Post by Mr.HoRrOr on Nov 14, 2005 15:12:00 GMT -5
Plot:Exactly one hundred years ago, off the rocky shore of an isolated Northern California town, a ship of lepers seeking refuge was betrayed by the town's founding fathers and burned, dooming everyone aboard. Now, tonight, the ghosts of the long-dead mariners have returned from their watery graves to exact revenge. Shrouded within a supernatural fog, the ghosts trap the residents of the remote community, intent on seeking out the descendants of those who founded the town...and killing anyone who stands in their murderous path.
Cast:
Tom Welling
Maggie Grace
Selma Blair
DeRay Davis
Kenneth Welsh
Adrian Hough
Sara Botsford
Cole Heppell
My Thoughts:Had potential but failed.
Review:"The Fog" had all the pieces there.A decent cast,nice creepy smalltown setting,and most of the story from John Carpenters original 1980 version.Unfortunately,bad pacing and pathetic writing killed any potential this movie had.Let this be a lesson to Hollywood,when you're going to remake a movie for no other reason than to make some moolah,make sure you don't bore the audience to death.Unlike Carpenters version which set the mood perfectly at the beginning mostly with a nice,eerie score,"The Fog 2005" uses a more classical score mixed with piano notes that we've heard in atleast a hundred films before this one.The music however isn't the only problem with this movie,in fact,it's the least of it's problems.Tom Welling plays Nick Castle,a fisherman who along with his friend Spooner (Deray Davis) run a boating business where they take fishcatchers out on the water.It's a pretty boring life for Nick until his girlfriend Elizabeth (Maggie Grace) pops back into town.But once she recieves a mysterious watch from a stranger,weird fog banks begin to roll into the town,decades old objects begin to wash ashore,and people start dropping like flies in the night.Thus the problem with this movie lies here.First of all,Carpenters version revolved around the ghosts of those betrayed by the towns founders coming back to seek revenge.A pretty scary story when you consider they kill anyone living in the town whether they are related to the towns founders or not.In this version,the arrival of Maggie Graces character to the island town of Antonio Bay,sets a chain of horrific events into motion.Thus were led to believe that had she never even came to Antonio Bay,none of this would've ever happened.Maggie Grace also isn't a good enough actress to center a movie around.The film focuses on Nick but once Elizabeth shows up the film totally shifts focus to her tossing some deaths in between.Maggie Grace plays the usual damzel in distress role that we've seen in many horror movies where a young woman is being haunted by visions or ghosts.She comes off as a pretty tough chick once she appears on screen,but it isn't long before she falls right into the motions of whiny girl who cries and screams alot,and needs her boyfriend to protect her.Too bad since for about 3 minutes,the film gave us a female character that might actually stray away from the norm.Another cliche in this movie shows up when the priest father Malone seems to be the only one aware of the impending danger.But rather than leave town after the first murders which take place on Nicks boat,he decides to stick around and drink rum out of his little cantine.So you know the souls of the betrayed have come back seeking revenge on the town and you don't get the hell out of dodge? Come on father. The oddest thing about father Malone is I think I saw him with his cantine of alcohol in hand way more than I ever saw him with a bible.In fact,I don't think Father Malone ever prayed or clutched a bible once in this film.Sure that wouldn't have stopped the ghosts of the betrayed souls,but hey,it's worth a try right? There aren't many kills in this movie (it is after all PG-13) but the few that there are are borderline decent.There is one pretty cool scene involving death by corosion,which takes place before the film sets the finale in motion where the fog bank engulfs the entire town.Truth be told the only likeable and interesting character in this movie was the islands radio station DJ Stevie (Selma Blair). Selmas performance was pretty damn good in this movie I must say.She made the best of every scene she was in despite working with subpar dialogue.She had to give a good performance considering everyone else was about as boring as a stick.Everytime I begin to nod off I just kept holding out for another Stevie scene to keep me awake.
Selma especially shines during the climax when she witnesses her guy friend die at the hands of the ghosts and she leaves the radio station in a frenzy to go get her son, only to get stuck on the road where shes rearended by a truck and ends up in the lake.Yes Selma plays a mom in this movie but while the kid who plays her son isn't annoying,still Selma is too young of an actress to play an on-screen mom.The character of Stevie didn't look a day over 27 if she even was that old in this movie.When the film finally reached it's ultimate conclusion I was hoping they wouldn't stay faithful to Carpenters version because if this film had made it big in theaters they'd churn out a sequel just for the money.But after seeing that utter shit of an ending,I wish they had remained faithful to "The Fog" (1980)'s ending.The ending of the 05' version pretty much makes everything that happened null and void and doesn't make a lick of sense.
Pros:Nice setting,Selma Blair gives a brilliant performance,one nice death scene.
Cons:Bad acting by everyone involved (excluding Ms. Blair).Although I'm not sure if it was the actors as much as it was the horrible script.Lack of deaths that had as much impact as the deaths in JC's version.Terrible ending,and boring characters (again excluding Ms. Blair).
Overall:Some people like "TCM 2003",others didn't. But for those who think "TCM 2003" should be atop the list for worst horror movie remake ever,see "The Fog 2005" and you'll change your mind really quickly.