Thirty-eight years ago in 1980 I saw my first horror movie in the theater, John Carpenter’s The Fog.  Referred to as “the most beautifully shot of all John Carpenter films,” “a better Halloween movie than the slasher that bears the holiday’s name,” “an incredibly atmospheric horror flick,” and “a horror classic,” The Fog is returning to theaters in time for Halloween.  It’s distributor, Rialto Pictures, contacted borg.com with the below trailer for the film’s new 4K restoration edition from Studiocanal.  This is the first restoration for John Carpenter’s first follow-up to the mega-hit 1970s slasher flick, Halloween.

“Out of theatrical release for years due to faded, unplayable prints, The Fog can now be viewed again as it was intended, with the restoration of its breathtaking color cinematography by Dean Cundey (Escape From New York, the Back To The Future series, Apollo 13, Romancing The Stone), who deftly captured both the daylight beauty of the Point Reyes shore and the ghostly goings-on in the dark, eerie night,” according to the publicist for Rialto.

The movie stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Adrienne Barbeau in her first feature film, Tom Atkins, Hal Holbrook, and Janet Leigh(star of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and Curtis’s mother), plus John Houseman and familiar Carpenter stock actor John “Buck” Flower.  The beautiful seaside town of Antonio Bay is visited by a large fog bank on the anniversary of the town’s founding.  Two women in the town, a radio DJ stationed at the lighthouse (Barbeau) and a drifter (Curtis), try to escape what lies within the fog as the town preacher learns the terrible secret behind the fog’s appearance.

The release coincides with the release of the new Halloween reboot movie’s release, also starring Jamie Lee Curtis (a great excuse for Alamo Drafthouse theaters to schedule a double feature?).  Check out this trailer for the 4K restoration of The Fog:

Rialto Pictures has restored several previous films, including The Third Man, Akira Kurosawa’s Ran, John Carpenter’s Escape From New York, and Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead 2.  The studio represents more than 2,000 films of the Studiocanal catalog.  “The Fog has been our most requested title for as long as we have handled the Studiocanal library here,” according to Eric Di Bernardo, Rialto’s director of sales.  “It is Carpenter’s most visually alluring film and we think it’s been worth the wait.”

Look for the 4K restoration of The Fog in Alamo Drafthouse and other select theaters beginning October 26, 2018, with screenings in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles.  Check your local theater listings in October for additional local showtimes and locations.  There’s no word yet on the release date of a home 4K edition.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com