A century after a shipwreck off the coast of Antonio Bay, a fog bank rolls into town with a long memory and a score to settle. And the only voice you want to hear when it comes ashore belongs to Adrienne Barbeau.
I celebrate Tom Atkins’ birthday with a deep dive into John Carpenter’s The Fog (1980). I get into Barbeau’s turn as late-night DJ Stevie Wayne, the easy chemistry between Atkins and Jamie Lee Curtis, and the quiet gravity Hal Holbrook brings to a priest who knows more than he’d like to.
Behind the camera, Carpenter and co-writer and producer Debra Hill build a ghost story around a town’s buried history. Cinematographer Dean Cundey makes the fog look like it has a pulse, and Rob Bottin helps give the dead a presence you can feel before you get a good look at them.
Tune in for a birthday toast to Atkins and a closer look at how Carpenter and company made an empty street feel like the last place on earth you’d want to be.
The Cast
Adrienne Barbeau as Stevie Wayne
Jamie Lee Curtis as Elizabeth Solley
Tom Atkins as Nick Castle
Janet Leigh as Kathy Williams
Hal Holbrook as Father Malone
John Houseman as Mr. Machen
Rob Bottin as Blake
The Crew
John Carpenter — Director, Co-Writer, and Composer
Debra Hill — Producer and Co-Writer
Dean Cundey — Director of Photography
Tommy Lee Wallace — Production Designer and Co-Editor
Charles Bornstein — Co-Editor
Rob Bottin — Special Makeup Effects
Become a supporter of this podcast:
https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ellissinema-podcast--3292191/support.
