Once secrets are revealed about the gruesome past at the 100th birthday of a small town of the coast of California, people start to go missing and weird, unexplained things start happening. The Fog, a 1980 film directed by John Carpenter, tells the story of individuals in the town slowly discovering it's secrets.
The Fog includes elements that we would typically see in a horror movie. It includes ominous noises, tense, suspenseful music, jump scares, destabilizing communities, foreshadowing, lingering cameras, some element of a spiritual or supernatural being, contrast or sensory overload, a dark set, and some element of closure at the finale. We see all of these presented throughout the Fog. The Fog starts of foreshadowing the entire movie, with a sequence where a man is telling a scary story about what happened in the town. This is where we get a feel for the entire movie, and where we can typically predict what the rest of the movie is about. This is shown as the man sits around a fire, telling the story to young children. This is a conventional way of telling a story in a horror film without having a narration. The lighting in the movie plays a crucial role. The bright sets and daytime atmosphere typically show a happy, peaceful time for the characters where action is not severe, while the darkness or nighttime indicates when the bad things will start happening and when the louder, more aggressive action sequences take place. This is again, very typical of a horror film. The Fog specifically shows the aspect of destabilizing communities. At the beginning of the film, it may seem as though you are watching three separate stories; one with the radio announcer, one with a hitchhiker and her newfound lover, and one with the priest and the two woman involved with him. As the movie progresses, we learn that each of the stories involving these characters stems into one single plot, which is resolved at the end of the film. The destabilization of communities seems to occur more towards the beginning of the film, while the closure takes place at the end. The Fog uses the element of score particularly interesting throughout the film. Whether the music is used to enhance what is taking place on the screen, or to make us focus specifically on the scene alone, the musical choices made by the director differ according to the situation. In some scenes, the director chooses white noise, with an almost pulse or heartbeat in the music to make viewers anxious. In one scene, as Stevie, the reporter is walking towards the lighthouse, the score in the music constantly repeats 1340 over and over. This is to put emphasis on the scene and the repetitiveness of her taking all the steps down to the lighthouse. In others, he has chosen to play music we would typically think of associated with horror movies. The music though, as a whole, is missing any drama or dynamics in its entirety. Benjamin Welton states, "While other Carpenter films have tended to focus on the lurid and exploitative, The Fog remains his masterstroke of subtlety. The film’s music is the best display of this subtly, and despite a few jarring moments, The Fog’s soundtrack has a sleepy, nighttime quality that has the same feeling and texture as fog rolling in across the bay." The movie also features some realistic elements and ideas that we can relate to our world as well. The movie seems like a typical horror film, but it also provides something else. It provides a deeper idea, some sort of discomforting context that most viewers are not aware of. The film was created 3 years after the United States had celebrated their 200 year anniversary of being a country. The United States itself has it's own dark path, as we are an Indian burial ground, and that is something many people do not want to face until it comes face to face with them. In the movie, their town was placed on a burial ground of many people who were murdered due to the creators of the town trying to take over the area. The individuals in the town did not face this harsh reality until it was physically coming after them. This movie seems far-fetched, but it is something that is happening where we live and the director brought attention to that throughout the film. The film also brings attention to another issue. The harsh reality in the world is that there are no monsters, and that the most evil and awful monsters in the world are other humans. The most horrible actions in the world are done by humans, whether it be bullying at school or fighting in war. Lauren Taylor states, "Therein lies the beauty of The Fog. The past coming back to bite you in the ass. Killing innocent people because you don’t want to deal with their differences!". The movie shows that we don't need to be afraid of monsters, just each other. Benjamin Welton: http://www.ravenousmonster.com/featured-article/music-of-john-carpenters-the-fog/ Lauren Taylor: http://bloody-disgusting.com/interviews/24247/why-john-carpenters-the-fog-still-matters-with-richard-christy/
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