 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
The Fog
- Review Date: September 19, 2005
- R
- Genre: Horror
- 1980
Common Sense Media says
Not much gore, but still too intense for kids.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this movie has violence, as ghostly sea zombies slash into living folks with their cutlasses. This happens in quick "shock" edits, which are careful to leave the worst of it to your imagination. Still the director's favorite trick seems to be a nice, shiny blade suddenly popping out of a victim who's been run clean through. The movie is still too violent for kids and tweens.
What's the story?
In THE FOG, an old sailor (John Houseman) tells spellbound boys of a shipwreck 100 years earlier, and the restless dead mariners at the bottom of the sea. The yarn turns out to be a whitewash of what really did happen here, with the terrible truth revealed as the community looks forward to celebrating its hundredth anniversary. At the stroke of midnight, glass breaks all over town, and walls tremble. Out at sea a trawler is surrounded in weird, glowing fog. Fishermen on board see a ghost ship and are slain by its ragged, shadowy crew bearing cutlasses. At the town church, hard-drinking Pastor Malone (Hal Holbrook) finds an old diary that says an island colony plagued with the dreaded disease leprosy was planning to move to the shore and paid the founders of Antonio Bay in gold for the privilege. However, six prominent townspeople lit a false signal-fire on the beach so the ship would wreck on the rocks instead. Now, the dead are back for revenge, to claim the lives of six locals -- or whomever they can just get their claws on.
Is it any good?
Fog of a different sort seems to have muddled the shapeless script, co-written by director John Carpenter. Though The Fog has a few bona fide jump-out-of-your-seat moments, it's also got ridiculous and logic-defying details viewers of any age should see right through. Sometimes the living dead materialize wherever the fog seeps in, sometimes a locked door or window stops them, and more silly things that most kids will pick up on.
In-joke character names are derived from horror movies/literature and John Carpenter's moviemaking associates (Arthur Machen, Dr. Phibes, Dan O'Bannon), but the talented cast, in thinly-sketched roles, plays things entirely straight-faced, unlike later horror movies where dark humor was abundantly added to the terror. The movie ends on a rather grim note of inevitable fate that's like the slam of a coffin lid. If it had a little less violence, sex, and profanity, The Fog could pass for a "Goosebumps"-style chiller strictly for youngsters, like the campfire ghost story that opens the narrative.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about how the victims in this movie seem particularly innocent and remote from the foul deed of their ancestors. You could talk about this and the Biblical idea of "the sins of the fathers" and apply it to real events. Putting aside the killer undead lepers for a while, should people a century in the future be held accountable for such atrocities as Pearl Harbor? The Holocaust? September 11? Slavery?
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- Teens & kids
AGE
VERY SCARY! NOT FOR KIDS. OKAY FOR OLDER TEENS.
There are killing scenes young children should see. Very violent.Violent deaths.
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AGE
hilarious "horror" movie
funny stuff. anyone can watch this movie, in my opinion. its just such a funny plotline. haha. i dont really recommend you watch this movie because you might DIE of boredom. funny stuff but its not worth your time.
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AGE
This movie was made in 1980, which is before PG-13 existed. But there was no blood at all, brief language, and anything sexual was so minor that it doesn't even matter. So if there was no PG-13, maybe it should have a PG. Seriously, Indiana Jones has more blood than this. But the movie itself was okay, and it had some great scenes.
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AGE
Very boring...
This movie is dreadfully boring. There is no redeeming value to it whatsoever. And this is coming from the mouth of a horror movie fanatic. The plot is confusing and difficult to understand, the acting is bad, and the R rating is as deceiving as junk food. There is hardly any violence at all, and, if any, is mostly in shadow, with very little bloodletting, and no originality whatsoever. Note: if you are a fan of slasher flicks, creature features, or any type of horror/thriller/Sci-fi movies, and have heard about this movie, DO NOT WATCH!!! You will be very disappointed. And as for the rating, they should have kept it at PG, since most kids of at least 11 or 12 should be able to handle it.
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AGE
Tame enough for 14 and up.
If this movie opened today, it would definitely be rated PG-13. Strangely, the PG-13 remake has more then double the violence, innuendo, and language then the older R rated version. The remake was very violent with broken glass hitting one guy in the chest, and at least four lengthy scenes where people burst into flames. The original doesn't have anything nearly that violent (except for one scene where a guy is run though with an antique-looking sword, but the scene is over pretty quickly). I should mention that the original version has more drinking then the remake. In one scene several old beer cans are found on a deserted boat, and someone makes the comment that "they were like that every night." Parents should also know that the original version of The Fog has a much scarier ending then the remake. If your family is disturbed by violent scenes in movies, you should watch the original version and skip the remake. But if you consider unhappy endings more disturbing, you should watch the remake and skip the original.
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AGE
good actor
Havn't seen it, but to me I think it is violent, but I KNOW that Tom Welling is a good actor and that this movie will be great for kids maybe 12 and above. I'll give i a 4 for good actors.
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AGE
one of my favorite horror movies ever
one of the best john carpenter movies ever and really violent without showing any blood
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| Studio: | MGM/UA |
| Director: | John Carpenter |
| Cast: | Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh |
| Genre: | Horror |
| Run time: | 90 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | September 20, 1980 |
| DVD release date: | August 9, 2003 |
| MPAA rating: | R |
| MPAA explanation: | violence |
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