The Fog (2005)

5% of critics liked it
(66 reviews)
35% of users liked it
(214,409 ratings)

John Carpenter's well-remembered thriller gets an update in this remake from director Rupert Wainwright. Nick Castle (Tom Welling) is a charter-boat captain in the small coastal town of Antonio Bay. Castle's ancestors helped to found Antonio Bay, but while the city's mayor (Kenneth Welsh) and the… More John Carpenter's well-remembered thriller gets an update in this remake from director Rupert Wainwright. Nick Castle (Tom Welling) is a charter-boat captain in the small coastal town of Antonio Bay. Castle's ancestors helped to found Antonio Bay, but while the city's mayor (Kenneth Welsh) and the head of the local historical society (Sara Botsford) are spearheading an effort to raise money for a statue that would honor the city fathers, Castle is more interested in seeing the town's rickety docks and aging sea wall replaced. However, Castle has been too distracted with personal matters to wage a campaign of his own -- he's been having an affair with Stevie Wayne (Selma Blair), a single mom who runs a combination radio station and lighthouse, while his former flame Elizabeth Williams (Maggie Grace) has returned to town to mend fences with her mother and finds herself renewing her romance with Castle. One night, Castle and his first mate, Brett Spooner (DeRay Davis), discover an antique ship's bag filled with treasure, not knowing the salvage came from a ship that sank over a hundred years before. As it happens, there's a terrible secret behind the ship's disastrous fate, and now that Castle and Davis have unwittingly awakened the watery grave, the souls of the ship's crew and passengers have come back to claim their revenge in the form of a thick and impenetrable fog. The remake of The Fog proved to be one of the last projects for producer Debra Hill, who also worked on the original film; Hill was fighting cancer when work began on the film, and she died shortly before filming commenced. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 40 min.
Directed By: Rupert Wainwright
Written By: John Carpenter, Cooper Layne
Genres: Mystery & Suspense, Horror

In Theaters: Oct 14, 2005 Wide
On DVD: Jan 24, 2006
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics

Critic Reviews

Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader
The production values are above par, but as in Carpenter's original, seeing ghosts is less scary than imagining them.
Anita Gates, New York Times
Mildly scary here and there.
Christy Lemire, Associated Press
Like most remakes, The Fog is pretty unnecessary.
R. Emmet Sweeney, Village Voice
Making concessions at every turn to the youth-horror market, the film slashes the ages of its protagonists by some 15 years, and its IQ follows suit.
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
We're meant to be unsettled by digital spectres, reckless Mack trucks, and rotting old pirates who look every bit as terrifying as the guy on the Fisherman's Friend cold-lozenge box.
Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger
Lock your doors. Bolt your windows. And for heaven's sake, stay away from the multiplex.
Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed
These studios just don't know when to quit while they're ahead.
Cynthia Fuchs, Common Sense Media
Lame remake of 1980 horror movie.
Garth Franklin, Dark Horizons
A boorishly bland supernatural action thriller.
Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York
Never will you wish more fervently for an Adrienne Barbeau cameo, just for old time's sake. Your prayers will be in vain.
Joe Lozito, Big Picture Big Sound
Even the geography of the film doesn't seem to make sense.
Anton Bitel, Eye for Film
So concerned is the film with contriving at least one gratuitous jump-fright every five minutes that elements like character and story soon become lost in the fog.
Mark Salisbury, Time Out
Yet another anaemic horror retread starring a cast of good-looking TV totty.
Bob Grimm, Sacramento News & Review
A lousy remake of a not-so-good John Carpenter film.
Simon Crook, Empire Magazine
Don't be afraid.
Bruce Kirkland, Jam! Movies
With dialogue as dorky as the words new screenwriter Cooper Lane stuffed in their mouths, none of the hapless cast members could have sounded convincing.
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
If you are a fan of the original film, this remake might interest you. It's not badly made. But why was it made at all?
David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews
...the latest in a long line of needless horror remakes..
Matthew Turner, ViewLondon
The actors do their best, under the circumstances. Welling makes an engaging lead and Grace employs her trademarked wounded, fragile look (that serves her so well in Lost) to good effect and wanders around in her underwear a lot.
James O'Ehley, SA Movie & DVD Magazine
A mediocre remake of a 1980s horror movie of the same name which wasn't that good to begin with.

Read all 23 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Bethany M

Scary, but quite boring. Switched off once or twice and the storyline wasn't really that interesting. Good but not great!
Jeff "

The fog remake totally ruined a piece of classic Horror cinema. It's curious to me why studios continue to remake classics that cannot be remade cause they're so good. But this remake is awful, nothing good going for it, and a waste of celluloid. For fans of the original,… More
The fog remake totally ruined a piece of classic Horror cinema. It's curious to me why studios continue to remake classics that cannot be remade cause they're so good. But this remake is awful, nothing good going for it, and a waste of celluloid. For fans of the original, this film is a travesty., a film with no creative value whatsoever. The reason that remakes are so bad is that they cast teen idols inb the roles of the characters to hopefully and successfully attract a teen audience. In this remake, you have many stars that may appeal to a teen audience, and in does. I overheard my sisters friends (who are teenagers) talk about how good this film is, teens today don't know shit aboiut great horror titles, and they always seemed suprised vand insulted that these are remakes, and when we the film connoisseurs say the originals films are better, they refuse to believe it. Some remakes are good, I'll admit, but most fail, and this remake certainly fails. It's good on special effects only, but doesn't do anything as good as the original did. This film is simply bad. Poor cast, copied plot, and poor directing should make this film drown in actual fog.
Anthony L

This is another 'painted by numbers' remake of a superior horror film. The back story was explored a little more which was nice but all the suspense and feeling of impending doom from the original were missing. The ending was farcical and stupid. Don't waste your time!
Dean M

This ghostly thriller remake is average as the leper colony ghosts were not scary. They were all see through, and instead of a giant fishing hook. There are two good things though. There is one pretty shocking death scene that was cool and there were some cool cinematography shots.… More
This ghostly thriller remake is average as the leper colony ghosts were not scary. They were all see through, and instead of a giant fishing hook. There are two good things though. There is one pretty shocking death scene that was cool and there were some cool cinematography shots. Horror remake of 1980's <i>The Fog</i>.
Dead A

So not scary. They tried hard.
Wahida K

I saw the Original with Jamie Lee Curtis didnt liked it neither the Remake. The Original was a tiny bit stupid with those eyes coming out of the fog. I thought it was Horror turned in to a SciFi
Jason O

Not bad, nothing great, so about average.
Derek D

Superman fights a ghostly gang of old sailors whose backstory is complete bullshit and in reality were a group of murdering backstabbing assholes. Horrible acting all-around. The story makes very little sense, but with the deleted full flashback scene I finally understood it and would… More
Superman fights a ghostly gang of old sailors whose backstory is complete bullshit and in reality were a group of murdering backstabbing assholes. Horrible acting all-around. The story makes very little sense, but with the deleted full flashback scene I finally understood it and would give this movie a full star-and-a-half extra if they would've left it in. But they cut it. This movie sucks so bad not even Selma Blair is worth a shit in it.
Jani H

An extremelly failed attempt to scare people. First of all, I hate these remakes. That just proves that the filmmakers have nothing original to show you. Second, why did they do a remake of a very poor "classic". The original was just as stupid and non-scary as this one.… More
An extremelly failed attempt to scare people. First of all, I hate these remakes. That just proves that the filmmakers have nothing original to show you. Second, why did they do a remake of a very poor "classic". The original was just as stupid and non-scary as this one. But it didn't suck ass... The acting is awful, there's no tension in the film and it just bores the hell out of me. Avoid.
Bannan i

Didn't read into it enough to watch more than I saw... Too bad, nifty story though.
Brian D

shit
Arash X

What the fug ?
Cassandra M

Cheessy adaption of John Carpenter´s classic
Dr Blood

I wasn't expecting much from this remake and so I wasn't disappointed in what I got out of it. As usual, it wasn't as good as the original. Adrienne Barbeau was far sexier as Stevie Wayne than Selma Blair... although I think Selma wins hands down on the wearing of… More
I wasn't expecting much from this remake and so I wasn't disappointed in what I got out of it. As usual, it wasn't as good as the original. Adrienne Barbeau was far sexier as Stevie Wayne than Selma Blair... although I think Selma wins hands down on the wearing of disturbingly tiny pants in the vicinity of the child actor playing her son. It just seemed very wrong to me for some reason.
Dean !

A fairly tame update, not as scary or gory....more of a ghost story.
Drew S

Hahahahahahaha you'd have to be an idiot for something like this to scare you. I've gotten more scared filing my taxes.
Jason S

Go see the original. It was much better.
Naughtia N

The fog is back after 100 years when it wrecked a ship and killed all the people onboard. Now the fog is back and is seeking to kill whoever it can find on the open ocean. I thought this movie was very predictable and somewhat boring. I didn't find it scary because I've seen… More
The fog is back after 100 years when it wrecked a ship and killed all the people onboard. Now the fog is back and is seeking to kill whoever it can find on the open ocean. I thought this movie was very predictable and somewhat boring. I didn't find it scary because I've seen it all before in other forms. If you love nu-horror movies like 'Scream' and 'I know what you did last summer', you'll probably like this one. I know that I won't be watching this movie again.
Jason S

Decent effects cannot save a film riddled with poor performances, wretchworthy dialogue and non-existant scares. Highly missable.
John M

:s Terrible!!!