Who Let The Fog Out? 10 Reasons To Watch The Fog

I guess no normal person really needs a reason to watch The Fog. But on the off chance that someone is not normal and does in fact need reasons to watch one of the most atmospheric horror films of all time, I have decided to make some. Some are obvious, some are random and some don't really make any sense at all--but that's the beauty of The Fog--there's so many wonderful things about it.

1. Campfire stories

I think I've mentioned this before, but I was never a camp kid. This makes for two really sad things that I have missed out on because of it--getting killed by a serial killer AND hearing spooky ghost stories while sitting around the campfire. The opening story in The Fog is so delightful. It perfectly sets the mood and tone for the eerie occurrences we are about to witness. The story of the Elizabeth Dane is riddled with old ships, disaster and the wide eyed looks of the kids huddled around the fire. Trust me, I've asked the age old question of why I can't have a spooky old man tell me and my friends campfire stories when I'm bored, a million times and I can never come up with a good answer--except that I'm horribly unlucky, and that also there is a shortage of creepy old men who are not also pedophiles. Oh well.

2. Unexplained Spooky Phenomena!

I love how the first few minutes of The Fog is filled with all these spooky things happening. Glass breaking, chunks of wall falling off, dogs barking at nothing, bottles shaking, TV static, chairs moving, car alarms going off. It's the kind of stuff that ghost stories are made of and yet until I re-watched The Fog last night, I had practically forgotten that The Fog WAS about ghosts. Sure, they are a different kind of ghost (ghosts with leprosy--impressive) but they are still very much ghosts, and The Fog is still very much a ghost story. Plus, I love that the townsfolk refer to all these happenings as the town "falling apart".

3. The Strange Sexuality of Tom Atkins

Women are powerless against it! Men probably too. In fact, it's almost as strange and unexplainable as the spooky phenomena happening. Is there a good reason why Tom Atkins can bed a woman in less than 5 minutes? Other than the fact that he's Tom Atkins? No. I still don't get it. I've tried math equations, tea leaves AND I asked Jeeves. Nobody knows! I always find it so hilarious that this is Jamie Lee Curtis' and Tom Atkins' second scene after meeting each other and they are already naked. Previous to this they were making hitchhiking jokes and freaking out about spontaneous car windows bursting. Recipe for love I guess.

4. Drunken Sailors

Whatever happened to drunken sailors? OR better question--is there such thing as a non drunk sailor? I'm not sure. And even though the crew of the Sea Grass is only around for a few seconds, this scene is one of the most memorable. The drinking, the lines and of course..............

The George "Buck" Flower!

George "Buck" Flower victory fist pump!

5. Red Telephones

If there's one thing in life that I've always wanted--it's a red telephone. I mean, red telephones are so cool. This is because usually when you pick them up your call goes directly to someone important like the President OR maybe Kurt Russell. Naturally, Adrienne Barbeau's red telephone probably isn't that cool. But still one day--I'm going to get a regular phone and a red phone and then when people come over they'll ask me what the red telephone is for. And then I'll just get all serious and be all,"You don't want to know". Red phones are so mysterious!

6. Polite Ghosts

Hands down my favorite thing about the ghosts in The Fog is that they are polite. They knock before entering! I don't know any other ghosts that would do such a kind thing, do you? Granted, when you come and answer the door they then gut you with their hooks and drown you and gouge your eyes out--but hey---you didn't have to answer the door Mrs. Kobritz. Just sayin'.

7. The Music!

I'm obsessed with this theme. Listen my children and be transported to the foggy and majestic landscape of Antonio Bay.

8. Janet Leigh

The Fog has a few Hitchcock throwbacks that I absolutely dig. The first is of course the appearance of Janet Leigh who nicely reunited with her daughter Jamie Lee Curtis. I love her and I love that she is in this and that she's a crazy committee woman. The other cool thing about the Fog is that at one point Tom Atkins I think, mentions something about Bodega Bay--which if you recall is the place of action in The Birds. Now, in The Birds, all the bad stuff starts happening once Tippi Hendren comes into town. In The Fog--the bad stuff happens when Jamie Lee Curtis comes to town. Coincidence? I think not.

9. Possessed Wood

I promise I wasn't intending for that to come out dirty, but now that I think about it--it would be a wildly hilarious and appropriate title for a horror themed porn. Hmmm. Anywho--I'm going to swear so I apologize but I fucking LOVE when that piece of wood from the Elizabeth Dane sets itself on fire after the words 6 must die magically show up.

And also it's leaking all this nasty dead water on everything and man.....I just love it. I'm not 100% on this but I'm pretty sure we need more inanimate objects to do cool shit like this.

10. Adrienne Barbeau

So her breasts aren't as delightful as they are in Escape From New York--but she's still Adrienne Barbeau and she's a DJ. I've never told anyone this before but sometimes when it's really late, I pretend to talk like Adrienne Barbeau in her sexy DJ voice. Do you know what happens? My voice hurts! How does she do it? I'll tell you how--because she's Adrienne Barbeau damn it. Ugh. I just tried to do it again and it hurts! It hurts so much! There goes my dream of being a sexy DJ broadcasting from a lone lighthouse...boo.

BONUS

11. SOLID GOLD CROSS

No explanation necessary.

Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed: Werewolf Interrupted

It's been about a year and a half since I last visited the Fitzgerald sisters, despite the many suggestions that I most definitely, have to, must see the sequel. As we know I sometimes feel funny about sequels, but I had made up my mind to give Ginger Snaps 2 a shot. The comments after my first Ginger Snaps viewing ranged from people loving the sequel more, to hating it, to not even seeing it on principle. I wasn't sure what to think but now--consider me on team Ginger Snaps 2.

Here's the thing about Ginger Snaps 2--it's awesome. One of the problems I had with the first film was that Ginger annoyed me. I still can't be sure if it was simply or character or the acting chops of Katharine Isabelle, who seemed to be just a tad too bitchy and mean to really seem very convincing. Ginger Snaps 2 however finds us almost completely in the care of Emily Perkins/Brigitte which is a blessing from high heaven. Katharine Isabelle makes a few cameos here and there but it's all good in the hood. Plus, it makes me sad because I remember how touching that last part of Ginger Snaps was and then I think of MY sister and I get all weepy and mopey.

Ginger Snaps 2 takes place at some point after the events of the first film. Brigitte is trying to cope with the after affects of injecting herself with her sister's blood--and has developed a dependency on the monkshood. The herbs apparently are just delaying the disease however and we soon find that a mysterious werewolf has been stalking Brigitte. After she overdoses on the monkshood one night, and her brief companion is killed by the other werewolf, Brigitte wakes up and finds herself in a rehab clinic. With no easy way to get the monkshood or escape--Brigitte soon realizes that she is running out of time.

The best thing about Ginger Snaps 2 is that it is a sequel that has a brain. This isn't simply a rehashing of all the best parts about the original. Instead, it rather intelligently takes the premise and offers up a completely new and intriguing side to things--and it does this in one of the most unpredictable ways I have ever seen. When I saw the first film, I quipped how funny it was that monkshood turned into this crazy heroin-like drug. Well, obviously... that was obvious and the whole idea that Brigitte wakes up in a drug rehabilitation center is absolutely perfect. Perfect because it puts a whole new urgency on Brigitte's situation. It's also like combining Girl Interrupted with werewolves which is kind of awesome.

But here's the thing about this drug addiction concept. When I first read the synopsis I pictured in my head some mass hysteria involving Brigitte turning into a werewolf and slowly but surely, the patients and staff would be killed by some beast. This would be the predictable route. However--Ginger Snaps 2 does NOT go there. It instead continues to keep its focus on Brigitte and on the nature of her disease and her desire to stop it. The film does not sacrifice the story line and more importantly the characterization, in order to make the film more entertaining. Bonus points all over the place.

The other reason that makes Ginger Snaps 2 completely awesome is of course the presence of Emily Perkins. Why is she so amazing? I have no clue--but this girl can act. Why isn't she in more things, and more importantly--did you know she's 33?! Not during this but still...she wasn't 17 or whatever. But damn she has some DEPTH, and it blows my mind throughout the entire film. I guess I could be considered as an impartial judge to which Ginger Snaps is better--but I don't know. I think Emily Perkins makes Ginger Snaps 2 slightly if not much more better than the first. After all, my only real complaint with the first film was that it needed MORE Emily Perkins. Wish granted.

There's a lot of people divided on the ending of Ginger Snaps 2 however and to be honest I'm kind of on the fence. One of things people told me about Ginger Snaps 2 whether they loved or hated it, was that the ending was depressing. I didn't necessarily find the ending to be depressing (unless if by depressing they meant, annoying) but after doing more thinking about it, I don't necessarily hate it. In my head I envisioned something much different, like something perhaps with suicide or what have you--but what we got stayed true to Ginger Snaps 2 an its overall philosophy of the true nature of being a beast. It adds once more to the intelligence surrounding the film and once again doesn't sacrifice its themes for entertainment purposes. So I don't know. I JUST DON'T KNOW. Topic for the comments I suppose.

Overall, Ginger Snaps 2 is a truly surprising sequel. There's a lot to think about and a lot to love. It's unbelievably well written and for once dialogue is natural AND oddly hilarious at the same time. Sure, the overall cool darkness of the Fitzgerald sisters is absent--but Ginger Snaps 2 is mature. This is fitting because if you recall, Ginger Snaps had a lovely subtopic framed around the idea of menstruation and growing up. Consider Ginger Snaps 2 an ultimate portrayal of life once you realize that you're grown up and have to you know...do things for yourself. So maybe we aren't turning into wolves. But we are paying bills, student loans and trying to find a job so that our cats won't die. Same thing basically.

My advice to you is watch Ginger Snaps 2. Tis awesome, surprising and a real lesson in how to make a sequel not completely blow. Plus there are wolves. And a strange masturbation scene. And funniness. And AWESOME things. Just watch it. That is all.

White From Fright

I keep finding white hairs and it's making me really upset. White hairs....WHITE! Dead, gross, coarse, hair that I can feel pushing its way out of my hair follicles and ruining all my chances to look naturally like CHER. White hairs are one step closer to death and I'm only 24. Isn't it a little early for this? Although now that I think about it....one step closer to the end of my life does mean one step closer to watching Star Wars with Donald Sutherland, Morgan Freeman and Ellen Degeneres while eating Cool Ranch Doritos right? Hmmmmm.

While on one hand, white hairs are making me regret mirrors, on the other they are making me think about horror films and the mythos of being so scared that your hair turns white. It's one of those things that is just cool. How often do we really get to see this tackled on film anymore? Because it's a "myth" seeing it projected on film and into a scene makes you giddy. It's a strong and effective marker to lay down the business. Like, HEY this movie is scary because the main character's hair turned white. It's like proof or insurance that the fright our characters experience is genuine. Of course it isn't--it's all fake, but the idea of someone's hair doing that because of fright is pretty neat. Because dude....they must have been really, REALLY scared.

Naturally after doing my usual Internet research, I've found that there have been no reported cases of people's hair turning white from shock or fright. Prolonged instances sure--but there have been no such reports of people's hair turning white instantly or overnight. So as much as I think it would be awesome if I told you that the reason my hair is turning white is because I travelled to another dimension via my closet to retrieve my 5 year old daughter---it's just not possible I'm afraid. It's more likely due to stress that I've experienced years ago---from that time that I had to escape from giant graboids in the desert with Kevin Bacon.

That doesn't mean of course that we can't at least talk about some of my favorite instances of shock hair therapy.

Nancy Thompson

Of all of these, Nancy's case is the most instantaneous. One minute she goes to sleep whilst under observation and the next she's kicking and screaming and returning with Freddy Kreuger's hat and a new white streak in her hair. I still love the instantaneous nature of her streak though. I mean who are we really to judge the likelihood of sprouting a white streak without warning. Have WE ever been chased in our dreams by Freddy Krueger? I think all this white hair research needs to go a step further in its experiments. Maybe open the doors to Freddy and see how people handle that.

Also, I hope I'm not alone in thinking that Nancy's streak makes her look completely bad ass. While lately Wes Craven has produced some less than thrilling movies, this moment always makes me appreciate what he once was. This dream sequence of Nancy's is I think the only one that we also do not experience. Therefore, Wes there had to think of a good way to show that what she was going through was equally terrifying to what we had seen previous to this. And how does he do that? By making her hair turn white of course! Because her hair never turned white before--it leads us to believe that this was the most terrifying experience yet...which kind of makes me mad that we missed it. Hmmph.

Leland Palmer

I'm only into episode 4 of Season two, but my experience in Twin Peaks so far has taught me many important things about life. The most important of course being that the owls are not what they seem--which to be quite honest is something I could have told you all years ago, if I really sat down and thought about it. Leland Palmer however happens to experience a nervous breakdown after his daughter is found dead, naked and wrapped in a plastic bag. He's fond of acting all down and depressed then one day all his hair turns white and he starts singing and dancing.

Don't tell me if this holds any larger significance but right now I'm thinking that it just shows the heavy amount of pain and suffering that Leland went through after the death of his daughter. Open, shut case really--but also still pretty neat.

EDIT: I now know why his hair turned white.

Ash

Apparently according to all of you Evil Dead fans, Ash sprouts a white streak at the end of Evil Dead II. I don't remember this--but I want to darn it. Hmmm after a quick youtube journey I have found the alleged streak. It is definitely skunky. I suppose after dealing with all that demon stuff and opening up the crazy portal thing, and chopping up his girlfriend and you know...stuff---yeah I guess that is pretty stressful.

Still though, one must question Ash's true awesome bad boy persona with the white streak. Doesn't the white streak show his vulnerability and his weakness? Or does it end up making him more human because he like all of us, cannot hide when he is scared.....OR am I simply thinking a little too much about Evil Dead II?

Diane Freeling

I do believe that out if all of these white hair instances, Diane's is the most warranted. Additionally hers kind of makes sense if you think about it. Her stress and worry, and emotional exhaustion and all that good stuff had been developing for months or however long Carol Anne had been missing. When she finally does make it into the closet her fears and worries hit an all time high.

Think about it....she's strapped to a rope and about to enter another dimension that is one step away from leaving this world forever. What does that even mean? Beats me. But I do gather that it would be one messed up situation.

You'll notice again here--that while it is much to my disappointment that we will never know what "beyond the closet" looks like--Hooper (cough Spielberg) is setting us to believe that the experience was harrowing and apparently terrifying. Because Diane develops not one, but two white streaks--it allows us to accept the fact that what she went through to get Carol Anne was extremely horrifying--and we believe it. Sure, we may never know what happened once she crossed the barrier, but we do know that it was probably very scary--and that's good enough for me. I guess!

The Bride of Frankenstein

Ah the classic white streaked horror movie vixen herself. Funny story--one time I went to a celebrity dance in high school dressed as Christina Aguilera when she did the Like a Virgin thing with Britney and Madonna--and my mean Spanish teacher asked if I was the Bride of Frankenstein! I mean I was dressed like a bride and stuff......but pfffft.

Anyways. By scientific standards---the Bride of Frankenstein's hair is actually quite possible. This is because there are in fact a few instances where your hair can chance dramatically over night--and being exposed to electrical shocks is one of them. So tada! Hers are the best aren't they? It's like you could consider her being dead and brought back to life was the hair changing moment (although it probably just was the electricity) but there's nothing wrong with a little imagination.

Plus, I love this movie. Why have I never written about it before? Hmmm

So I've come to a conclusion. Having a streak of white hair is not only cool looking--it's bad ass. It signifies to others that I have been through something that they could never possibly imagine and therefore it means that I am better than they are at....life and other things like.... oh, I don't know--killing demons or something. So bring it on white hair. Bring it on.