Somewhat, 4 out of 10. It's a campfire ghost story with a lot of fog and a few jump scares.
🐱THE SCARE SIGNAL
SCARE SCORE
4 /10
🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱
DREAD LEVEL
Low
It fades by morning, though you may eye the next fog bank on the way to work.
DOG
Dog: fine
no dog, and no animals in danger.
Ruling: It's a campfire ghost story on the coast, with a lighthouse DJ and some alarming driftwood.
The Fog runs 90 minutes and takes place on the eve of the 100th anniversary of Antonio Bay, a small coastal town in California. A glowing fog comes in from the sea, and the town's party planning gets worse from there.
The premise, briefly
On the eve of its 100th anniversary, a small California coastal town gets a glowing fog from the sea that brings an old ship back with it.
How much do you want to know?
🐱
The verdict above is spoiler-free. Everything below, including the ending, stays hidden until you pick a depth.
🐱CUT TO THE CHASE
How it ends
Blake's ghost takes the gold cross from the church and the fog lifts. Father Malone stays behind to wonder why he was spared, the fog returns, and Blake beheads him, which makes six.
The scene you're dreading
In the middle of the film, Elizabeth is alone in the autopsy room when a dead fisherman briefly comes back to life and accosts her before he collapses. After that Nick and Dr. Phibes find that he has carved a number into the floor.
The dog
There is no dog in The Fog, and no animals are in danger.
The Fog is a gentle ghost story with a handful of jump scares, and the autopsy room is its worst scene.
THE SHORT VERSION IS HIDDEN
How it ends, the scene you're dreading, what happens to the dog, and the bottom line. About twenty seconds to read.
What actually happens
A diary hiding behind a wall
On the eve of the 100th anniversary of Antonio Bay, in Northern California, old Mr. Machen tells the local children ghost stories on the beach. One is about a clipper ship that mistook a campfire for a lighthouse in an unnatural fog and wrecked on the rocks, drowning the whole crew. As he finishes at midnight, strange things start happening around town. A stone falls out of a wall in the church and reveals Father Patrick Malone's grandfather's diary. It says that in April 1880, six men founded Antonio Bay, and his grandfather was one of them. They deliberately wrecked a clipper ship called the Elizabeth Dane so that its rich owner, Blake, who had leprosy, could not start a leper colony nearby. They used the gold from the ship to found the town.
Out at sea, a glowing fog surrounds a fishing trawler, and the Elizabeth Dane arrives carrying Blake and his crew as vengeful ghosts. They kill the three fishermen. The next morning the radio DJ Stevie Wayne gets a piece of driftwood marked "DANE" from her son Andy. In the lighthouse where she broadcasts, it starts to leak water, a man's voice vows revenge on her cassette, and the words "6 must die" appear before it bursts into flames. Nick Castle and the hitchhiker Elizabeth Solley find the trawler adrift. The scene people dread is in the middle of the film: alone in the autopsy room, Elizabeth is accosted by a fisherman's corpse that comes to life for a moment and then falls still. That evening the fog moves inland, the ghosts kill the weatherman Dan O'Bannon, and Stevie begs her listeners on the radio to go and rescue Andy. They kill the babysitter, but Nick and Elizabeth get Andy out.
A gold cross for a haunted church
Stevie tells her listeners to go to the church, then finds herself trapped when the fog surrounds her lighthouse. At the church, a group of townspeople finds a large gold cross in the cavity behind the wall, made from the leftover gold of the Elizabeth Dane. The fog arrives at the building and the ghosts attack. Malone realizes the ghosts have come for six lives to match the six founders, and he feels guilty about his grandfather. He puts the gold and himself on the table if the others are left alone. Blake takes the cross, and he and his crew vanish in a bright flash as the fog clears. Stevie is alone again at the lighthouse and warns her listeners that the fog could return.
The ending, explained
Stevie, back alone at her lighthouse, warns her listeners and any ships on the radio that the fog could come again. Everyone leaves the church except Malone, who stays behind and wonders why he was spared when five people had died. The fog comes back with the ghosts, and Blake beheads Malone, which makes six.
The post-credits ruling
Nobody has confirmed whether The Fog has a scene after the credits.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: no dog, and no animals in danger.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is The Fog scary?
Somewhat. The Fog is a 4 out of 10 with low dread: a campfire-style ghost story with a handful of jump scares and not much gore.
How does The Fog end?
Blake's ghost takes the gold cross and the fog lifts. Father Malone stays behind and Blake beheads him, which brings the count to six.
Does the dog die in The Fog?
No, because there's no dog in The Fog, and no animals are in danger.
Is there a post-credits scene in The Fog?
Nobody has confirmed whether The Fog has a scene after the credits.
Why is the fog attacking Antonio Bay in The Fog?
In The Fog, the ghosts of Blake and his crew come back a century after the town's founders wrecked their ship for its gold. They want six lives to match the six founders.
BLURRED FOR YOUR PROTECTION
The whole plot of The Fog is hidden, ending included. It stays that way until you ask.
You can know how The Fog ends without waiting for it to roll in. Install Scaredy Cat and the internet's horror gets blurred before you see it.
