‘The Fog’: The movie John Carpenter admitted made him feel “terrible”
The horror genre rapidly developed in the 1970s due to the changing landscape of the film industry. After censorship began to ease, the New Hollywood era gave way to more violence and nihilism than ever before in mainstream cinema. People were more open to watching graphic content, and a surprisingly large market for horror became apparent during the decade.
The success of mainstream movies like The Exorcist and indie flicks like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre – both box office hits – indicated that audiences were craving thrilling, terrifying cinematic experiences. One of the most iconic horror movies to emerge from the decade was Halloween, directed by John Carpenter.
The film helped popularise the burgeoning slasher genre, spawning countless copycat movies in the years that followed. Halloween was made on a minimal budget, but it proved to be an instant success. People were captivated by the story of a masked killer terrorising a seemingly quaint suburban town, targeting teenagers who hadn’t done anything wrong. Halloween suggested that no one was safe, reflecting many of the cultural and political anxieties sweeping America during this period.
Carpenter became instant horror royalty and subsequently began making other scary movies, his next being The Fog. Released in 1980, the film also starred Curtis, although this time, he introduced a supernatural element. Vengeful ghosts come to taunt residents in The Fog; however, Carpenter soon found that his movie wasn’t nearly as scary as he’d hoped – and it was not as scary as Halloween, either.
In an interview with Flashback Files, Carpenter admitted that he tried to “ignore” the pressure to make something as good and frightening as Halloween. “Trying to match something you’ve done is a real bad idea. So I just ignored it and kept onward.”
However, when he realised that The Fog “wasn’t very scary,” and he “had to amp it up,” Carpenter revealed that he felt “terrible.”
He added, “It felt like shit! You want it to work the first time.”
Thankfully, Carpenter was able to save his film, explaining that “Avco Embassy agreed to put up another chunk of money and we went back through the film and finessed everything.”
As a result, Carpenter wrote some new sequences and “made it more like a ghost story,” as well as changing the music. His hard work paid off, and The Fog grossed $21.3million against a $1m budget. “We managed to open number one, so I was happy,” he expressed.
While Carpenter’s film isn’t considered the greatest scary movie in the world, it remains one of his most beloved works, helping to establish him as a distinctive icon of the horror world.
