Forgotten Villains: The Fog’s Captain Blake

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

I was recently made aware of just how many movies and television shows the younger generation have never heard of, never mind seen. So to that end, we look back at some characters you really need to see before you kick the bucket.

In hindsight it is not really fair to call Captain Blake a villain. He is a victim of other men’s greed and wants revenge for the murders of his fellow travelers and the theft of his gold. His presence also opens up discussion as to is his thirst for revenge powerful enough to bring them back after a hundred years for revenge or did he make a deal with some other primal force we have no idea existed. There are many places all around the planet built on bloodshed and treason where innocents were preyed upon by more powerful people to maintain their own ambitions.

it is the centennial of the coastal town of Antonio Bay and preparations are well under way to celebrate it. However none of the townspeople know that the legacy they are celebrating is in fact soaked in the blood of the innocent. At the stroke of midnight strange almost poltergeist like events start to happen. It is only the herald for the arrival of the ghosts of captain William Blake and his crew eager to take 6 lives to appease their thirst for vengeance for being betrayed.

Fisherman Nick Castle narrowly escapes being skewered at this front door by one of the ghosts when the clock strikes one o’clock in the morning.

Then the Fog comes and people start to die. Nick along with a hitchhiker he picked up, Elizabeth (Jamie Lee Curtis) discover three of his friends boat with a single body aboard. There is evidence of the ship being aged due to rust and the body once autopsied has been under the water for a long time. This is impossible as it has only been the night before. However when the corpse gets up, takes a scalpel and scores the number 3 into the floor, things change. But 3 what?

Father Malone finds his centenary celebrations tainted when a mini earthquake opens part of a wall in his church. He finds an old diary belonging to his grandfather. To his horror, he discovers the town of Antonio Bay was founded on the murder of Blake and the people on his ship, the Elizabeth Dane. Local Dj, Stevie Wayne’s son finds a piece of driftwood on the beach that initially caught his attention as a gold coin before transforming. It is emblazoned with the name Elizabeth Dane and when Stevie takes it to her radio station it leaks water and unearthly voices come over the radio triggering a fire. Is this Blake reaching out to herald his return? All of this happens in broad daylight so what supernatural force is Blake tapped into or is it the collective rage of his crew causing these things to happen?

Father Malone is found by town celebration coordinator Kathy (Jamie Lee Curtis’ real life mother Janet Leigh) and her assistant Sandy, drinking alone in the church where he reads them the diary. Blake made a deal with the council consisting of 6 members for a plot of land on which to settle with his people. He paid in gold, some of which was used to fund the town of San Antonio while the rest was melted down into a giant cross and hidden in the walls of the church. They lit a beacon for the Elizabeth Dane to follow but instead it led the ship to rocks where it broke apart and sank killing everyone on board.

Everyone on board suffered from leprosy and the council did not want a leper colony nearby. So they swindled Blake them murdered them all under the guise of accident at sea. Now Blake is back to claim 6 lives to represent the number of council members. Malone’s grandfather was tortured by his conscience so hid the rest of the gold in the walls of the church. Malone is devastated but Blake has already set his plan into motion. Stevie’s son Andy and his babysitter, Mrs Kobritz are trapped as the Fog hits the town cutting it off by taking down the telephone and power lines. Weatherman Dan who has a crush on Stevie is also killed. What is cool is that the dead are hidden by the fog, showing as silhouettes.

It is only when Nick and Elizabeth rescue Andy, they see the dead crew in the flesh. They are decayed but intact slowly moving with their weapons whether it be a hook or sword to take their lives. They walk rather than run as if they know they have all the time in the world. Stevie is trapped in her lighthouse radio station desperately broadcasting to save anyone that can hear her and can see the whole town from her vantage point. She is able to warn people before the lines are cut and the ghosts attack her too.

But the church is the place of the final attack. Trapped inside, Nick and the others realise that Blake is back for the treasure that was stolen and demands 6 lives in return. With the three fishermen, Mrs Kobritz and Dan already dead, that leaves one. Wracked by guilt at what his ancestor did, Malone grabs the golden cross and goes alone to face Blake. The imagery is very evocative as the church is filled with low level fog and the crew standing amid it. Malone calls to Blake and one steps forward eyes red. This is Blake fully in control of the situation. He is an enemy that cannot be defeated and has the town on his knees. He grabs the cross which blazes with a golden light. Nick pulls Malone away as the light fades.

The fog pulls back seemingly having gotten what it wants leaving the survivors to count their blessings. However when Nick and the others leave, Blake returns and murders Malone as the final part of his compensation.

The Fog leaves us to speculate as to how Blake and his crew were able to reach across one hundred years to take revenge. The human mind is a powerful thing and it may well be their unified terror and rage at being betrayed caused some sort of manifestation. Or there is the belief there are forces out there dark and mysterious that have spawned dark magic and legends. Could the Fog be an entity all of its own that sympathised with Blake’s cause? The cause may be just but he should have gone after descendants of the original 6 rather than innocents. That would tip him into the villain camp. Whatever happened, the movie rightly does not explain how. I’m ignoring the 2005 remake as it was just tripe. Blake will forever be a man that stood up against evil across time but whose methods failed in taking the right culprits.