The Fog on PAL Laserdisc

Jeremy Clarke reviews

The Fog Distributed by
Pioneer LDCE

• Cat.no: PLFEB 37201
• Cert: 15
• Running time: 87 minutes
• Sides: 2 (CLV)
• Year: 1979
• Pressing: 1998
• Chapters: 35 (14/21)
• Sound: Mono
• Widescreen: 2.35:1
• Price: £19.99
• Extras : None
  

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  Director:

  John Carpenter

Cast:

Jamie Lee Curtis
Hal Holbrook
Janet Leigh

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Somewhere in between the seaside coastal town of Jaws and the housing development threatened by ancient evil in Poltergeist, neither of which he had anything to do with, comes John Carpenter‘s 1979 offering The Fog in which a one hundred year old conspiracy returns to haunt the town founded upon it.

First up is a superb series of unexplained events – petrol pump nozzles leaping off their holders to discharge gasoline, glass objects shattering and a brick hurled through local priest Holbrook‘s window breaking a wine bottle and opening a crack in a vestry wall to reveal a hundred year old priest’s diary in which Holbrook reads about the six-man conspiracy that stole a man’s gold and built a town with the profits.

With local radio DJ Adrienne Barbeau (then Mrs John Carpenter) advertising the town celebration the following evening and mayoress Janet Leigh (Psycho) putting the last minute touches to make events run smoothly, all you need is for scream queen (and real life daughter) Curtis (Halloween) to show up and the fog can move in and start killing off victims.

All of which could be pretty desperate were it not for Carpenter’s aural and visual choreography which turns the piece into a beautifully understated exercise in style. Any sequence you care to pick – from the shattering clocks, to the simple pounding on the door whenever the ghostly seamen show up at a house, to just about anything, is a joy to watch. Of course, a pretty good print (twenty years old and only the occasional scratch) and a good transfer (even if a little dark in places) helps a great deal.

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Carpenter’s 2.35:1 visuals always feel made for LD and this is no exception. He really uses the edges of the widescreen frame too – losing them, you’d miss (for instance) Jamie Lee entering a car to hitch a ride, or the petrol pump nozzle leaping off its hook oractually, like most Carpenter, a full screened version of this is something you really wouldn’t want to think about. But in 2.35:1, it looks great.

The sound is, if anything, even more impressive. The incredible mono mix achieves atmosphere few contemporary mixes even approach with side and rear channels. Ticking clocks, church bells, electronic pulses and repetitive piano refrains are just some of the effects used, each and every one of them to great effect. The radio station device employs jazz to counterpoint the terrible events unfolding in the town – and an effective little directorial move it is too.

Chaptering is extensive and in all the right places, but the side break 39 minutes in is less satisfactory. The first reel fades to black at 24 minutes, the perfect point for a break which would enable Pioneer to put the superb opening sequence in CAV, but instead we have two sides in CLV – bit of a waste on an 87 minute movie. Still, The Fog remains a great little film, a must for Carpenter fans and highly recommended for everyone else. Pity there’s no trailer though.

Film: 5/5
Picture: 4/5
Sound: 5/5

Review copyright © Jeremy Clarke, 1998.

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