The Fog 1980, The Thing 1982, Resident Evil 2002, The Faculty 1998, and The Mist 2007
Now this is a fun one. The stage is set with these movies paired together and the stakes are high. We got creatures ranging from shipwrecked Lepers coming out of The Fog, to an extraterrestrial in Antartica that can take the form of a human being, flesh eating zombies that run rampant throughout a city, a High School going under siege and taken over by aliens, and blood thirsty creatures that hide behind a fog terrorizing a group of people trapped in a supermarket. The saying is that your villains are only as good as your heroes as you need people to care about in the films to root for their survival. No worries here as these films pack a memorable cast of up and coming actors from each respective time period of release playing the protagonists battling the dark aspects of nature. The first movie of the evening is John Carpenters The Fog starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh, Tom Atkins, Hal Holbrook, and Tom Atkins. Riding off the success of Assault On Precinct 13, and Halloween, director John Carpenter and producer Debra Hill take the scares to Antonio Bay where a band of murdered lepers return to the Bay after 100 years of being killed for blood money and seek their revenge on the townspeople during a centennial. The townspeople are faced with little to no choice but to come together and fight for their survival during the fog. The Fog received critical praise upon it's release for maintaining the dark and spooky atmosphere of John Carpenter's earlier films but came under fire from a lack of strong villains that remain with you long after watching the film. The Fog works effectively as the starting point of tonight's marathon because it ties together with The Mist at the end with the same feel and similar story structure.
The second movie of the marathon is John Carpenter's 1982 classic titled The Thing starring Kurt Russell and Keith David. Generally considered to be John Carpenter's finest hour as a director, the film centers around scientists in Antartica being confronted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the physical form of those that it kills. The Thing is a classic case of a great film coming out in theaters and getting totally brushed under the rug due to the public being key on the release of ET but has become a classic over time. Today it remains one of the most influential horror and science fiction movies in pop culture, and remains a benchmark that Carpenters later films never measured up to since. Whereas The Fog dealt with the dead coming out of the Fog to terrorize the living people on the island, The Thing focuses on a group of scientists in Antartica uncovering extraterrestrial life and trying to make sense of just what exactly they have before it destroys them all.
The third movie of the marathon is the 2002 scfi thriller and horror movie based on the popular best selling game titled Resident Evil starring Milla Jokovich and Michelle Rodriguez. The story centers around a special military force battling not just a ruthless supercomputer but also hundreds of ex scientists now turned into flesh-eating mutated zombies after an accident in the lab. The group of military forces is in the fight of their lives as they fight to prevent the zombies from getting loose into the outdoors and affecting everyone in Raccoon cities. While many video game movies fail to capture the essence of the video games, this film does a reasonably decent job of trying to relive the sheer terror that millions of gamers experienced when first playing the Resident Evil games on playstation. Resident Evil brings the action and excitement to a whole other level with the theme of groups battling an outside force.
The fourth movie of the marathon is Robert Rodriguez's 1998 Scfi thriller titled The Faculty starring Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett, Robert Patrick, Selma Hayek, and Famke Janssen. In this film a group of High School students suspect that their teachers and faculty are aliens after several occurrences and a change of pattern in behavior. Realizing that they have little to no chance of outrunning the alien population, the group decides to cut it off at the source and search for the leader while hiding from their professors. The Faculty pays great homage to classic Carpenter and Science Fiction thrillers of the 80's and 90's while also putting a spin on the whole proceedings. The theme of a group battling outside forces is very much present here with the film providing great entertainment and an exceptionally appealing cast.
The fifth and final movie of the evening brings it all back to where it all began with The Fog with the same background returning in Frank Darabont's critically acclaimed horror and science fiction thriller titled The Mist. Based on the popular Stephen King novel, the story centers around a freak storm that results in the release of several blood-thirsty creatures in a small populated town. The new species forces a small group of citizens to seek shelter and protection in a supermarket to fight for their lives. What makes Frank Darabont's The Mist such a brilliant film and a great ending to a pretty solid marathon is that it begs the question of whether the people in the supermarket should fear the creatures on the outside or their own species on the inside with the wrath of Marcia Gay Harden's over religious character. She poses a threat equally bad to that of the creatures by playing off peoples fears and insisting that a sacrifice be done to push back what she insists is Armageddon. The ending to this film is both heartbreaking and bold as it closes everything up beautifully while leaving you thinking long after it's over.
So what is this marathon trying to say as a whole when you put all the films together for one night. The message behind all of these movies is that if there's a force out there that's more powerful and scarier than you can ever imagine than it's best that everyone sticks together and fight back. Some of the greatest nightmares can be combated through strength and unity once a group of strangers unite as one. Fear can also drive people to the extreme and make wild assumptions about what's happening. Just because something terrible is happening doesn't necessarily mean it's a sign by GOD and everyone should be corporating with each other to find ways of surviving such a horrific time. Standing up for what's right with the help of your friends can overcome any adversity with people putting their brains together to find solutions. As Resident Evil shows, greedy and powerful corporations if they are not careful can bring about the end of humanity for everyone.
Our characters for this evening:
The second movie of the marathon is John Carpenter's 1982 classic titled The Thing starring Kurt Russell and Keith David. Generally considered to be John Carpenter's finest hour as a director, the film centers around scientists in Antartica being confronted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the physical form of those that it kills. The Thing is a classic case of a great film coming out in theaters and getting totally brushed under the rug due to the public being key on the release of ET but has become a classic over time. Today it remains one of the most influential horror and science fiction movies in pop culture, and remains a benchmark that Carpenters later films never measured up to since. Whereas The Fog dealt with the dead coming out of the Fog to terrorize the living people on the island, The Thing focuses on a group of scientists in Antartica uncovering extraterrestrial life and trying to make sense of just what exactly they have before it destroys them all.
The third movie of the marathon is the 2002 scfi thriller and horror movie based on the popular best selling game titled Resident Evil starring Milla Jokovich and Michelle Rodriguez. The story centers around a special military force battling not just a ruthless supercomputer but also hundreds of ex scientists now turned into flesh-eating mutated zombies after an accident in the lab. The group of military forces is in the fight of their lives as they fight to prevent the zombies from getting loose into the outdoors and affecting everyone in Raccoon cities. While many video game movies fail to capture the essence of the video games, this film does a reasonably decent job of trying to relive the sheer terror that millions of gamers experienced when first playing the Resident Evil games on playstation. Resident Evil brings the action and excitement to a whole other level with the theme of groups battling an outside force.
The fourth movie of the marathon is Robert Rodriguez's 1998 Scfi thriller titled The Faculty starring Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett, Robert Patrick, Selma Hayek, and Famke Janssen. In this film a group of High School students suspect that their teachers and faculty are aliens after several occurrences and a change of pattern in behavior. Realizing that they have little to no chance of outrunning the alien population, the group decides to cut it off at the source and search for the leader while hiding from their professors. The Faculty pays great homage to classic Carpenter and Science Fiction thrillers of the 80's and 90's while also putting a spin on the whole proceedings. The theme of a group battling outside forces is very much present here with the film providing great entertainment and an exceptionally appealing cast.
The fifth and final movie of the evening brings it all back to where it all began with The Fog with the same background returning in Frank Darabont's critically acclaimed horror and science fiction thriller titled The Mist. Based on the popular Stephen King novel, the story centers around a freak storm that results in the release of several blood-thirsty creatures in a small populated town. The new species forces a small group of citizens to seek shelter and protection in a supermarket to fight for their lives. What makes Frank Darabont's The Mist such a brilliant film and a great ending to a pretty solid marathon is that it begs the question of whether the people in the supermarket should fear the creatures on the outside or their own species on the inside with the wrath of Marcia Gay Harden's over religious character. She poses a threat equally bad to that of the creatures by playing off peoples fears and insisting that a sacrifice be done to push back what she insists is Armageddon. The ending to this film is both heartbreaking and bold as it closes everything up beautifully while leaving you thinking long after it's over.
So what is this marathon trying to say as a whole when you put all the films together for one night. The message behind all of these movies is that if there's a force out there that's more powerful and scarier than you can ever imagine than it's best that everyone sticks together and fight back. Some of the greatest nightmares can be combated through strength and unity once a group of strangers unite as one. Fear can also drive people to the extreme and make wild assumptions about what's happening. Just because something terrible is happening doesn't necessarily mean it's a sign by GOD and everyone should be corporating with each other to find ways of surviving such a horrific time. Standing up for what's right with the help of your friends can overcome any adversity with people putting their brains together to find solutions. As Resident Evil shows, greedy and powerful corporations if they are not careful can bring about the end of humanity for everyone.
Our characters for this evening:
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