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Friday, October 14, 2005

SCOTT ALLIE TALKS THE FOG

The Fog, the remake of the 1980 John Carpenter horror film, reaches theaters on Friday. It was preceded recently with a The Fog comic from Dark Horse Comics, written by Scott Allie.

The 88-page softcover (5 1/4" x 7 1/2") features art by Todd Herman and a cover by Mike Mignola.

The Continuum caught up with Allie for a short question-and-answer session.

The Continuum: This isn't really an adaptation, is it?

Allie: No, it's a prequel. Actually takes place a hundred years before the film, and a few years before the flashback sequences in the film. I think it's more interesting to do a related story than to do an adaptation, for readers and the writer and artist as well. So it was a question of figuring out a story that would add to the film without giving too much of it away‹like, for instance, giving away the flashback scenes from the film.

The Continuum: Did you work with the filmmakers?

Allie: Yeah, the director and one of the producers was essential to our getting the story right. They were really helpful, and they informed everything we did. The film was shot while we were drawing the comic, so I had to go off the screenplay. Had that been all that I knew, it would have been hard to hit the spirit of the film. But being able to talk to the director as much as I did allowed me to get a lot closer to it.

The Continuum: Did you see the first film? The new film?

Allie: I saw the original and loved it. I have not seen the new one yet, but I'll see it this weekend with the team from the book, most of whom live in the same town as me.

The Continuum: Horror seems to be clicking these days. Why do you think?

Allie: I was predicting a resurgence of horror for a while, and I was a little premature. I thought that the lead up to the year 2000 would get people looking for scares, and I think it did start then -- but it's certainly been just in the last two or three years that it's really taken off again.

It's all cyclical, these trends, and based on a lot of factors. To think it would come about just because of numbers on a calendar was a little naive of me. The date, the political climate, and an infusion of quality new material brought it about. I just hope it lasts. I love the mysterious quality to this current trend, which is a lot different from the trend in the eighties, with the slasher films. Those lacked mystery, for me. The scare was more about the shock. People are more into frightening stuff that makes them think, that makes them wait for it a little bit.

I hope we've done that in The Fog. Creating suspense in a comic can be tricky -- some people say you can't do it. It's a constant focus of experimentation for me.



E-mail the Continuum at RobAlls@aol.com



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