It’s a good exercise to witness how similar stories can be handled by different hands. Carpenter’s a master of framing (both camera and story structure). His version is the barest of bones — but he’s an artist that understands the nature of fear and how to make it a three-course dinner. The hands behind the remake don’t trust their own audience and dumb things down, over-explain, over-visualize. There’s some nonsense about reincarnated lovers and a living person transforming into a ghost through true love. Even Selma Blair (an actress I adore) can’t do anything interesting with her character.

It’s a lesson rarely learned in boardroom filmmaking. The first Fog, with it’s go-for-broke, low-budget roots, was made for a mere $1 million. The 2005 version — with its slick effects, beautiful cast and fully researched & graphed jump scares — was shot for $18 million. They say budget can be a hindrance; I suppose that can go both ways.