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Fog (The) (2005)
R1 - America - Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Jari Kovalainen (15th June 2006). |
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The Film
 Remake. There´s a word that has caused plenty of angry talk in the film and DVD community lately, since especially many horror classics have been remade in the 2000s. Everyone pretty much agrees that not many of these remakes can rise to the same level of the original version, but some of them have been pretty good and entertaining efforts, at least if you judge them on their own merits. Many people seem to hate “remakes” even before they´ve seen the actual film, which is, all things considered, a bit unfair. I personally try to be more open minded, since often you can watch the film in a different way; it can be a more serious drama, it can be cheaper exploitation, or it can be just mindless popcorn-entertainment, just to name a few examples. All in all, there can be some good values in very different films, but also those values can differ. Latest film in the long line of recent “horror remakes” is “The Fog (2005)”, a film by director Rupert Wainwright (who has made e.g. “Stigmata (1999)”). Original “The Fog (1980)” is a quite memorable horror film from its director John Carpenter. It´s not as perfect as “Halloween (1978)” or “The Thing (1982)”, but still a great old fashioned ghost story, where the dead are seeking revenge in a small coastal town. To the surprise of many, Carpenter (along with the now late Debra Hill), is serving as a co-producer of the new version, and approved the remake, which was quickly green lighted after they made the deal with him. The basic setting is pretty much the same: Small sea town “Antonio Bay” hides a terrible secret, which is now about to show itself to the towns current inhabitants. These people will now pay for the sins that were made by their ancestors, and when the towns 100th anniversary is closing, some old items are starting to be found from the shore, and soon mysterious deaths occur. The unnatural and menacing fog is closing down, revealing some very unpleasant things. Dead marines are coming back for revenge. Nick Castle (Tom Welling - from the TV-series “Smallville”) is a young fisherman, who takes tourists fishing with his co-worker Spooner (DeRay Davis). His girlfriend Elizabeth Williams (Maggie Grace - from the TV-series “Lost”) has been out of town over 6 months, but now suddenly comes back. She has current nightmares, and a strange feeling that now she had to come back to her small hometown. Stevie Wayne (Selma Blair – from e.g. “Legally Blonde (2001)” and “Hellboy (2004)”) runs the radio station from her lighthouse, like in the original film. Her dark and sensual voice has been heard in the whole town for a quite some time now. Now Elizabeth starts to investigate deeper these strange phenomenons and deaths, and her research takes her all the way to the year 1871. In that year, something tragic and violent happened, which ultimately laid the foundation of the “Antonio Bay”-town, but also left a curse behind. The forefathers of the town were murderers, and the town was built with lies. Now those murders and lies will be avenged, when the fog comes to “Antonio Bay”. This new version of “The Fog” is a disappointing film, there´s no arguing with that. Even when the story uses many similar ingredients as the original film, “The Fog” in 2005 is a pale CGI-shadow of the original, losing very much of the strengths and spookiness from Carpenter´s version. I´m sure that the filmmakers of the new version thought that it´s time to “update” the story with more “modern actors” (young actors from the TV-series), “modern settings” (young people are partying at the sea), “modern music” (some rock and hip hop), “modern effects” (ah, CGI), “modern horror” (death scenes now occur with a lot of noise and destruction), and “modern ending” (more of that later), but they do more damage than create anything unique. The basic problem is again the screenplay and the pacing of the film. From the start it feels that nothing is really happening for a long time, and then there are a few sudden scenes of minor scares. Unfortunately after that the movie slow downs again, losing its momentum. This is pretty much the name of the game throughout the movie, until some bigger action starts near the end of the film. Related to this, death scenes also follow the same uninspired pattern: Victim hears strange sounds and shadows, goes to investigate, and then after some seconds of silence: Bang! There flies the body through the window, or through the door in flames, breaking stuff around it. Everything is just too loud and too noisy to keep the “ghost story” aspect of the film like it should be; suspenseful and scary. Sure, some might actually like these flames and destruction, but to me they took some essential spookiness away. The “new ending” and the twist at the end are also pretty lame (it´s a bit funny that director Wainwright is criticising the ending of the original version in the extras). In a nutshell: Tension is built, but nothing really after that. When the budget of the original film was something like one million $ and they used two bigger fog-machines and a few smaller ones, now the budget is around 20 times bigger, and they had 30-40 fog-machines, along with CGI-effects. All this only helps momentarily, and although some scenes with the fog benefited from the new technology, at the same time it made the film too “slick”. Filmmakers wanted to give more “personality” to the fog itself, sometimes succeeding better and sometimes worse, but the problem is that they didn´t really think the scenes after the fog has reached its target (or victim). Almost every time when there was a “scary scene”, it somehow ended with disappointment. I also wasn´t that enthusiastic about the actual “ghosts” in the film. When in the original film they were very basic, created with actors, shadows and lights, they´re now combination of make-up and CGI-effects, looking very artificial. They somehow reminded me of the ghosts from the “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)”, which all just looked too “CGI” for my taste. It´s not always that the effects are “bad”, but when they don´t fit in the mood of the film, they tend to go to waste to some degree. The comparison of the original and the new “Fog” is a good example, that many times old tricks are better than the new, at least when you create suspense and scary horror. Young actors in the film are also something that you pretty much forget right away after the film. I could be a bit mean and claim that every decent young actor from Hollywood could´ve done these roles and be at the same level. I guess it´s just me, but often these “Jessica Albas” and similar actors from countless American TV-series lack real charisma and originality. Like the old saying goes; they´re just another pretty face. Selma Blair does a decent job, but her character is not like the one that Adrienne Barbeau played in the original film (then again all we horror fans have a soft spot for Barbeau, for various reasons). Now her character is a bit annoying in the film. “Spooner” on the other hand is just another “funny man” in the film (played by Stand up comedian DeRay Davis), but since he isn´t even that funny, his role goes to waste. The version on the DVD is “Unrated”, which includes apparently approx. 3 minutes of material compared to the original “PG-13 theatrical version”. Director Wainwright points out 5 scenes in his audio commentary which include additional material: -Old man is wondering why the historical bell was ringing by itself. -Character Elizabeth is drawing “Scale Of Justice” near her computer, which she has seen at the back of the pocket watch. -Tracking shot from the helicopter, showing the sea and nature, and then car driving down the road. -Additional shots of a man burning, after he has been thrown through the window in flames. -Additional shots of a man burning at the end scene. When there were around 3 shots in the “PG-13”-version, the scene is now about 8 times longer showing more coverage of the burning man. It seems, that two latter scenes were shortened due the MPAA, and rest by the studio. It´s quite clear when you listen the audio commentary, that this “Unrated”-version is the one that Wainwright prefers, saying a few times lines like “I don´t know why studio cut that one out”. Despite all its faults, the film can be partly enjoyable “popcorn fun” with a few scares, some good visuals and quite effective sound design. Some sounds like the aggressive “pounding” at the doors can be scary, and there are few other examples of a good use of sound (not sure though, that are all those sounds necessary when the fog arrives). Several scenes have some eye-candy values and good cinematography, so it´s too bad that the screenplay and the whole direction of the movie are lacking. More horror and scares, and less “bang” and CGI would´ve made this film a better experience. Now, it´s just a flawed horror film aimed for the teenagers. I still think that people who don´t take movies that seriously and haven´t seen the original version can enjoy this one to some degree. Just remember to leave your brain behind.
Video
The “Unrated”-version of the film includes an Anamorphic 2.35:1-transfer. It´s very good, boasting strong black levels and solid colours. The film has many darker night scenes, with some bluer shades and contrasts, and those scenes are well presented. Scenes in daylight look natural, with sun lighting the boathouses and the harbour beautifully. There could be some minor softness and line shimmering in a few scenes, and the bitrate could´ve been a bit higher, but I didn´t see any major artifacts, nor compression issues. Generally the transfer is quite exceptional. The film runs 103:16 minutes (NTSC), and “dual layer” disc is coded “R1”. There are 28 chapters.
Audio
The disc has two audio tracks, English and French Dolby Digital 5.1. English and French subtitles are also included, along with English Closed Captions. Like already pointed out in the review, the sound design is often very good in the film, and the same thing could be said about the English-track. Different sounds of the fog and the ghosts are well presented from the surround-speakers, and when there is pounding at the doors, it almost feels that they´re at your own door. Since the film has some scenes almost like taken from an action-film rather than horror, they offer some aggressive sound field for those who like that. No complaints on the technical sides of the track.
Extras
First we have an audio commentary by director Rupert Wainwright. He does the talking in solo, but gives a fairly informative commentary. He mainly focuses on the technical sides of the production, and doesn´t talk that much e.g. of his actors. He also gives some good background information about the script and its motives, which probably helps in some degree to understand the original goals of the film. One example is, that originally there would´ve been a 10 minute prologue, but in the end they decided to spread that in several scenes in the form of flashbacks. Based on the commentary, Wainwright probably lacks a certain seriousness when it comes to horror-films, and he´s making a joke or two during his chat. He also points out how difficult some scenes involving the sea were to shoot, clearly still vivid in his mind. A few interesting anecdotes are told, e.g. that the “shower scene” involving actress Maggie Grace has a body double in all the shots involving (very minor) nudity, and that some technical equipment in the film were sponsored by Sony. He also tells that the comic book by “Dark Horse” has been done related to the film, and we also learn why only some of the “boat robbers” speak in their scenes. Generally Wainwright doesn´t seem to be fully happy that the studio cut some scenes out of the film originally, and is pleased that they´re now back in. Like already listed, he also points out scenes that are new to the “Unrated”-version. 7 deleted scenes run 12:49 minutes, and can be watched with optional audio commentary by director Rupert Wainwright. You can also use “Play All” option. 1) “Sean And Lucas See Machen” (0:51 sec) Two guys are watching Machen, the old man who´s frequently on the beach, trying to find new treasures from the sand. A few jokes are being made. 2) “Andy Tucked Into Bed” (0:46 sec) Andy is going to bed, while listening to his mom on the radio. 3) “Elizabeth And Mom” (1:49 min) Original extended version of the scene where Elizabeth and her mom meet for the first time when Elizabeth comes back to town. 4) “Lantern Flies And Dan's Death” (1:15 min) (MINOR SPOILER) Different take of the scene where “Dan The Weatherman” gets killed. In this take his lantern flies in the air, ultimately killing Dan (the end of the scene is the same as in the film). 5) “Fog Disables Power Station” (0:49 sec) Scene where the fog (in its early CGI-stage) disables the power station. 6) “Entire Flashback” (6:45 min) Flashback involving the burning boat etc, now seen as continuous scene. 7) “Fireball Through Town Hall” (0:32 sec) Scene at the end, with rough CGI-effects (not finalized due to cost reasons). 3 featurettes are also included, and again you can use “Play All”-option”: -“Whiteout Conditions: The Remaking Of A Horror Classic” runs 8:22 minutes, and it includes interviews from the director Wainwright, screenwriter Cooper Layne, and co-producers David Foster (who also produced “The Thing (1982)”) and Carpenter. It does some comparison of the original version and the new one, and why some characters and the ending were changed. Writer Layne also explains how the studio demands “scary scenes”, but also some character developments, I guess making a point that it isn´t always simple. Carpenter says how e.g. the recent Japanese horror-films like “Ringu (1998)” and “Ju-On: The Grudge (2003)” took a “serious approach” to the horror-genre, the thing that he also likes. -“Seeing Through the Fog” runs 10:05 minutes, and tells the origins of the remake, and how Carpenter basically said “Yeah, go ahead, make me rich” to the co-producer Foster (film was green lighted soon after that). In this featurette we also have some interviews from the cast, and Carpenter also gives his views about these recent remakes, saying that they´re there to give a fresh look to the new generation, which has probably heard of these older films, but never seen them. -“Feeling the Effects of the Fog” runs 14:28 minutes, and focuses on the effects. It tells about the different fogs and how they were created, and also about the special make-up effects (which were then incorporated with CGI-effects). Some scenes were obviously also shot against the “green screen”. Several bonus trailers rounds up the extras: “The Da Vinci Code” (2:06 min), “Underworld: Evolution" (2:21 min), "The Legend of Zorro” (2:28 min), "Memoirs of a Geisha” (2:34 min), "The Pink Panther (2006)” (1:38 min), "Monster House" (1:53 min), "Rent" (2:32 min), "Zathura" (2:32 min), "Underworld - Deluxe Edition" (1:02 min), "The Exorcism Of Emily Rose" (2:30 min), and "The Cave" (2:32 min). Three of these (“The Da Vinci Code”, “Underworld: Evolution", and “The Legend of Zorro”) trailers play before the “Main menu”, but can be skipped at any time. Extras don´t include subtitles.
Overall
A flawed horror-remake, which leaves you pretty much disappointed. It´s not a total waste though, offering a few entertaining bits and pieces, but it´s still way behind the original film by John Carpenter. DVD-release is very good, and it also offers some good extras. Note, that “4:3 theatrical version” is also available. This DVD is available at Loaded247, the UK based supplier of R1-releases.
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