Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Adrienne Barbeau, Charles Cyphers, Nancy Loomis, Tom Atkins and Hal Holbrook

Directed by John Carpenter

StudioCanal, limited cinema release

The residents of Californian coastal town Antonio Bay prepare to celebrate their centenary, unaware that phantom pirates are preparing to exact their revenge for a bad deed.

John Carpenter’s 1980 follow-up to his Halloween is a bona fide horror classic and now looks even better thanks to a new 4K print supervised by original cinematographer Dean Cundey. A lot of the film is shot in the dark and that’s where the new scan of the negative really benefits from that extra definition, creating solid black and more than fifty shades of grey, rather than the sludgy middle ground that often exists in the shadows.

StudioCanal have released special two-disc and four-disc packs, the latter including Carpenter’s soundtrack and the UHD 4K. I went along to see the limited cinema release of the movie, giving me the chance to finally catch it on the big screen rather than a grainy Embassy Home Video VHS.

In addition to the already mentioned clarity in the darkness, the soundtrack comes through really strongly. As with Halloween, Carpenter composed the score and it serves not only as a menacing, synthetic undercurrent, but also a relentless thud thud thud that punctuates the attacks. The cast is also a who’s who of John Carpenter movies, with Jamie Lee Curtis, Adrienne Barbeau, Charles Cyphers, Nancy Loomis and Tom Atkins, and for my money, Hal Holbrook giving a career-best performance as Father Malone.

The use of anamorphic 2.35:1 ratio makes the film look bigger budget than it really is, and gallons of piped-in dry ice as the titular fog really helps to cover-up any of the rough edges. Carpenter allegedly re-shot up to 1/3 of the movie to make it gorier and just because it wasn’t working for him, but you really can’t spot the joins.

Verdict: When you shut the curtains tonight beware that the drowned sailors of the Elizabeth Dane aren’t outside in the fog, ready to reclaim their gold. A classic horror story told with impeccable efficiency – they really don’t make them like this any more, and what better way to enjoy it than on the biggest screen with the clearest picture. Stay away from the fog? Quite the contrary! 10/10

Nick Joy