Elvis
Continuing in TV, Carpenter would work with frequent collaborator and apparent BFF Kurt Russell for the first time. Russell gives a stellar performance in this almost 3 hour TV special as the King of Rock & Roll as the film takes us from Elvis early years to his Vegas comeback. Its a little flat compared to some of his other works, including someones watching me, but its still a solid entry into his filmography thanks to some of the great performances on show.
The Fog
Carpenter Returns to theatres with his take on the campfire ghost story as a crew of leprosy sufferers who were deliberately sunk by a local townsfolk and robbed of their money return to seek vengeance of the town that has benefited from their deaths. Still Relatively low budget, Carpenter worked with Avco Embassy, he managed to score a great cast here. Jamie Lee Curtis returns, Tom Atkins, Adrienne Barbeau, Charles Cyphers and George Buck flowers, all regulars also return. We also get the always great Hal Holbrook as the local priest and Jamie Lee's mother Janet Leigh appears as well.
The film is a masterclass as generating mood and suspense. Carpenter delivers one of his best scores that really helps create the atmosphere Carpenter works wonders with mist and prosthetic zombie ghosts and delivers scenes far more effectively than the bigger budgeted remake could with a hefty amount of CG. Carpenter did need to reshoot some stuff as the original cut apparently didn't work so well. Apparently it was mainly some of the gore, but this doesn't see, to have negatively impacted things. As of writing scream factory's Blu-ray is the one to go for.
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