ESCAPE POD SERIES: John Carpenter’s The Fog
Earth is about to be destroyed. You’ve been selected to bring the best movies to our next world in THE ESCAPE POD. You can only bring 25 from each decade. Which ones will you choose?
The Candidate #1
John Carpenter’s The Fog (Released: Feb 7th, 1980)
What Was Going On In The World
At the beginning of 1980? Well, there was a little thing called the Cold War going on.
At the end of 1979, 52 US diplomates continue to be held hostage in Iran following the Iranian revolution (they’ll remain there till Jan ’81), and the Soviets invade Afghanistan to start a war that would last until the Soviet Union collapsed in 1989.
In the first month of 1980, Paul McCartney of the Beatles was arrested at a Tokyo airport for marijuana possession (he gets nine days in jail). President Jimmy Carter announces the US boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. And six fugitive US diplomats escape Iran with the help of Canadian diplomats and a CIA plan that saw them posing as a Hollywood film crew (see 2012’s Oscar winning “Argo”).
What Am I Jamming To On The Radio
Nothing but the good stuff, brother.
On this early February day, the radio should be cranked all the way up with the sounds of Rupert Holmes “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)”, The KC And the Sunshine Band’s “Please Don’t Go”, Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You” and a “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by Queen. It was also the last time you’d hear Led Zeppelin breaking the top 40, with “Fool In The Rain” (queue farewell salute to a pillar of rock). But, as a sign of things to come, it might be the first time you were exposed to hip hop, through the Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight”
For songs you’ll love but have never heard of, please let me offer you Steve Forbet’s “Romeo’s Tune” and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “An American Dream”.
The Fog
It would be understandable if a cursory passer-by confused this for the sequel to Brigadoon. After-all, both movies deal with strange fogs that appear only once in 100 years. Yet, while Brigadoon’s rare meteorological phenomena transports its victims to an 18th Century Scottish village for a tartan-injected musical extravaganza (everyone together: “Brigadoon! Brigadoon! There my heart forever lies”). The atmospheric event from “The Fog”, is a little more on the cursed ghosts hell bent on revenge side of things.
Plot wise, you’ve got your classic tale of a small American fishing village rich guy (yay!) with leprosyBasically, 100 years ago in a Californian town called Antonio Bay, a rich man (Blake) with leprosy wants to get off a neighboring island he’s stuck on with his leper mates, and move to the mainland. The mainlanders are less than keen on the idea (no one likes leprosy). So led by the town’s priest, they hatch a plan … during the hours of 12am to 1am on April 20th no less … to kill the lepers by secretly luring their ship, the Elizabeth Dane, onto the rocks where it gets smashed to bits and sinks. This all takes place under the cover of an unnatural fog. To add insult to injury, the mainlanders also steal Blake’s gold (it’s the Spanish gold variety, naturally), and use the money to set up Antonio Bay.
Fast-forward a century and Antonio Bay is ready to have its 100 year old birthday. But guess who’s coming in to ruin the celebrations?
Into this mix enters horror movie stable, Jamie Lee Curtis. She’s Elizabeth Solley, an artist who apparently has no regard for her life as she’s trying to hitchhike to Vancouver in the middle of the night. She’s picked up by the unflappable Nick Castle who’s driving a 60’s pickup truck and swigging Budweiser’s.
Then you’ve got Stevie Wayne (Adrienne Barbeau). A woman who really needs to question some of her career/life decisions. She’s a single mother and also the owner, and sole employee, of a late-night jazz radio station (6pm – 1am). When does she ever see her son? How many people listen to jazz in a sleepy Californian fishing village? Why did she set up the radio station in a lighthouse, when she could’ve just as easily done it out of her home? Yet, Stevie is rocking a perfect Farrah Fawcett hairstyle, even in the morning, so perhaps all must be forgiven.
Add to the mix, you’ve got a priest and a councilwoman (plus annoying councilwoman assistant). It is with these six people who must do battle with Blake’s leper ghosts. And they pretty much fail. The ghosts come to kill six people (retaliation for the original six conspirators), and they succeed. They also want their Spanish gold back, and they succeed there too.