MovieChat Forums > The Fog (1980) Discussion > Is there any way to make sense of the en...

Is there any way to make sense of the ending?

posted 3 years ago by spurtle467 (1551)
16 replies | jump to latest

At the end we see that Blake and his men disappear with the gold cross only to reappear again and kill off the priest to give them the 6 deaths that they really came for. My question is, was there actually any reasoning for them suddenly disappearing when they wanted a 6th death and could easily have got it in the position they were in, either from Stevie or the priest who they kill anyway? Other than setting up a sort of surprise final scare for the sake of the movie of course.

It also kind of suddenly breaks the rule of the fog itself as well. Up until that point it has been a sinister looking fog that has come in from the sea onto land, but at the end it just quickly appears in the church in the space of a few seconds, as if it had been hiding round the corner briefly, pretending to have gone.

I'm not knocking the film as I really like The Fog. It's a nice little effective ghost story/horror and it's a satisfying ending. It's just not one that makes a great deal of sense when I think about it.

[–] PaladinNJ (21587) 3 years ago

Father Malone, as the last descendent, clearly intended to sacrifice himself to save the others.

I don't think Blake's intention was to spare Father Malone. He intended to take him with gold. When the cross was glowing and Father Malone couldn't let go, Nick knocked him aside and Blake vanished. After everyone else had left Blake came back and finished the job.

[–] spurtle467 (1551) 3 years ago

Father Malone made up the 6 deaths that Blake and his men were apparently after. If they were after him all along, are you saying that they could have killed Stevie when she was under attack, but still gone after Father Malone as well making it 7 deaths instead?

My feeling is that they wanted 6 victims as originally prophesied. This is what the dead body writes on the floor. I don't think they particularly cared who the victims were. I can't remember everything that Malone read from the confession so whether they wanted the gold too I'm not sure, but when Malone presented the gold cross to Blake he took it. Of course they were 1 victim short and that's when they came back for Malone who had willingly volunteered to be sacrificed, and was the last descendant as you say, so seemed like the perfect choice for 6th victim. You could even interpret it as him being given a quicker, more merciful death than the rest because he was willing to die?

[–] PaladinNJ (21587) 3 years ago

The six deaths were the descendants of the six original conspirators. Blake and his men were also attacking anyone who stood between them and their targets. But they didn't kill anyone else. Otherwise they could have gone after anyone else in town and not just the people in the church. Gets iffy when you think about them going after Stevie but somehow Blake knew she was warning the others.

[–] spurtle467 (1551) 3 years ago

"But they didn't kill anyone else. Otherwise they could have gone after anyone else in town and not just the people in the church."

Which is exactly what they did though. They went after Stevie, they went after her son, went after Tom Atkins when they knocked on his door and prepared to strike once he opened it. Seemed pretty obvious they had the intention of killing these people, otherwise there'd have been no need to bother them. It was only through luck that they escaped.

[–] BensGirl (590) 3 years ago

The ending makes perfect sense. Father Malone was the very last descendant. He was going with Blake that night.. you’re welcome.

[–] stones78 (426) 3 years ago

I wonder what woulda happened if Malone NEVER said "why not me, Blake?"? Seconds after saying that, the fog emerges again. It's almost like "they" were happy to leave town with the gold, until Malone reminded "them".

[–] BensGirl (590) 3 years ago

Blake had sat on this for 100 years.. he did not need reminding. Malone was going that night.

[–] stones78 (426) 3 years ago

Then why the charade of the fog leaving the church at all?

[–] spurtle467 (1551) 3 years ago

Did they want the 6 deaths then or not? They were attacking Stevie at the same time they were attacking those in the church. Had they killed Stevie off would they have still gone after Malone? Once Malone was killed it nicely wrapped up the 6 deaths they desired, but if they were specifically after him and wanted 6 deaths it doesn't explain why they were trying to kill any other potential 6th victim.

[–] ccr1633 (1531) 3 years ago

Maybe it's simply that Blake wanted six deaths, but anyone in the path of the fog was fair game. Six was a lower bound. Any more than that is justifiable retribution for bad karma. The diary suggested Blake wanted to come back to kill the original six conspirators (or their descendants). Logically, this doesn't mean they can't kill anyone else along the way.

I just made this up, of course. My point is it's doubtful that even John Carpenter thought it through this much. Why'd the fog lepers kill the old babysitter? Because it made for a creepy horror movie scene. I suspect that John Carpenter would admit that the plot in this particular film was secondary to the atmosphere. He's made it clear in interviews and commentaries that he wasn't very happy with how The Fog turned out. In fact, after he finished the first wrap he realized it wasn't scary enough. He went back and shot a lot more footage afterwards. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the "extra deaths" were tossed in toward the end of filming.

[–] spurtle467 (1551) 3 years ago

That's a perfectly sound theory about Blake wanting those six deaths in particular, and anyone else being collateral. I don't think the film was ever going to have more than 6 deaths else it would have messed up the foretelling shown in the film. I suspect you are right anyway that we are overanalysing the film from Carpenter's point of view. You could equally overanalyse why the fog quickly disappeared only to return moments later to kill off Father Malone, and come up with various theories for it, but to Carpenter I guess it was for little more than to give us a shock ending.

[–] vilafire (658) 2 years ago

So Hooked on Phonics didn’t work for you?

[–] BensGirl (590) 2 years ago

What are you talking about?

[–] vilafire (658) 2 years ago

Lol. I have no clue, haha! Unless you edited your comment. I must’ve mistakenly replied to you or been overtired or who the hell knows. Sorry. ;)

[–] BensGirl (590) 2 years ago

No, I didn’t edit it, lol. It’s ok, probably just replied to the wrong one. No problem xo

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

Yes.