HAPPY (belated) 87th BIRTHDAY, TOM ATKINS!!!
The man, the myth the legend…Tom Atkins turned 87 yesterday!
-MonsterZero NJ
Tag Archives: The Fog
TOMB OF NOSTALGIA: HAPPY 42nd ANNIVERSARY to JOHN CARPENTER’S THE FOG (1980)
HAPPY 42nd ANNIVERSARY to JOHN CARPENTER’S THE FOG (1980)
John Carpenter’s The Fog was released on February 8th, 1980, and my butt was there in a theater to see it! So, in honor of the 42nd anniversary of one of my all-time favorite horror flicks, I am re-posting this look back at Carpenter’s classic!
One of my all-time favorite horrors and one of my favorite John Carpenter flicks, in fact, since I was too young to see Halloween when it came out, this was the first Carpenter film I saw in a theater and the flick that started me on my love of his movies.
The Fog tells the story of the 100-year anniversary of the small coastal California town of Antonio Bay and as the town prepares for its centennial celebration, a dark secret is revealed. Legend has it a leper colony paid the founders of Antonio Bay a lot of gold to let them settle nearby, but they were betrayed and murdered, as their ship was lured onto the rocks to crash and sink on a fog laden night. All were lost, but now a horde of vengeful spirits returns from the sea, wrapped in a surreal fog, to make the descendants of those who wronged them, pay with their lives.
The Fog focuses not on a main character, but a group of central characters whose individual experiences during this supernatural crisis bring them slowly all together, for its tense and creepy final act set in the town church. A good cast, including Jamie Lee Curtis as hitchhiker Elizabeth, Tom Atkins as local fisherman Nick, Janet Leigh as centennial chairwoman Kathy Williams and Adrienne Barbeau as single mom and radio DJ Stevie Wayne, give life to this ensemble and make them characters we like and care about, so we fear for them when they are placed in harm’s way. Add to that Hal Holbrook as the town’s alcoholic priest and a host of Carpenter regulars—with even a cameo by Carpenter himself—and you have a film wonderfully filled with a variety of characters who are all potential victims for the marauding phantoms. As for those phantoms, let’s not forget to mention the ghostly Captain Blake (FX man Rob Bottin) and his vengeful crew who are portrayed with in-camera practical FX. This makes them quite spooky and gives them a heavy dose of menace and a lot of effectiveness when they are on the attack. There is loads of atmosphere and some very solid scares and suspense created by Carpenter, along with some great cinematography from frequent Carpenter collaborator Dean Cundey, which makes this a good, solid, old-fashioned ghost story and a fun Halloween season treat. Carpenter again delivers a score which adds chills and foreboding to his tale of ghostly revenge, much like he did for Halloween and he starts the film off perfectly, with a chillingly fun opening sequence featuring veteran John Houseman as a crusty sailor who likes to tell kids scary stories. It sets the mood for the thrills and chills yet to come. This classic was made back when there was no phony CGI, just solid make-up effects from master Rob Bottin (who went on to do The Thing’s FX for Carpenter) and some very basic down to earth smoke and mirrors style visuals, that are as beautiful as they are scary. A great flick the likes of which they rarely make anymore and one of MonsterZero NJ’s must-watch flicks during the Halloween season!
The film is thankfully available, on blu-ray from Scream Factory with all the extras from previous releases, plus a new commentary track with Barbeau, Atkins and Tommy Lee Wallace and two really fun and informative interviews with Jamie Lee Curtis and Cinematographer Dean Cundey, who also supervised the absolutely gorgeous transfer!
-MonsterZero NJ
Rated 4 (out of 4) spectral sailors!
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HAPPY 86th BIRTHDAY, TOM ATKINS!!!
HAPPY 86th BIRTHDAY, TOM ATKINS!!!
The man, the myth the legend…Tom Atkins turns 86 Today!
-MonsterZero NJ
MONSTERZERO NJ’S 31 HORROR FLICKS FOR THE 31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN 2021!
While I watch dozens of horror films during the month of October…these are a mix of classic favorites and recent horrors that I feel are especially perfect to watch during the Halloween season!
(Click on the titles below the movie poster gallery to get to our reviews!)
Harper (Katie Stevens) and friends visit the wrong Halloween haunt on Halloween night!
-MonsterZero NJ
HAPPY 85th BIRTHDAY, TOM ATKINS!!!
HAPPY 85th BIRTHDAY, TOM ATKINS!!!
A milestone birthday for a bonafide horror/genre movie legend! HAPPY 85th BIRTHDAY TO THE GREAT TOM ATKINS!!!
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-MonsterZero NJ
MONSTERZERO NJ’S 31 HORROR FLICKS FOR THE 31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN!
While I watch dozens of horror films during the month of October…these are a mix of classic favorites and recent horrors that I feel are especially perfect to watch during the Halloween season!
(Click on the titles below the movie poster gallery to get to our reviews!)
Click on the titles here to go to the review page for the corresponding movie!
- HALLOWEEN
- TRICK ‘r’ TREAT
- PHANTASM
- NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
- THE FOG
- ANY (OR ALL) OF THE UNIVERSAL CLASSIC B/W HORRORS!
- PUMPKINHEAD
- EVIL DEAD
- A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
- THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE
- ZOMBIE
- THE THING
- THE HOWLING
- THE FLY
- HORROR HOTEL
- DAWN OF THE DEAD
- DAY OF THE DEAD
- FRIDAY THE 13th
- THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT
- HALLOWEEN II
- HALLOWEEN III
- THE VIY
- WRONG TURN
- THE OLD DARK HOUSE
- THE DESCENT
- HELLIONS
- TALES OF HALLOWEEN
- THE HOUSES OCTOBER BUILT
- HOUSE OF THE DEVIL
- HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES
- THE HILLS RUN RED
-MonsterZero NJ
AVCO EMBASSY PICTURES: UNSUNG HEROES OF THE B-MOVIE!
AVCO EMBASSY PICTURES: UNSUNG HEROES OF THE B-MOVIE!
(Just click on the movie titles to go to our full length reviews!)
Some film fans may remember Avco Embassy Pictures, though there also may be some of you out there who have never heard of them…but if you love movies, you certainly know some of their titles! When talking about Avco Embassy Pictures, it would also be remiss not to mention the name of Robert Rehme…and as a B-Movie fan, you might want to know who this man is, too…
Originally a distributor of foreign films, such as Godzilla: King Of The Monsters and Fellini’s 8 1/2, Avco Embassy was founded by legendary producer Joseph E. Levine in 1942. It wasn’t until the 60s when the studio began to produce it’s own films, including such classic’s as The Graduate, Mad Monster Party and The Producers, to name just a few.
Some classic genre flicks released/produced by Avco Embassy in their early years!
The era that should resonate most with horror, action and sci-fi fans, are the years between 1978 and 1982. During most of this time, a man named Robert Rehme ran the studio. After having been sold and then experiencing some financial trouble that brought production to a halt, Rehme was hired to get the studio producing and profitable again and that he did! Rehme, who got his start working for Roger Corman at New World Pictures, used some of his former employer’s methods and turned to lower budgeted, yet popular B-movies to get the studio back in the black. Avco Embassy started churning out such flicks prolifically for the next few years, producing many inexpensive but successful films. Under his watch, the studio produced and released such classics and cult classics as Phantasm, The Fog, Scanners, The Howling and Escape From New York among many others! This strategy was a success, as studio earnings quadrupled during Rehme’s time at the helm!
Some of the classics and cult favorites the studio churned out under Rehme between 78 and 82!
All good things do, however, come to an end. Robert Rehme moved on to work for Universal in 1981 and Avco Embassy was subsequently sold in 1982. The name was changed to simply Embassy Pictures and the new owners gradually moved away from such B-Movie fair focusing on turning out more mainstream movies such as Eddie And The Cruisers and the classic comedy This Is Spinal Tap. Their last theatrical feature saw it’s release in 1986 and laid to rest the legacy of a studio whose early 80s flourish produced numerous classics and cult favorites. While Avco is now long gone, and Rehme apparently retired after a lengthy career, the movies they turned out, especially during their golden age between 1978 and 1982, will immortalize Avco Embassy Pictures and Robert Rehme with movie buffs for all time!
-MonsterZero NJ
Unsung hero of many a horror and B-Movie classic and cult classic, Robert Rehme!
sources: Wikipedia/IMDB/internet
MONSTERZERO NJ’S DIRECTORS WHOM IT WOULDN’T BE HALLOWEEN WITHOUT!
Everyone has their own favorite filmmakers whose works they watch during this spooky time of year. For me, it just wouldn’t be Halloween without the films of these legendary directors…
GEORGE ROMERO
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WES CRAVEN
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TOBE HOOPER
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JOHN CARPENTER
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SAM RAIMI
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DON COSCARELLI
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-MonsterZero NJ
MONSTERZERO NJ’S 31 HORROR FLICKS FOR THE 31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN!
While I watch dozens of horror films during the month of October…these are a mix of classic favorites and recent horrors that I feel are especially perfect to watch during the Halloween season!
(Click on the titles below the movie poster gallery to get to our reviews!)
Click on the titles here to go to the review page for the corresponding movie!
- HALLOWEEN
- TRICK ‘r’ TREAT
- PHANTASM
- NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
- THE FOG
- ANY (OR ALL) OF THE UNIVERSAL CLASSIC B/W HORRORS!
- PUMPKINHEAD
- EVIL DEAD
- A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
- THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE
- ZOMBIE
- THE THING
- THE HOWLING
- THE FLY
- HORROR HOTEL
- DAWN OF THE DEAD
- DAY OF THE DEAD
- FRIDAY THE 13th
- THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT
- HALLOWEEN II
- HALLOWEEN III
- THE VIY
- WRONG TURN
- THE OLD DARK HOUSE
- THE DESCENT
- HELLIONS
- TALES OF HALLOWEEN
- THE HOUSES OCTOBER BUILT
- HOUSE OF THE DEVIL
- HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES
- THE HILLS RUN RED
MONSTERZERO NJ’S 10 REASONS IT’S NOT HALLOWEEN WITHOUT TOM ATKINS!!
Watching horror flicks during the Halloween season, there might be one face, aside from Karloff, Lee and Lugosi, that you might see more than once…and that familiar face is Tom Atkins. A cult favorite actor, Tom has appeared in a number of horror classics…especially during the 80s. So, in honor of this unsung hero of horror, here are 10 horror flicks that illustrate why it’s not Halloween without Tom Atkins!
(Click on the highlighted titles below the movie poster gallery to get to our reviews of the flicks covered here at the Movie Madhouse!)
1. Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo
2. The Fog
3. Creepshow
4. Halloween III: Season Of The Witch
6. Maniac Cop
7. Two Evil Eyes
8. Bruiser
9. My Bloody Valentine (2009)
10. Drive Angry
-MonsterZero NJ
MonsterZero NJ's Movie Madhouse 