The Fog

The Fog

1980

Directed by John Carpenter

I was a bit disappointed in this film. I really enjoyed The Thing, so I have been interested in watching more of Carpenter's films. I think that he took a bit of a misstep with this film. I liked the narrative of the film enough... I just think it was made to be more of a slasher type film than it should have been. The story of the film follows a sea-side town that was cursed on the night of its founding 100 years earlier. A fog rolls in during the centennial celebration and people are slaughtered as an act of revenge for the greed of the town's founders. I think that if the town's secret had been kept a bit more mysterious until the end, the film would have made a great ghost story.

Rustin Allison

The Thing

The Thing

1982

Directed by John Carpenter

I really, really enjoyed this film. This is one of those films that I have always heard about, but I have never seen. It truly lives up to its reputation as one of the great horror films.

The aspects of this films that stood out to me are the themes of isolation and paranoia. These men are stuck in a base in the Antarctic at first investigating an alien presence and then trying to escape from it. These are men who can not escape their fate and the inevitableness of the film is one of the things about it that really appealed to me.

The alien can change shape and can take the form of its victims. This leads to a growing sense of paranoia amongst the men as they can no longer trust the people that they have been. This is where the true horror of the film plays out, and I thought the film's greatest moments were when the men could no longer trust one another.

This is one of the few times where I have watched a movie twice back to back and I honestly would not mind watching the film a third or fourth time. The effects were disturbing and amazing and the twisted alien forms had a horrific look to them. I highly recommend this film to any horror or science fiction fan.

Rustin Allison