The Fog (2005)

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Oh dear, oh dear. Horror remakes very rarely live up to expectations but 'The Fog' goes one step further. This is a truly awful film. It might identify as a horror movie but there is nothing, literally nothing in this film that remotely resembles horror. There are no scares, no tension, no atmosphere, no gore...The film just about reaches the 100 minute mark but by the time the credits role it feels like double that. It takes an eternity to get going and even longer to reach its conclusion, which is appropriately terrible. The acting isn't great either. I don't think even the cast were convinced by what they were doing. This is definitely one to avoid!

Of all the horror remakes being made in the past few years, this one has to be one of the dreariest. I still think the execrable WHEN A STRNGER CALLS is the worst of all time, but in places THE FOG comes close. This is a laboured, labouring film that attempts to emulate the John Carpenter original with no success. While the Carpenter film isn't a favourite of mine, it is a solid little ghost story that has more about it than some, but THE FOG falls far short of these standards. It's a teen horror film, nothing more nothing less, and it never should have been released.The simply awful Maggie Grace stars as a young woman who returns to the populated island where she once lived. Little does she know that the residents are about to be besieged by the ghosts of some lepers who were burned to death over a century before. The plot sticks fairly closely to the original, but the characters are nowhere near as interesting and the actors are laughable. We had Tom Adkins and Adrienne Barbeau in the first film; here we get dumb male model Tom Welling and the aforementioned Grace, who is so pathetic an actress as to be laughable. Selma Blair, taking the role that Barbeau essayed in the first, is the only one who seems to be trying to give an actual performance but even her attempts at edginess fail constantly.This film takes an age to get going and virtually nothing happens in the first hour. Scenes are disjointed and there are so many pointless sub-plots and unfathomable ingredients that you get the feeling that heavy editing took place during the post-production process to try and generate some interest in this mess. The fog itself is a not-bad CGI effect, but the ghosts – when they eventually show up – look like nothing more than the ghost army in LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING. I could appreciate that special effect in a fantasy film, but not in a supposedly realistic horror like this.The producers have gone for a child-friendly rating which means that there isn't a drop of blood in sight. I'm sorry, but I far prefer full-blooded horror films to the lukewarm pretend ones, and how can you see a guy getting shards of broken glass slicing through his body without him bleeding in the slightest. Even the over-the-top blood sprays of Japanese samurai flicks are more realistic than the non-existent bloodshed in evidence here. At times I felt like I was watching a PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN film rather than a supposed horror outing. And don't get me started on the 'twist' ending. I love twists at the end of films but this is one of those nonsensical ones that has been shoehorned in at the last minute and makes absolutely no sense if you sit back and think about what's happened in the rest of the film. What a mess.

To start off the original Fog despite any flaws it may have had (personally I don't think it had any) was a truly brilliant, chilling, and genuinely terrifying horror movie .The movie was also disturbing without being gory which they also got right .The fact that you don't see an ounce of violence in this film yet having your imagination fill in the blanks of the gross mutilation sounds you hear when the victims are killed is a perfect example of how genius John Carpenter was especially back then.The remake however ...well let me get the good out of the way first .Good : special effects were creepy at times I really liked it at the beginning when the fog slowly swirled around the boat then entered it .That's about it for the good .The bad however is too excessive to list here .Bad : the acting especially the female lead who sleepwalked through the film and couldn't act if her life depended on it.The pathetic , boring, and unneeded exposition was also incredibly bad .In the original Fog they didn't need a backstory these pirates were simply evil and would kill anyone including a small innocent child .They made it clear in the original film that they were ambushed and murdered so they came back centuries later to get revenge on the descendants of those who killed them.The TWIST at the end was beyond laughable and it made absolutely no sense nor did the pointless story for that matter.Back to the acting none of the characters were remotely interesting in this film unlike the original where all the characters were immediately interesting .Selma Blair came across as a cardboard cutout and epitomized the words boring and bland.She did NOT do Adrienne Barbereau character in the original film justice period.She was also supposed to be a mother to a young boy but instead of Adriennes completely natural mother Selmas was more of an awkward friend or very distant relative not a mother.The actor who played the priest might as well been in the background considering how uninteresting his character and overall acting was.Now to Tom Welling this was when he was in his prime during the Smallville and Cheaper By The Dozen era .However that being said his acting was absolutely wooden and dull he was essentially lifeless as a character and as an actor it just sucked .Maggie Graces mom in the film also I've seen that actress in better movies and TV shows where she actually proved she COULD act .In this movie however she was the typical mean mom I've seen in so many other movies .The spirits also ?Horrible when I first saw that part under the water and the evil spirit it looked neat .Now mind you that was 2005 when I thought that now I know better.Now seeing it or simply looks like really cheap CGI.To end I would never recommend this movie but I would always highly recommend the classic original that movie is just awesome period .This movie only wished it could have even come close to the original but ultimately it wound up being a complete and utter failure .Oh and one last thing near the end you see the face of a spirit and all I can say is it was hilariously bad looking .You'll see what I mean if you watch it or have watched it.

This film is not that good but it is not as terrible as everyone makes it out to be. The original was done by John Carpenter. I believe John Carpenter would feel that it was done pretty good justice. It has removed the cheesy pirates that were in the original and replaced it with a more supernatural feel to it. Though some of the deaths in the movie are fairly cheap at times, I feel for a remake it is all around not bad. Anyone who enjoyed horror movies of the 70's & 80's then you want to check it out. I enjoy goofy and great old school horror movies. When a remake is done it should be far superior than the original or at least attempt to. This movie stays very close to the original which I enjoyed. Again this is not a great movie and it is border line crappy but it is not as bad as everyone reviewing it makes it out to be. It's a good Halloween time movie to watch on TV if it comes on. As much as I love John Carpenter I feel this movie is definitely better than the original. Not a lot better but it still is. Don't go out of your way for this but if it's on and it's in the Spirit of Halloween time then give it a watch with a few beers. Take it for were it came from.