The 13th, The Fog, The Blues Brothers.
Hmm, looks like 1980 was a much more 'classic' era than the 40s for hollywood, but you wouldn't have heard that from film buffs in the 80s.
Hollywood has always been a great abuser of the 'sling lots of shit at the wall and see what sticks' approach to 'greatness', they're just slinging a lot more shit these days.
Even if we take a really contemporary year and do the same study, we see a pattern of greats no matter what year, take 2005 at random:
Batman Begins, Sin City, V for Vendetta, Revenge of the Sith, King Kong, Brokeback Mountain, Harry Potter/Goblet of Fire, Serenity, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Mr & Mrs Smith, Wedding Crashers, Munich, Saw 2, Hostel, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Madagascar, Pride & Prejudice, Land of the Dead.
Ah, but the movie buff will point out that they're not established classics like Gone with the Wind, or Wizard of Oz. Not yet, anyway.
Edit: Btw, for 2005, the number of movies was 28,000+. Is it any wonder that there is a lot of formulaic stuff in there as well?