The Fog (1980) is a supernatural horror film directed by John Carpenter, who co-wrote the screenplay with producer Debra Hill and also composed the film’s eerie electronic score. Set in the small coastal town of Antonio Bay, the story begins as the community prepares to celebrate its 100th anniversary. At the same time, a strange glowing fog rolls in from the sea, bringing with it the vengeful ghosts of sailors who were deliberately lured to their deaths by the town’s founders a century earlier. Adrienne Barbeau plays local radio host Stevie Wayne, broadcasting alone from a lighthouse as the fog approaches, while the cast also includes Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Atkins, Janet Leigh and Hal Holbrook. Made shortly after Carpenter’s breakthrough with Halloween (1978), The Fog became another of his signature horror films, relying more on atmosphere, darkness and suggestion than graphic violence.
The Fog (1980) was filmed entirely in California, with much of the fictional Antonio Bay assembled from small communities and coastal landscapes north of San Francisco. Point Reyes Station provided many of the town scenes, while the spectacular Point Reyes Lighthouse became Spivey Point, home to Stevie Wayne’s radio station and one of the film’s most memorable locations. Her house overlooking Tomales Bay is a real property on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard in Inverness, while nearby Drakes Beach was used when Andy finds the piece of driftwood from the Elizabeth Dane. The fishing pier scenes were filmed at The Tides Wharf in Bodega Bay, a location already familiar from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963). Olema House and what was then Jerry’s Farm House Restaurant in Olema were used for Antonio Bay’s centennial celebration and the accompanying bar scenes. Father Malone’s church was filmed at the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Sierra Madre, although the entrance seen in some shots belongs to St. Columba’s Episcopal Church in Inverness. Stinson Beach appears in views representing the coastal community, while roads around Inverness and Point Reyes were repeatedly used as characters race through Antonio Bay ahead of the fog. Additional filming took place around Los Angeles, including the Canyon Country Store in Laurel Canyon, which appears during the eerie opening sequence, and Raleigh Studios in Hollywood, where interiors and several scenes added during later reshoots were created.
Point Reyes Lighthouse
Point Reyes Lighthouse appears prominently in The Fog (1980). John Carpenter used the lighthouse and surrounding headland as Spivey Point.