THE FOG
US, 2005, 100 minutes, Colour.
Tom Welling, Maggie Gray, Selma Blair, Kenneth Welsh.
Directed by Rupert Wainright.
After a remake of John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 comes this remake of his 1980 The Fog. Not a must for a remake, but this has been updated to the present with bigger budget (although a less starry cast).
The fog rolls on to an island off the Oregon coast and brings with it mysterious ghosts bent on vengeance on the town and the descendants of the admired founding fathers – who are to be honoured with a statue and dedication ceremony. The truth of the past is gradually revealed. The brutal past is nothing to celebrate. The ghosts have every reason for demanding justice and they wreak a dramatic revenge.
The central characters have every reason to be wary as they are descendants of the founding families. There is no major reason why they should escape (although one does not entirely but sacrifices herself and leaves with the spectres) and why all the rest, including the parish priest, Fr Malone, who knew the secret from this grandfather’s confession but was bound not to reveal it, should be dispatched by grim special effects.
There is an eeriness about the fog and its atmosphere. Director Rupert Wainwright made the millennium religious thriller, Stigmata.
1.The status of the original? John Carpenter’s film-making? The eerie atmosphere? Producer Deborah Hill working on the remake? John Carpenter approving?
2.The quality of the remake, adapted for the 21st century, updated? Modest in budget, cast and effects? Entertainingly eerie?
3.The title, the visualising of the fog, rolling? Audience response to fog?
4.The Oregon setting, the island, the coast, the sea? The 21st century town? The 19th century re-creation? The atmospheric score and mood?
5.The credits, the flashbacks and the puzzle about the ship? The later explanations? The four men in the boat, the burning ship? Seeing the reality – and later discovering the meaning?
6.The 21st century, the island and its people, prosperity, the way of life, the radio station, the fishing expeditions for tourists, the dedication of the statue, the ceremony? The revelation of the force and brutal foundation and its consequences?
7.The themes of sin, original sins, descendants inheriting the consequences? The repercussions for all people? Destruction on the sea, the collapse into the sea, the return from the sea? Nick and his being unsettled? The ship and the ghosts? Watching the ghosts?
8.The ghosts, their wandering, theme of vengeance? The barbarous behaviour towards them? Their revenge? The portrait of Blake, his company? The contract and its being broken? Finally, Elizabeth’s sacrifice to save the town?
9.The venerated fathers of the town, their statue, discussion about who was the visionary? The discovery of the diary? The vicious reality? Father Malone? and the confession, his own torment, unable to reveal the truth? Finally able to and the consequences for him?
10.Nick and Spooner, the expedition, the accident, the anchor? Nick and his relationship with Stevie? Picking up Elizabeth as a hitchhiker? The past relationship? Trying to restore the relationship? The deaths of the people on the boat? The puzzle? With Elizabeth, exploring? Rescuing Stevie and her son? The finale, the fire, heroism, Elizabeth’s going to the ghosts?
11.Stevie, the background of her family, the founding father, her son? Flirting with Nick? Running the radio, her comments, the music she played? The communications with Dan at the bureau, the discussions about the fog and its unexpectedness? Communicating with the people, giving them warnings? Her aunt, watching Jeopardy? Looking after her son? Her being on the shore, burning? Dan dying? The crash and her escape, rescuing her son?
12.Elizabeth, her being away, her return? Nick picking her up, their discussion about the past, their relationship? Her tension with her mother and leaving the house? The effect of New York, the reason for the return, the nature of her dreams? Trying to get the truth with Nick? The accident, the water, finding the diary, going to Father Malone, the cemetery? The video and the discovery that Spooner was telling the truth? The journal, the truth? Her being on the shore? The ghosts? With Nick, the fire, her final self-sacrifice?
13.Spooner and his attitudes, with Nick, with Nick’s cousin and the girls on the boat, the suddenness of their deaths? In hospital, his being under accusation? The video? His surviving? Not being one of the descendants of the founding fathers?
14.Mrs Williams, her attitude in the town, superior? Wealth? Alienation from Elizabeth? The ceremony, the statue? The disturbance of the ceremony, the electricity failing? With Tom Malone, the police? The fiasco of the ceremony? The ghosts returning?
15.The beachcomber, the things that he found on the beach, his fears, people frightened of him?
16.Father Malone, his place in the community, the burden of his knowledge, the guilt, in the cemetery, discussing the diary, his death?
17.The ghosts appeased, peace restored, order and the elimination of vengeance?
