The Fog HD-DVD
What?
Do you remember John Carpenter? I mean the man responsible for films of genuine class such as Halloween, The Thing and Escape From New York. The man could take a small budget and work miracles, serving up genuine suspense and real scares. Of course you may also be familiar with “the other” John Carpenter, the man who served up turkeys such as Ghosts of Mars and Vampires. For anyone who is a confused as to which Carpenter is responsible for which film, there is a rule – old Carpenter films are good, new Carpenter films, bad. The Fog = good.
Having been around for nearly thirty years (yes THIRTY) it is good to know that The Fog hasn’t aged too badly at all. Some of the clothes are dated and the Carpenter made synth-score is a real giveaway, but overall this film stands up very well indeed. The film itself was clearly put together using a minimal budget but money does not nessecarily buy quality in filmmaking. Relying on old fashioned suspense and gradual build up, The Fog delivers every time. The performances from the cast range from great to cheesy but each one adds to the old school horror feel of the film. Carpenter’s direction should be a lesson to any budding horror film director. Not only is little or no blood whatsoever seen throughout, but whatever is in the fog is not thrust in our faces as a big pay-off sequence. Fingers crossed Carpenter returns to this kind of form at some point…..
Optics:
The Fog was always going to be a tough one considering the age of the film and its low budget roots, and in a way, Momentum’s decision to make it one of it’s first HD-DVD releases was a strange one. Of course I am just happy that the UK company have thrown their hat into the ring and are backing the format!
Right from the opening sequence where the old man tells ghosts stories to a bunch of kids around a camp fire at night I could see the difference with the HD-DVD when compared to my older standard R1 copy. The bright orange glow from the fire can be seen on the children’s faces giving a really warm, natural look. The transfer throughout is far from perfect it has to be said however. The overall sharpness is a million miles away from newer films released on HD-DVD for example, and noise is clearly evident in a number of scenes. Grain can also be seen in numerous places while over saturation is something of a problem with really bright colours in certain scenes such as inside the church around the middle of the film. Whilst these problems drag down the mark out of ten, overall I was pleased with the transfer. Perhaps I was anticipating something under par because of the poor previous (standard def) releases, but none the less, there are enough improvements on show here to sit this release of The Fog above anything previously seen. Most colour in the film is really well reproduced and natural looking and certain scenes such as when Stevie makes her way down the stairs by the rocks to the lighthouse were very pleasing on the eye. The Fog on HD-DVD will not be anywhere near the top of the pile in terms of demo material but as an upgrade over past releases it is worthwhile.
Sonics:
What we have here is a DTS-HD track which is down mixed to full bitrate DTS because of the current lack or a decoder in my Toshiba player. As with most remixes of old mono or stereo soundtracks, this track lacks real weight or bottom end for the majority of the run time. The soundtrack sounds a little on the “thin” side with the sub receiving little action. On the plus side the audio is very clear and crisp, dialogue is very audible and although most of the sound is nailed to the centre speaker, effects are crisp. It is fair to say that this release was never going to make the most of any of the new HD sound formats because of the age of the original track and the type of film it is, on the whole however, the DTS-HD soundtrack does a decent job.
Extras:
Just a trailer compilation of a selection of Studio Canal HD-DVD releases.
Well?
Although this is as good as the film has ever looked on a home format, the lack of extras may put many off an upgrade.
Tom Day
Do you remember John Carpenter? I mean the man responsible for films of genuine class such as Halloween, The Thing and Escape From New York. The man could take a small budget and work miracles, serving up genuine suspense and real scares. Of course you may also be familiar with “the other” John Carpenter, the man who served up turkeys such as Ghosts of Mars and Vampires. For anyone who is a confused as to which Carpenter is responsible for which film, there is a rule – old Carpenter films are good, new Carpenter films, bad. The Fog = good.
Having been around for nearly thirty years (yes THIRTY) it is good to know that The Fog hasn’t aged too badly at all. Some of the clothes are dated and the Carpenter made synth-score is a real giveaway, but overall this film stands up very well indeed. The film itself was clearly put together using a minimal budget but money does not nessecarily buy quality in filmmaking. Relying on old fashioned suspense and gradual build up, The Fog delivers every time. The performances from the cast range from great to cheesy but each one adds to the old school horror feel of the film. Carpenter’s direction should be a lesson to any budding horror film director. Not only is little or no blood whatsoever seen throughout, but whatever is in the fog is not thrust in our faces as a big pay-off sequence. Fingers crossed Carpenter returns to this kind of form at some point…..
Optics:
The Fog was always going to be a tough one considering the age of the film and its low budget roots, and in a way, Momentum’s decision to make it one of it’s first HD-DVD releases was a strange one. Of course I am just happy that the UK company have thrown their hat into the ring and are backing the format!
Right from the opening sequence where the old man tells ghosts stories to a bunch of kids around a camp fire at night I could see the difference with the HD-DVD when compared to my older standard R1 copy. The bright orange glow from the fire can be seen on the children’s faces giving a really warm, natural look. The transfer throughout is far from perfect it has to be said however. The overall sharpness is a million miles away from newer films released on HD-DVD for example, and noise is clearly evident in a number of scenes. Grain can also be seen in numerous places while over saturation is something of a problem with really bright colours in certain scenes such as inside the church around the middle of the film. Whilst these problems drag down the mark out of ten, overall I was pleased with the transfer. Perhaps I was anticipating something under par because of the poor previous (standard def) releases, but none the less, there are enough improvements on show here to sit this release of The Fog above anything previously seen. Most colour in the film is really well reproduced and natural looking and certain scenes such as when Stevie makes her way down the stairs by the rocks to the lighthouse were very pleasing on the eye. The Fog on HD-DVD will not be anywhere near the top of the pile in terms of demo material but as an upgrade over past releases it is worthwhile.
Sonics:
What we have here is a DTS-HD track which is down mixed to full bitrate DTS because of the current lack or a decoder in my Toshiba player. As with most remixes of old mono or stereo soundtracks, this track lacks real weight or bottom end for the majority of the run time. The soundtrack sounds a little on the “thin” side with the sub receiving little action. On the plus side the audio is very clear and crisp, dialogue is very audible and although most of the sound is nailed to the centre speaker, effects are crisp. It is fair to say that this release was never going to make the most of any of the new HD sound formats because of the age of the original track and the type of film it is, on the whole however, the DTS-HD soundtrack does a decent job.
Extras:
Just a trailer compilation of a selection of Studio Canal HD-DVD releases.
Well?
Although this is as good as the film has ever looked on a home format, the lack of extras may put many off an upgrade.
Tom Day
Director:
John Carpenter
Starring:
Adrienne Barbeau
Jamie Lee Curtis
Janet Leigh
John Houseman
Tom Atkins
Best line:
"We're all cursed Mrs Williams. All of us."
Tagline:
"Lock your doors. Bolt your windows. There's something in THE FOG!"
Description:
Momentum
Region 2
Rated 15
1Hr 26 Mins
2.35:1
(Anamorphic)
DTS-HD 5.1
(High Resolution)
Ratings: (Out of 5)
Film 8.0
Optics 6.5
Sonics 6.5
Extras 0.0
Overall 6.0
