The Fog (1980) [Collector’s Edition Blu-Ray]



Director: John Carpenter



Cast: Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis,Tom Atkins, Hal Holbrook



Release Date: Collector’s Edition Blu-Ray & DVD Available On July 30



A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 8.5/10

Disc Rating: 10/10

Plot Summary:

A Northern California fishing town, built 100 years ago over an old leper colony, becomes shrouded by a killer fog containing zombie-like ghosts seeking revenge for their deaths.

Believe it or not, I had never seen John Carpenters classic ‘The Fog’ until now, but I must say this Collector’s Edition Blu-Ray release from Shout Factory’s Scream Factory division was quite a wonderful way to view this film for the first time and I must also say I loved it. This is a truly fantastic movie and every aspect of it is done right with that famous John Carpenter style. Great casting, some wonderfully creepy moments and yet another phenomenal soundtrack by John Carpenter, who’s music I truly feel is one of the most noteworthy aspects of a lot of his films, and ‘The Fog’ is certainly no exception in that department.

The tone of the film is wonderful, the directing spot on, and the story (written by John Carpenter & Debra Hill) is very well crafted. The performances are well done all across the board. We are treated with the likes of Adrienne Barbeau as a radio DJ who is determined to get to the bottom of this strange fog, and keeps the town informed of occurring events via her radio station in which she both owns and is the sole online personality of. Tom Atkins and Jamie Lee Curtis are together for the majority of the story and work quite well together. Let’s all not forget that this was done just a few years after Curtis worked with Carpenter on ‘Halloween’ and was establishing herself as one of that generations ‘Scream Queens’ and it’s no wonder he chose to work with her again. Probably the most noteworthy performance of the film in my opinion is that of Hal Holbrook who portrays the role of Father Malone and does a truly phenomenal job of bringing this character to life. While I am new to this film, I would assume I can’t be the only one who feels what a noteworthy character this is.

Now, as far as this new Collector’s Edition from Shout Factory is concerned, prepare to have your socks knocked off. This is an incredibly impressive release, with a beautiful new HD transfer of the film supervised by the cinematographer, a brand new commentary track and a huge array of special features, both new and old that make this one Blu-Ray release that truly lives up to the term Collector’s Edition. I cannot speak highly enough about both the quality and comprehensive list of features that combine to make this a must own for any fan of the film. I would highly recommend any fans of the ‘The Fog’ pick a copy up as I’m certain you will be quite glad you did.

VIDEO:

The Collector’s Edition Blu-Ray release of ‘The Fog’ features a new 1080p High Definition transfer supervised by Cinematographer Dean Cundey which utilizes the film’s original 2.35:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio and it looks remarkable. Not only is every aspect of the transfer sharp, clean and perfectly touched up, it leaves the grain and mild imperfections that I feel are truly an important factor of cinema from this era and it put a smile on my face to see just how properly they treated this transfer. It is a truly rare thing for so much care and detail to be put into an HD transfer in order to leave certain important artifacts while maintaining breathtaking quality and every fan of this film should be more than thoroughly satisfied.

AUDIO:

The Collector’s Edition Blu-Ray release of ‘The Fog’ features a lossless 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack which sounds great. The bass and detail of the soundtrack really give an impressive kick, and both the sudden and overbearing scare elements during creepy moments are spot on. As far as a film like this goes, this is a pretty perfect lossless audio soundtrack, and quite notable considering the age of the film.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

This Collector’s Edition Blu-Ray is so chock full of special features I won’t even be able to mention them all here, but I’d like to make note of a number, mainly a lot of the new special features being presented for the first time on this release. In addition to the new HD transfer, we are treated with a new audio commentary track featuring actress Adrienne Barbeau, actor Tom Atkins and Production Designer Tommy Lee Wallace, An exclusive interview with Jamie Lee Curtis discussing ‘The Fog’ and covering her legendary early 80s ‘Scream Queen’ career, and a couple more brand new special features as well. On top of all of that, we are additionally presented with a number of previously released features, including another audio commentary track with John Carpenter and Debra Hill, ‘Tales From The Mist: The Fog Featurette’ and a number more. As you can see there is quite an abundance of great features here, giving you yet just another reason to pick up a copy of this Collector’s Edition which you certainly won’t want to miss out on.

Film Rating: 8.5/10

Disc Rating: 10/10

‘The Fog’ Collector’s Edition Blu-Ray & DVD Will Be Available To Own On July 30 From Scream Factory. You can preorder the Blu-Ray on Amazon by clicking here or pick it up at your local retailer beginning July 30.