The group that came to see the statue didn't even experience the Fog, never mind were attacked.
Was it a 'opportunistic' attack then?
"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."
Funny this is my all time favourite horror film but that is the only thing I always thought about. Perhaps they were at the other side of town? Or Stevie screaming to stay out of the fog got them so scared they decided to stay where they were? One thing we can only guess on.
shareThat will always be a flaw in the film, one that sparks the idea from fans that the Fog was exacting revenge on direct ancestors of the conspirators. This, of course, is never addressed so viewers are free to fill in the gaps any way they like.
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Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?
maybe they were always heading to their gold, in the church...
Seriously, it's not mine
That's an interesting idea.
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Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?
How do you know they didn't? The camera and story was only focusing on Dan and the main group of people. Perhaps there will dead towns people in their homes and we just didn't see it.
shareeuro, sorry but only 6 must die. So no one else did die.
shareIf they were going for only 6 kills, why did they bother attacking Adrienne Barbeau's character at the lighthouse?
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I want to play a game.
I think they attacked Stevie in the lighthouse just because she was there. The kills, oddly, seemed to be merely opportunistic. It did not seem to matter who was killed, just 6.
Someone mentioned up here that the ghosts presumably only had 24 hours to accomplish this, so they attacked anyone they could and likely became more 'desperate' as the night wore on.
"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."
Someone mentioned up here that the ghosts presumably only had 24 hours to accomplish this, so they attacked anyone they could and likely became more 'desperate' as the night wore on.
Regarding actual real location placement, the restaurant/bar (The Olema Farmhouse) where the ceremony is held, is further inland from the coast than the church.
Carpenter obviously knew this, and maybe he just went the route of the fog never reaching that far inland, because it would be able to claim it's six victims before reaching the restaurant/bar.
Probably never even dreaming beyond his wildest imagination it would be up for discussion by an audience, such as were doing here...he's gotta love this!
I think it was more then 24 hours, for a start, they could only appear between Midnight and 1am. So that would be at least 25 hours.
shareFather Malone Sr. wrote in his journal that "midnight till 1 belongs to the dead", but he wrote that because this was the time in which the ship crashed against the rocks of Spivey Point and killed the crew of lepers. 100 years later, midnight till 1, we see supernatural activity flare up around town and the ghosts make their first appearance on the Seagrass and outside of Nick's home. The 21st of April was the 100 year anniversary and started at midnight, and ended before midnight of the next night. That is why the other killings happened in the early evening hours of the same day. They didn't even have twenty four hours, but rather only the night hours that belonged to the 21st of April.
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Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?
>>> For the same reason that they stopped attacked Stevie when Blake got his gold. Father Malone was intended to be the sixth victim and then Nick saved him at the last second before he was consumed by the fiery supernatural glow that took Blake away. Once a sixth victim was killed, it was all over. Father Malone being a direct descendant was merely icing on the cake and the reason that Blake returned for him specifically.
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Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?
Having just watched this again, this will always be the one flaw in the film. Moments earlier, Mrs. Williams allows Sandy to go ahead and take her home. They are right there in town for the ceremony, and they encounter the fog coming right at them down the downtown street. People were still filling through to see the statue, so it is hard to believe that everyone magically got home that quickly. It's just funny to see that apparently everyone disappeared. I still like the idea that the fog was headed in the direction of the church to reclaim the gold, and only part of town was enshrouded by it. Then again, the fog going up the hill to the lighthouse would have to be going in the opposite direction of the path Stevie watches it take before then.
I know the remake had The Fog going directly after actual descendents, but this cannot be the case in this film. If it were, then there would be no explanation for their having already gotten five people and Malone be the only one left, yet they are trying to kill Stevie and even Sandy and Elizabeth right at the end.
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Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?
TheSolarSailor you always seem as passionate about this film as me, anyway I agree, but perhaps the fog had left that part of town by the time the rest of the town got there. I guess we got to just try and make a reasonable deduction on this.
shareYes, I am willing to let it slide because I love the film so much, but it is fun to think about the logistics of it all. We know the lighthouse is in an isolated location, as seen by the drive Stevie takes up to it earlier in the film. The only way to have somewhat fixed this would be to have the celebration happen earlier in the evening, and then have Mrs. Williams still in town closing everything down.
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Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?
I used to think the fog went after Stevie because she was guiding everyone else in the town.
leader wormface might have instructed "go get that lady! she's ruining our fun..."
we didn't order chicken...
The Fog certainly tried to cut off communications, first the power, then the phone lines. They went after her to shut her up, which they did. As for the others, I wondered that myself, if it was always a specific six or just 6 they happened upon? The Fog could have conceivably killed more offscreen as evil and collateral damage. Even the ending when Stevie warns ships about the Fog even after 5 of the 6 were dead, meant that it could keep killing.
"He came home." - Dr. Sam Loomis from the original HalloweeN
I wondered that myself, if it was always a specific six or just 6 they happened upon? >>> Like I said earlier, if the lepers were going after specific descendants, then their final focus would have been Malone and none of the others would be getting attacked at this point, least of all Stevie who is from out of town.
The Fog could have conceivably killed more offscreen as evil and collateral damage. >>> I like the idea that the specters have rules that they have to abide by and aren't free to just come back and kill any and everyone. It adds to the weird supernatural domain that they have returned from that we know nothing about, that they appear "from midnight to one" when the original conspirators planned their evil act against the Elizabeth Dane, and then the lepers return the night of the 21st which is exactly 100 years after they sank to their deaths. I like the fact that they are limited to six lives for the six who betrayed them and limited to the time that marks 100 years later.
Even the ending when Stevie warns ships about the Fog even after 5 of the 6 were dead, meant that it could keep killing. >>> Not really. Stevie knows very little and has no real context for the "6 must die" vision she had regarding the driftwood. She is scared and says what she says because something she never could have fathomed or believed had just happened, so it stands to reason that something could happen again.
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Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?
Even the ending when Stevie warns ships about the Fog even after 5 of the 6 were dead, meant that it could keep killing.
Bump...a good discussion that was about to disappear into oblivion at the bottom of the page. I thought I would rescue it!
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Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?
Maybe the fog didn't make it to that end of town. I noticed that Stevie Wayne says that the fog is like a wall over the east side of town, so maybe that implies that it is not covering the entire town? I mean, we never get a real feel for how Antonio Bay is set up. I know it's a stretch, but we can use it to explain why the townsfolk weren't attacked!
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Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?
I just read your 11/27 post.... you bumped and rescued this one again!
shareThis time it wasn't a rescue, as it was not at the bottom of the page! . It's a good conversation and I do hate to see it disappear, though. In any case, I purposely looked for this thread because when watching the movie earlier today, I took note of the "east end of town comment" and thought that may be an excuse we could use!
Funny, I always see something new in this movie.
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Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?
The real reason that the ghosts attack Stevie is because John Carpenter needed more scenes to punch up the action/horror. The ghosts killed everyone on the Sea Grass even though they only they just needed one who was likely connected to the original six.
"Listen, do you smell something? -Ray Stantz"
You think the cop, might have gone to investigate it.
shareI always thought (even as a kid) that the fog simply hadn't made it to that part of town yet, and I assumed most others did, too. I was actually surprised to come on here and find an entire thread about this. Some were even calling it a "FLAW"? The fog was moving "like a wall" across town, and it had yet to envelop the area where the townspeople had gathered. It doesn't get much simpler than that. And I mean, let's keep it real here . . . there probably wasn't enough money in the limited budget to film an elaborate set piece of that magnitude.
Either way, I think the film is perfect as is, and I think an epic attack on the townspeople might have even come across as hokey in a movie that actually has genuine gravitas. I also think it might have made the ghosts less scary (Cardinal Rule of Horror: never show the monster too soon or too much--which, thankfully, in The Fog, they avoided on both counts). With that said, I do understand that fans love to discuss every last detail of the films they love. I'm guilty of it myself.
I feel that one of the things that made this movie very scary was the fact thatthe ghost targeted isolated people are relatively small groups of people. I wouldn't see an attack on a group of 100 people as very frightening. Stevie at the lighthouse, all alone. The weather doofus, all alone. The peeps on the Seagrass, cut off from the world in the ghosts playground and separated from each other on the boat. The elderly babysitter, father Malone, the small group in the church, etc etc. Basically, if you're cut off from the outside world, you're screwed and they are coming to get you.
I love this movie, and it is one that scares me the most.
Thanks to everyone for keeping this thread going!
I enjoy reading everyone's responses & theories about this superb film.
Those are good theories, that Blake & his group may be heading toward the church and/or trying to avoid large groups of people.
I'm not sure about the Fog not being able to cover the entire town though.
I'm assuming Antonio Bay is not that large, surely it could do that in the time allotted for them?
I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush.
The fishermen and the babysitter are killed on or right near the water. And the weatherman gets it so he can't track and warn of the Fog bur not before calling Stevie who does raise the alarm. Stevie and those in possession of the gold are now the targets, logically (if logic should be invoked in relation to a ghost story.)
Sure a larger budget production would probably have shot and intercut some meanwhile-in-the-other-parts-of-town type action. Even if just to add production value.
I don't think the story requires to be expanded in that way. In fact we're told to expect six victims and we're only one away by that point. Why would we expect to see the entire town being terrorised? If someone else has to die then we're expecting to be one of the people we have already seen in connection to the story, or a character we're expected to care about.
Stevie only warns the entire town because she doesn't know about Blake's motives. As far as she knows, the fog is going to kill everybody. But the audience knows better by the time the fog moves inland.
A bit weird to call the absence of widespread slaughter a flaw when the script dictates that only one more victim is required.
"I don't need to believe it's real. I just need to believe it."
Maybe, in addition to the 6 who must die, the ghosts were just pissed off from revenge and opportunistically killed townspeople along the way (as you said, near or on the water), and also maybe because ostensibly the stolen gold helped found the town, and so other townspeople could have been descendants of the original founders.
In for a penny, in for a pound.
Heck, the ghosts may not have even expected the gold to still be there when they attacked the church, but instead were there to just go after the minister.
There is no 'rule' established that I remember that these ghosts had to be very smart or even all-knowing
"A distant ship, smoke on the horizon. You are only coming through in waves."
I didn't see anything that told me that the ghosts were maybe just pissed off or not that smart or not that all-knowing, whatever that means.
I know they only had one more conspirator to kill, as stated by the ghosts, at the point when people say they're supposed to be slaughtering a square full of townspeople to satisfy their supposed plot hole.
"I don't need to believe it's real. I just need to believe it."
GorchBrother^
"I didn't see anything that told me that the ghosts were maybe just pissed off or not that smart or not that all-knowing, whatever that means."
Whatever 'what' means? The word 'all-knowing'?
And, I was just offering an example of an alternate motivation / trait (as a 'maybe') to what in other posts seemed to be implied...
"A distant ship, smoke on the horizon. You are only coming through in waves."
And, I was just offering an example of an alternate motivation / trait (as a 'maybe') to what in other posts seemed to be implied...
I just rewatched it and I thought I remembered a scene where the fog attacked the townspeople. Nope! Should have been.
shareIn the novel it was revealed that the people the ghosts attacked were the descendants of the conspirators that killed Blake's people. None of them were present at the statue ceremony.
share