Film / News
Are you ready for an immersive Fog experience?
The Fog was always the lost gem in John Carpenter’s oeuvre. Sandwiched between Halloween and Escape from New York, this effective little supernatural chiller from 1980 has acquired a cult following over the years and was even given the crappy, teen-oriented remake treatment in 2005.
The set-up is ever-so-slightly wokey. A thick bank of fog rolls in to the shore of the Northern Californian coastal town of Antonio Island, bearing a bunch of disgruntled deceased seadogs on whose stolen loot the town was founded 100 years earlier. Bloody reparations ahoy! There’s also a semi-local connection, since Carpenter and co-writer Debra Hill were inspired by a visit to Stonehenge, during which they witnessed a mysterious fog in the distance.
Now this overlooked classic is getting the full immersive treatment by Bristol’s DJ Cheeba as part of BFI Film Audience Network’s In Dreams are Monsters season. The recent 4K restoration is being screened at Clevedon’s historic Curzon cinema on November 4, with all manner of uncanny embellishments. Projection mapping techniques will allow the film to expand from the screen and into the audience’s space, alongside actors, ghostly projections and haze and fog machines set off from film cues. A digital radio station will also run live in the build-up to and after the event, using broadcast samples from KAB Radio 1340 – as heard in the movie. And after the event, Mr. Cheeba himself will serve up a John Carpenter-themed DJ set in the cinema bar.
is needed now More than ever
Don’t worry if you live in Bristol. The Curzon has organised a special coach service to and from Clevedon, at no extra cost. The pick-up and drop-off point is outside Excelsior Comics in Bond Street (where the Megabus stops can be found). Go here for tickets and further information.
All images: Curzon cinema.