The Fog (2005)

Director:

Rupert Wainwright

Writers (WGA):

Cooper Layne (screenplay)
John Carpenter (1980 screenplay) ...

Release Date:

14 October 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Mystery | Thriller | Horror

Plot:

A quiet seaside town is engulfed by a thick fog precisely one century after a boat sunk just off the coast under mysterious circumstances.

Plot Keywords:

Oil Lamp | Sex In Shower | Fishing Boat | Lighthouse | Girlfriend

Cast

Tom Welling	...	Nick Castle
Maggie Grace	...	Elizabeth Williams
Selma Blair	...	Stevie Wayne
DeRay Davis	...	Spooner
Kenneth Welsh	...	Tom Malone
Adrian Hough	...	Father Robert Malone
Sara Botsford	...	Kathy Williams
Cole Heppell	...	Andy Wayne
Mary Black	...	Aunt Connie
Jonathon Young	...	Dan The Weatherman
R. Nelson Brown	...	Machen
Christian Bocher	...	Founding Father Malone
Douglas Arthurs	...	Founding Father Williams (as Douglas H. Arthurs)
Yves Cameron	...	Founding Father Wayne
Charles Andre	...	Founding Father Castle (as Charles André)

Also Known As:

Brouillard, Le (Canada: French title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence, disturbing images and brief sexuality.

Runtime:

100 min | Philippines:99 min | USA:103 min (unrated version)

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #41468) | UK:15 | Singapore:PG | Australia:M | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-15 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG-13 | Malaysia:18SG (uncut version) | Germany:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Iceland:16 | Czech Republic:12 | Philippines:PG-13 | Ireland:15A | USA:Unrated (unrated DVD version) | Canada:14A (Ontario) | South Korea:15 | France:U (with warning) | Hungary:16 | Malaysia:U (cut version)

Filming Locations:

Bowen Island, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Revolution Studios

Trivia:

Before Tom Welling was cast, actors considered for Nick Castle included David Boreanaz, Jesse Metcalfe, Matthew Davis, Henry Cavill, Adam Garcia, Michael Cassidy, Oliver Hudson, and Peter Facinelli. Matthew Fox and Benjamin McKenzie, were also considered for the role and met with the director, but due to conflicting television schedules they did not read for producers.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: When the bodies are reeled in from the "seagrass", the bottom body can be seen blinking for a second

Quotes:

Father Malone: Get off the Island!
Elizabeth Williams: Why?
Father Malone: Just go!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Death Row (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

Vibrate

The first tomato can be thrown at the screen two minutes after the opening credits

I wasn't angry about The Fog remake until I heard that it was going to be released by Revolution Studios, a company known to house crap movies. From then on, my hopes weren't that high, and they sank even lower when I saw the trailer. It looked to much like Boogeyman or Darkenss Falls rather than an atmospheric, imaginative, horror production like the original.

The original Fog deserves to be a cult classic and is a great film, but I thought it could have used a couple of improvements. It was not John Carpenter's best effort, but it still was an 8 out of 10 movie. This remake had potential because it could have corrected some of the plot holes from the original. Not surprisingly, the modernized Fog created new loopholes in the story and in addition had a terrible script.

The characters here were clichéd. The naive young girl who sees "horrible things" happening and who is befriended by her "hot ex-boyfriend". There is even a token black guy who serves as the "comic relief" for the film. Why can't they have black heroes in horror movies? Every character is seen in some state of undress, including Stevie Wayne, a mother of a young teenage boy named Andy, who struts around in panties in front of her son (I thought that was funny). I'm surprised Andy's old nanny wasn't shown strutting around in her undies while cleaning the dishes.

The leper colony ghosts were not scary. They were all see through, and instead of a giant fishing hook, Father Blake carried a cane (WTF??), not for support while walking, but for a scene near the end of the film where flying glass shards contribute to the death of a character. Also, the fog in this film is all CGI, and is not nearly as menacing as the one in the original was.Father Malone's character in the original was a major contributor to the story, because he represented the sins of the founding fathers. In this one, he's just a stupid old drunk who has a minimal impact on the story and plays more like the typical "old lady who can see the future" kind of character. Also, why aim for a PG-13? It's obvious the filmmakers wanted to put some gore in this, and they did, because there were many deaths that involved people being maimed and/or set on fire, not necessarily in that order. Only a few more drops of blood and it would be R.

There are two good things though. There is one pretty shocking death scene that was cool and there were some cool cinematography shots. The eerie image of the sailors on their ship in the fog gave me the chills. There was also a really creepy ghost who was only shown in shadows (you never saw his face) and who wore a top hat. It would have been interesting if they showed that ghost more, but alas, they shied away from it.

And don't get me started on the ending. It's supposed to be a shocker, but it's extremely predictable. It also makes everything that preceded it make little sense. What was the point of that? Stevie Wayne's cheesy closing monologue was even cheesier than the concluding monologue in House of the Dead.

Overall, this dreadful remake ran shy of where it could have won the race.