Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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4 Hallow; By Davkl Baker Qam?cock Film Critic Because John Carpenter directed both films, people are expecting The Fog to be another u?n u :n_u nuuuwtt'fi, wiii^ii it idn i. it a quite scarey all right, but this time out, Carpenter has opted to replace the hit-and-run scare tactics of the earlier film with a more subtle, almost poetic vision of terror. IN THE OPENING scene, several children are sitting around a campfire, listening intently as an old mariner (John Houseman) tells them a story about a goldladen brigantine which was lured into a reef by a light on the shore. All the passengers, many of them lepers who were coming to northern California to start a colony, were drowned. It happened 100 years ago this very night, the old salt says, and Jamie Lee Curtis struggles i that has reached in through the 'Dmrlin ( By David Baker G?m?cock Film Critic In the future, whenever I hear Ian Matthews sing "Shake It," it will be impossible not to think about the opening scene of Ronald F. Maxwell's hilarious new comedy, Little Darlings. THE SONG, if you remember, begins with a brief guitar solo that ends with a single drum beat. When the drum beat hits in the soundtrack, it's echoed onscreen] P| jpppJP^ . ^-v. TOgS^ I I'ilM'l IB WWW . ..., . ,, John C een' tact 11(Vinn fVin fnet nnmoo nn fVio lntv^rc. TTlltll HIC &V5 Vl/illW U|/t V1IV ivpvt u will rise from the sea and haunt the town. As the mariner finishes his tale, Carpenter moves the camera up from the fire to the top of the ridge on which the campers are sitting. From this vantage point, we see the sleepy little town, perched beside the inky black ocean? Then slowly, in the distance, we see a luminous, ?r? rvtrino iVtA frtrt dinui puuud uiasd ? uic 11/5 ? starting to roll in against the wind. What an opening. WITH THIS single scene, Carpenter gives us the necessary background information, reveals his scintillating villain and sets the hallucinogenic tone to which he will adhere throughout the film. Later, when we learn that the light on the shore was part of a plan to cause the shiowreck and that the lepers' gold was used to found the 'v?' '< 9 ^ :. '::--:-.n3? .V BL jH .X.<^X;.;,:<^* . < jflB to escape the grip of the hand ? window. gs' make by another resounding "thump" that's as funny as anything I've seen ai me movies in years. Ana what's remarkable is that Maxwell follows it with literally dozens of scenes that, while they don't quite equal the first one in off-the-wall humor, are brilliant just the same. The focal point in the movie is a race between a poor little rich girl, Ferris Whitney (Tatum O'Neal), and a poor little poor girl, Angel Bright (Kristy McNichol), to see i who can shed her virginity first. bH" ME iy --- ^1 m converses with friends at summe teL^V^vv;^ Mrpenter's latesi ics evapo f Atitn urn hntrn o ir?rvf i trn ff lio ivswii, w t uavv; a iiiv/uv^ &vi uiv lepers' revenge and, like he did in Halloween, Carpenter wastes no time in showing us exactly what this revenge entails. As the fog shimmers through the town, cascading down the streets and creeping under doors, gigantic black figures, dressed in tattered oilskins, appear in the phosphorescence, tap on doors and windows, and rip apart the townspeople witn glimmering ooat hooks. THANKFULLY, Carpenter spares us the grisly details, allowing the lepers to pull their victims far enough into the fog so that we can see roughly what happens to them, but not be sickened by the starkness of the blood and gore. Another aspect of the film for which we can be thankful is that, unlike Halloween, it's told from the point of view of the victims. That way, we can empathize with the inocents, rather than the maniacs, and come out of the theatre with clear consciences. Seeing The Fog is like riding a rollercoaster in the dark. The tension goes up, up, up and then, at the top, we're lulled into a false sense of security when the coaster hesitates. Then the bottom falls out and we're whisked away by an allencompassing feeling of terror. Carpenter does the same things within the confines of a theatre, alternately building and relaxing the tension and striking only when we least expect him to do so. HE ISN'T YET perfect in his menace, however, as he still relies too much on the tiresome stylistic conceits ? shattering clock faces, glowing red eyes and a tormented minister (Hal Holbrook trapped here) ? that were in vogue in a> iu5iny v EGGED ON by the rest of the girls attending Camp Little Wolf (most of whom have bets riding on the contest's outcome), Ferris and Angel are soon scouring the countryside in search of males willing to deflower them. Ferris eventually sets her sights on the camp's physical education coach, Gary (Armand Assante), while Angel goes about seducing a rather androgynous-looking pretty boy (Matt Dillon) from a neighboring camp. imgm - ' if? *'; ?3^Efe~ if.lV.^--- ~;~~J'K- ?. Bra,. y-\ r campft+HjttfQ Darlings.' t film rate in 'T1 horror films several decades ago. Like I said earlier, The Fog is not another Halloween (which, for the record, I prefer), but it's so far ahead of the average horror lljMlj K; W W P 9 I yyjB|ra|^ v? ? H * ' ! HUf iSjv." A gnarled hand suddenly i mysterious mist in a startling set irginity gt THE SCENES wherein each girl deals with her chosen lover are outstandingly staged and acted, but the scene in which the girls have to deal with each other after the contest is over is the film's dramatic highlight, thanks to the performances of the two principals. O'Neal seems rather uncomfortable in the picture's ODening scenes, hut she nuirklv * w ? -1 / settles down and does the best work she's done since her Oscarwinning performance in Paper Moon seven years ago. McNichol, on the other hand, is perfect right from the start. During the course of the film, she runs through the gamut of emotions and delivers every line with a gracefulness and spontaneity that most actresses two and three times her age can only dream about. IN MANY SCENES, McNichol makes the viewer want to laugh and cry within the space of a few seconds. She's a magnificent young actress, a bit reminiscent of Sally Field at her best, and I would love to see her win an Oscar nomination for this performance as it's the most lovable portrayal I've seen since Field's in Norma Rae. Maxwell and screenwriters Kimi Peck and Dalene Young also deserve kudos for treating a potentially offensive subject in such a responsible manner. Loss of *42* -t?-?i tie Fog' movie, in both style and effect, that it must be recommended. Only those viewers with spines of iron will fail to succumb to at least part of Carpenter's dazzling chicanery. H? ^K| : x : Hi MBF Kirn Gottlieb/AVCO EMBASSY trusts its way out of the ine from 'The Fog.' 'eatfun innocence is in no way condoned by Little Darlings and mothers of teenage girls would be well advised to take their daughters to see it, for the movie explains in 90 minutes what it would take a mother 90 days to cover fully. There are simply not enough superlatives to describe this wonderful film. Suffice it to say that my year-end "10 Best" list has only nine positions left to fill. Kristy McNichol In 'Utth Darlings."