35 Years Ago Before The Witch, John Carpenter Made Slow-Burn a Thing With This Horror Gem
The great master of the horror genre, John Carpenter is best known for films such as The Thing and Christine. But many forget that 40 years before the boom in slow-burners, the director showed how to scare viewers not with jumpscares but with an oppressive atmosphere.
Just when everyone thought inventive horror was a thing of the past, Robert Eggers came along. His The Witch is an example of a measured aesthetic horror film in which the form is more frightening than the content.
Here, irrational fear reigns supreme, hidden in rustling noises, shadows, music, and oppressive cinematography.
The Witch, along with It Follows, became one of the first representatives of a new wave of slow burners – films that focused on gently immersing the viewer in an atmosphere of tension and dread.
But almost 40 years before Robert Eggers' hit, horror master John Carpenter released an already forgotten gem that probably became one of the first slow-burn horror movies in history – The Fog.
What Is The Fog About?
The Fog is an eerie story about ghosts from the past and a defenseless small town that must fight evil phantoms.
Exactly one hundred years ago, a ship carrying fishermen crashed near the rocks, and now the town is shrouded in a thick fog, torn apart by violent ghosts of the past.
The Fog Evokes Ancient Fears and Draws You in With Its Unhurried and Suspenseful Atmosphere
Despite its apparent simplicity, The Fog is one of the most important films by the master of suspense John Carpenter. Ancient people believed that unimaginable monsters lurked in the fog, and the director reproduces this archetypal fear.
For John Carpenter, the most important thing was to create an oppressive atmosphere, a fear that comes out of nowhere, so that the viewer feels uncomfortable throughout the movie.
The horror in The Fog remains hidden, there are few direct confrontations with evil, but at the same time Carpenter combines shots of a sleeping city, alternating silence and the sounds of working mechanisms, so that the viewer feels a sense of impending disaster.
The Fog Is Another Collaboration Between John Carpenter and Jamie Lee Curtis
John Carpenter and Jamie Lee Curtis were not only connected by Halloween. The director also cast the actress in one of the lead roles in The Fog.
In the role of a girl named Elizabeth, Jamie Lee Curtis moved away from the role of an innocent high school student she portrayed in Halloween, but continued to escape the evil gathering around her with passion and ardor.
The Fog Wasn't a Hit When It Was Released, but It Still Scares a New Generation of Horror Fans
A simple story about ghosts returning to take revenge on the townspeople on the eve of the town's centennial, it is just as scary more than 40 years later as it was the year it premiered.
It's a shame that the movie was underrated at the time, but if you're nostalgic for 1980s retro horror now, you're guaranteed to enjoy it.
