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Parents' Guide to

The Fog

By Charles Cassady Jr., Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 15+

'80s horror has intense peril, lots of scares.

Movie R 1980 90 minutes
The Fog Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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age 13+

Based on 8 parent reviews

doctora
doctora Parent of 6-year-old
April 13, 2023
age 15+

Another John Carpenter suspense fest

John Carpenter can set up a creepy mood that leaves you anxious and waiting for the other shoe to drop and this film does not disappoint in that arena. What does all of this fog mean? Who will survive it? And what does it want? Barbeau and Curtis all perform their roles well and there is enough tension that is both intriguing and a bit sophomoric, but always entertaining.
Residentkidd
Residentkidd Adult
September 28, 2020
age 15+

Spooky Ghost story.

Not often do you get a really good Ghost story that's both chilling and engrossing. John Carpenters classic tale tells the story of a centuries old ships crew killed on the shores of Antonio Bay by the local townsfolk during an unearthly fog, determined in their quest to avoid a colony of lepers settling in their home. The curse on the town by the crewmen, return to reclaim the lives of the conspirators who damned them to a watery grave and with bloody retribution. Not really suitable for young children but your later year teenagers will love this creep fest! Pillows at the ready and cuddle in with a loved one because this movie is guaranteed to scare! Turn on the lights......There's something in the fog!

This title has:

Too much violence
See all 8 parent reviews

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 that 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 get their claws on.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (8 ):
Kids say (12 ):

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 also has ridiculous and logic-defying details that 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 there are 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 mature content, The Fog could pass for a Goosebumps-style chiller strictly for youngsters, like the campfire ghost story that opens the narrative.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about horror movie violence. Unlike in many horror movies, the most graphic moments of killing are edited out and left to the viewer's imagination. Is it scarier to leave out the gory moments, or is it scarier if the movie graphically shows someone being killed?

  • How was the element of surprise used to create moments of suspense?

  • As a movie from 1980, what did you notice in terms of cultural differences between then and now -- with drinking and smoking, for instance?

  • Have you seen the 2005 version? How does this compare?

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