8mm Forum: The Fog. Full Feature. Scope 2 x 800ft reels

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Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on June 20, 2017, 03:52 PM:

This is one first class scope release from Derann.
This is the copy i purchased from Roger Lily here in Plymouth's Movieland International. Roger did not like modern horror films or violent movies of any kind so when this came in as a part of a collection he rang me explained this and said i could have it that weekend for £80, suffice to say i jumped in the car and drove 20 minutes to his house and secured the print. There is a faint black line to the right on reel 3 but as the movies is set almost entirely at night this line becomes invisible for much of the reel. Looking back now this was virtually giving it away so we took it home, cleaned it and viewed it then mounted it on two lovely Eumig 800ft spools.
For those who may have lived on another planet for years, here is the plot.
The movie opens with John Houseman telling the ghost story of the legend of Antonio Bay.
As the Californian coastal town of Antonio Bay is about to celebrate its 100th anniversary, paranormal activity begins to occur at the stroke of midnight during the opening credits. Town priest Father Malone is in his church when a piece of masonry falls from the wall, revealing a cavity containing an old journal, his grandfather's diary from a century ago. It reveals that in 1880, six of the founders of Antonio Bay (including Malone's grandfather) deliberately sank and plundered a clipper ship named the Elizabeth Dane. The ship was owned by Blake, a wealthy man with leprosy who wanted to establish a leper colony nearby. Gold from the ship was used to build Antonio Bay and its church.
Meanwhile, three fishermen are out at sea when a strange, glowing fog envelops their trawler. The fog brings with it the Elizabeth Dane, carrying the vengeful revenants of Blake and his crew who kill the fishermen. Meanwhile, town resident Nick Castle is driving home and picks up a young hitchhiker named Elizabeth Solley. As they drive towards town, all the truck's windows inexplicably shatter.
The following morning, local radio DJ Stevie Wayne is given a piece of driftwood by her son Andy; it is inscribed with the word "DANE", and Andy says he found it on the beach. Intrigued, Stevie takes it with her to the lighthouse where she broadcasts her radio show. She sets the wood down next to a tape player that is playing, but the wood inexplicably begins to seep water, causing the tape player to short out. A mysterious man's voice emerges from the tape player swearing revenge, and the words "6 must die" appear on the wood before it bursts into flame. Stevie quickly extinguishes the fire, but then sees that the wood once again reads "DANE" and the tape player begins working normally again.
After locating the missing trawler, Nick and Elizabeth find the corpse of Dick Baxter with his eyes gouged out. The other two fishermen are missing, one of whom is the husband of Kathy Williams, who is overseeing the town's centennial celebrations. While Elizabeth is alone in the autopsy room, Baxter's corpse rises from the autopsy table and approaches her. As Elizabeth screams, Nick and coroner Dr. Phibes rush back into the room where they see the corpse lifeless again on the floor, upon which it has carved the number 3. That evening, as the town's celebrations begin, local weatherman Dan calls Stevie at the radio station to tell her that another fog bank has appeared and is moving towards town. As they are talking, the fog gathers outside the weather station and Dan hears a knock at the door. He answers it and is slaughtered by the revenants as Stevie listens in horror. As Stevie proceeds with her radio show, the fog starts moving inland, disrupting the town's telephone and power lines. Using a back-up generator, Stevie begs her listeners to go to her house and save her son when she sees the fog closing in from her lighthouse vantage point. As the fog envelops Stevie's house, the revenants kill her son's babysitter, Mrs. Kobritz,
They then pursue Andy, but Nick arrives just in time to rescue him.
Stevie advises everyone to head to the town's church. Once inside, Nick, Elizabeth, Andy, Kathy, her assistant Sandy, and Father Malone take refuge in a back room as the fog arrives outside. Inside the room, they locate a gold cross in the wall cavity which is made from the stolen gold. As the revenants begin their attack, Malone takes the gold cross out into the chapel. Knowing that they have returned to take six lives in lieu of the six original conspirators who led them to their deaths, Malone offers the gold and himself to Blake to spare the others. At the lighthouse, more revenants attack Stevie, trapping her on the roof. Inside the church, Blake seizes the gold cross, which begins to glow. Nick pulls Malone away from the cross seconds before it disappears in a blinding flash of light along with Blake and his crew. The revenants at the lighthouse also disappear, and the fog vanishes. Later that night, Malone is alone in the church pondering why Blake did not kill him and thus take six lives. The fog then reappears inside the church along with the revenants, and Blake decapitates Malone.

It has to be said as always with these screenshots, you really cannot appreciate from these how good the image is here. Solid, sharp, no fade, great deep colours and excellent sound. For £80 i am not complaining at all about the few light lines on reel 3.
What i forgot to mention is that during the start and occasionally until the titles end there is a sound on the track that is like a fax machine sending, (remember those?). It isn't continuous, it starts off for a few seconds, disappears, comes back again for a few seconds and off for a while and back again, it doesn't affect the actual sound of the film in any way, its just an annoyance.
Roger suggested that Darren would re record this reel for free but by that time we had joined it up onto 2 800s. Nothing was cut on reel 1 except the very end,(obviously), but due to that Derann said they could not re record it. What a pisser!
After 20 years of ownership it no longer bothers us and so far no audience has ever mentioned it, ( i know now where i can drop the sound down if that’s the only sound) but once the titles are gone everything is 100%

Posted by Bruno Heughebaert (Member # 2756) on June 20, 2017, 06:07 PM:

Great review thank you.
I have the derann cutdown.
Would love to have the full lenght version.
Maybe one day.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on June 21, 2017, 11:45 AM:

Very good review Tom!

I have this as well, and it's a great print, to be sure. The digest is pretty good as well, though ever so slightly not as good as the feature, as the digest is one pass down being an edit. But it (the digest) still looks pretty good.

I compared, just for my own amusement, the DVD to the Super 8 scope feature, and the facial tones were much better in the scope feature than the DVD. I don't know how it looks on bluray these days, however.

Posted by Gary Crawford (Member # 67) on June 21, 2017, 12:40 PM:

I agree with Osi. I have the feature..with re-recorded stereo sound... and the color grading and density is very very very close to the original 35mm.... as compared to the dvd which seems to have lightened up many of the scenes. in the DVD some of the scenes in the pastor's study and church look like they were lit with a lot of lights....when in the film...it's a fairly dark grading. Great print...

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on June 21, 2017, 01:23 PM:

Thanks for your comments. Anyone in the UK fancy re-recording for me? I'll pay [Wink]

We just simply dont have the right equipment for it and of course it is now on 2 x 800ft spools.
Agree with image grading, when i saw this on TV some of the night scenes which are meant to be dark and moody were like it was daylight.

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on July 04, 2017, 09:51 AM:

I love this film!

For those interested in this print, there is an earlier review in this section which can be found here. I've closed that thread and we'll continue with this one.

Doug

Posted by Oliver F. R. Feld (Member # 1911) on July 04, 2017, 11:26 AM:

Really a great review! I also own the full feature and re-recorded it in german Stereo sound. Also the soundstripes are perfect!
One of the sharpest prints I have ever seen!

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on July 05, 2017, 03:49 PM:

Thank you Oliver, i agree 100% on the print.

Posted by Oliver F. R. Feld (Member # 1911) on July 08, 2017, 04:10 AM:

By the way: the image of THE FOG looks exactly like it was in my memory when I remind going to the movies in the 80s: the fog itself looks icecold and the eyes of "Blake" stare out of a dark face... The DVD reveals (if You like it or not) the mask behind this special effect... In the end watching THE FOG on Super-8 is the perfect way to watch this movie "as it was meant to be seen"...!

Posted by Brian Fretwell (Member # 4302) on July 08, 2017, 11:28 AM:

Any difference between the feature and the digest is due to the digest being made from an edited 35mm print, not the inter-negative used for the feature.

I was told this by Derek when I asked why when the feature was on sale the digest wasn't. He said they were still looking for a good print to edit to make the negative needed. It took at least 6 months from then until the digest was released.

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on July 09, 2017, 02:49 AM:

I never realised they cane from two different negatives Brian. Ive never seen the the 600ft version but understand it is very good in both content and quality.

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