John Carpenter's Films - Ranked From Worst To Best

7. The Fog (1980)

Pros: Lively performances. Carpenter score. Textbook use of anamorphic widescreen

Cons: Weak villains (pirate ghosts?). Light on gore. Awful 2005 remake

Overall: The Fog was Carpenter's first film after the huge success of Halloween, following two years spent making made-for-TV movies Someone's Watching Me and Elvis. Despite only having a budget of $1 million or so, Carpenter makes the film feel much grander thanks to his brilliant use of 2:35:1 anamorphic widescreen.

Although the premise is a little hokey, The Fog is genuinely atmospheric, in large part due to Carpenter's synth score. The film wasn't always like that, however, and Carpenter was deeply dissatisfied with the original cut. He re-cut the film, added a prologue and re-shot a couple of scenes until it was up to standard. Approximately one third of the finished film was new material. The Fog is a fun, tight (89 minutes) ghost story. Watch this and avoid the remake like you would a band of pirate ghosts.