Not suitable under 15; parental guidance to 15 (violence, scary scenes)
This topic contains:
Children under 15 | Not suitable due to gruesome violence and disturbing visual images. Parents are strongly cautioned that younger children may be scared and disturbed, if not traumatised, by the violence and images in this movie. |
Children aged 15 | Parental guidance recommended due to gruesome violence and disturbing visual images. |
Children aged 16 and over | Ok for this age group. |
This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.
Name of movie: | Fog, The |
Classification: | M |
Consumer advice lines: | Moderate horror violence |
Length: | 100 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
The film’s opening scene, set in the 1870s, depicts four men in a row boat rowing away from a burning sailing schooner from which people, themselves in flames, are jumping into the ocean.
The film then jumps to the present day where the small Oregon community of Antonio Island is preparing to celebrate the unveiling of four statues honouring the town’s legendary heroic founding fathers (the four from the rowboat in the opening scene). Soon strange events begin to occur, antique heirlooms begin to wash up on the beach and an unnatural fogbank develops off shore. The fog surrounds a charter boat and supernatural forces hidden within the fog kill three of the boat’s four occupants leaving the fourth to be found the next day barely alive in the boat’s freezer.
Among the townspeople are charter boat skipper, Nick Castle (Tom Welling), Nick’s ex-girlfriend, Elizabeth Williams (Maggie Grace) and Stevie Wayne (Selma Blair), all of whom are descendants of the founding fathers. When Elizabeth finds an old journal written by one of founding fathers she uncovers a dark secret that the Island’s prosperity was built upon gold stolen from a group of wealthy lepers, who the founders murdered by setting their schooner on fire. The malevolent spirits of the dead lepers, led by the ghostly Captain Blake (Rade Sherbedgia) are The Fog, and are back to wreak revenge on the descendants of the murderous founding fathers.
Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.
Revenge.
Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.
Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.
The Fog contains numerous acts of gruesome violence, mostly committed by vengeful spirits, including:
Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.
In addition to the above mentioned violent scenes, there are some scary scenes in this movie that could seriously disturb children under the age of five, including:
Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.
Children in this age group are likely to be scared or disturbed by scenes described above.
Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.
All of the violence, scary visual images and threatening situations described above is likely to scare or disturb children between the ages of eight and thirteen years.
Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.
Many children in this age bracket could also be scared by the violence, scary visual images and suspense of this movie.
The film contains a few sexual references, including:
There is no nudity, but some scantily clad women, including:
There is one scene in which there is sexual activity: Elizabeth and Nick are naked in the shower being passionately intimate. Many of the images are shot through the glass of the shower cubicle providing a distorted view of the pair and with one quick glimpse of one Elizabeth’s breasts. Clearer images of the pair without the distortion of the glass show them rubbing their hands up and down each other’s backs and passionately kissing. Side and back views of their upper torsos only are shown.
The film contains infrequent instances of substance use, including:
The film contains a few instances of mild coarse language, including:
The movie’s main message is about revenge for past misdeeds and a present generation coming to terms with the truth behind the murderous acts committed by their forefathers. There are no worthwhile or meaningful values for parents to discuss.
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Content is not age appropriate for children this age
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