Oooh…Scary Weather
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
Adrienne Barbeau prepares to talk dirty on the radio.
Okay hotshot, pop quiz: You’re John Carpenter and you’ve just directed the most successful independent film of all time, Halloween. You need a new movie, and you need it fast. If you’re movie drops below 50mph, it’ll explode! You’ve visited England and you’ve just seen a scary fog bank….what do you do, hotshot? What do you do?
Why, you direct the scariest film about haunted weather phenomena ever: The Fog!
From the very beginning, with John Houseman telling scary stories around a campfire, you know you’re watching something good here. His tale sets the eerie tone for the rest of the film, and it fits. But this time, Carpenter doesn’t rely on just three teenage babysitters to weave his tale around, but a great ensemble of people who, by the end will all work together to fight the evil that is The MIST…shit…Fog.
Welcome to Antonio Bay, California. It’s got everything you could ever want. A radio station in a lighthouse staffed by Adrienne Barbeau, oh my God…that voice, that body…I could’ve watched an entire movie of just her talking into a microphone, but luckily, there’s more! There’s wayward hitchhiker Jamie Lee Curtis, who hops right into bed with Tom Atkins. There’s town preacher Hal Holbrook, who acts nothing like Mark Twain here, thank God. There’s Janet Leigh as a town councilwoman and bringing up the rear (and what a rear) is Nancy Loomis. Ah, Nancy Loomis. Whatta woman!
From the title, you should be able to pick out that when the fog comes to town, things aren’t looking up for the town. There’s things in that there fog! Stabby, scabby things! Rolling in with the fog on a phantom ship, the fog’s denizens wreak havoc on the fair city of Antonio Bay, and even leave some hints as to what they’re up to, as well as a growing body count. But, being a town full of empty headed morons…sorry, concerned citizens, no one really figures it out until the end. And what an end! See, there’s a lesson to be learned. When Hal Holbrook is handing out fatherly advice, you should take it, no matter how big an alcoholic he is!
Also, Carpenter holds a special place in my heart. See, he went to school not far from where I was born, and his movies, this one in particular references street names and places from that city. Granted, it’s hard to pay attention when Adrienne Barbeau is trying to direct traffic from her lighthouse, but you get my point.
You got your standard look for a Carpenter film, and it works very well here in some of California’s open vistas and sea scapes. And there is the mystery of why this particular town is being attacked, but all will be made clear..or, heh..unfogged, so to speak. (Oh, go ahead and groan! I don’t give a shit! This is the internet and I can’t hear you!)
Now, if you don’t mind, I’m off to daydream about Adrienne Barbeau. Ohhhhh Adrienne.
Posted on October 20th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
One of my favorite horror films of all-time. And you can’t beat Adrienne’s voice… quite possibly the sexiest in all of film.
Posted on October 20th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Oooohhh, yes. I met her a few years ago, and man, was she ever so sweet! Actually, most of the cast of this movie was there, and they were all very nice!
I love this movie, but almost no one I’ve shown it to has liked it. Most of them turned it off after half an hour. Philistines!!!
Posted on October 21st, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Is she still nailing Carpenter? He talked about her sweet ass when I met him @ WKU.
I’d love to go to one of these cons where you meet these people… I’ve always wanted to do it. It’s a life goal, for sure.
Posted on October 22nd, 2009 at 8:35 am
The fog and the first two halloweens had the same effect on me as a child growing up in the same area. I remember my sister crying terribly when in Halloween II, someone mentioned that Michael Myers was seen in the corn field across the street from the Lost River Diner… that corn field is no longer there, but her elementary school was… knowing a psycho like the shape is hovering around your school, even 20 years before is creepy has hell. On the fog note though, I do remember a mention of Russellville Rd, and having to get up and look out the window just to make sure it was all clear…