Description
Right before midnight, on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the coastal town of Antonio Bay in Northern California, Mr. Machen (John Houseman) tells ghost stories to children by a campfire on the beach. One of the stories is about a local ship that had crashed against the rocks, causing all of its crew to drown. Paranormal activity then begins around the town starting at midnight, which results in the town priest, Father Malone (Hal Holbrook), discovering his grandfather's diary at the church after a piece of masonry falls from the wall. The journal reveals that in 1880, the six founders of Antonio Bay (including Malone's grandfather) deliberately sank a clipper ship named the Elizabeth Dane, so that its wealthy, leprosy-afflicted owner Blake would not establish a leper colony nearby. The conspirators used some of the gold plundered from the ship to fund the town.
Meanwhile, three fishermen are out at sea when a strange, glowing fog envelops their trawler. The fog brings with it the Elizabeth Dane, carrying the vengeful revenants of Blake and his crew who kill the fishermen. Meanwhile, town resident Nick Castle (Tom Atkins) is driving home and picks up a young hitchhiker named Elizabeth Solley (Jamie Lee Curtis). As they drive towards town, all the truck's windows inexplicably shatter.
The following morning, local radio DJ Stevie Wayne (Adrienne Barbeau) is given a piece of driftwood by her son Andy (Ty Mitchell); it is inscribed with the word "DANE", and Andy says he found it on the beach. Intrigued, Stevie takes it with her to the lighthouse where she broadcasts her radio show. She sets the wood down next to a tape player that is playing, but the wood inexplicably begins to seep water, causing the tape player to short circuit. A mysterious man's voice emerges from the tape player swearing revenge, and the words "6 must die" appear on the wood before it bursts into flame. Stevie quickly extinguishes the fire, but she then sees that the wood once again reads "DANE" and the tape player begins working normally again.
After locating the missing trawler, Nick and Elizabeth find the corpse of one of the fishermen, Dick Baxter (James Canning), with his eyes gouged out. The other two are missing, one of whom is the husband of Kathy Williams (Janet Leigh), who is overseeing the town's centennial celebrations. While Elizabeth is alone in the autopsy room, Baxter's corpse rises from the autopsy table and approaches her, before collapsing. As Elizabeth screams, Nick and coroner Dr. Phibes (Darwin Joston) rush into the room where they see the once-again lifeless corpse has carved the number 3 on the floor. That evening, as the town's celebrations begin, local weatherman Dan (Charles Cyphers) calls Stevie at the radio station to tell her that another fog bank has appeared and is moving towards town. As they are talking, the fog gathers outside the weather station and Dan hears a knock at the door. He answers it and is killed by the revenants as Stevie listens in horror. As Stevie proceeds with her radio show, the fog starts moving inland, disrupting the town's telephone and power lines. Using a backup generator, Stevie begs her listeners to go to her house and save her son when she sees the fog closing in from her lighthouse vantage point. As the fog envelops Stevie's house, the revenants kill her son's babysitter, Mrs. Kobritz (Regina Waldon). They then pursue Andy, but Nick arrives and rescues him.
Stevie advises everyone to head to the town's church. Once inside, Nick, Elizabeth, Andy, Kathy, her assistant Sandy (Nancy Loomis), and Father Malone take refuge in a back room as the fog arrives outside. Inside the room, they locate a gold cross in the wall cavity which is made from the rest of the stolen gold. As the revenants begin their attack, Malone takes the gold cross out into the chapel. Knowing that they have returned to take six lives in lieu of the six original conspirators who led them to their deaths, Malone offers the gold and himself to Blake to spare the others. At the lighthouse, more revenants attack Stevie, trapping her on the roof. Inside the church, Blake seizes the gold cross, which begins to glow. Nick pulls Malone away from the cross seconds before it disappears in a blinding flash of light along with Blake and his crew. The revenants at the lighthouse also disappear, and the fog vanishes. Stevie gets down from the roof and makes it back to safety.
After Elizabeth, Nick, Andy, Kathy and Sandy leave the church, Malone contemplates why he was spared by Blake and asks "Why not six?" given that there have been only five deaths. However, moments later, the fog reappears inside the church along with the revenants and Blake decapitates Malone as the screen cuts to black.
