Hey what's up guys. Today I'll show you a crime-mystery film: "The Girl in the Fog"!
Spoiler ahead, watch out and take care! The movie begins with a young girl standing
in front of a house. The night is dark; and fog hangs over the small Italian town. For a moment,
the girl just stands there. Then she leaves. A middle-aged psychiatrist is woken up in the
middle of the night by a call. He immediately dresses and heads straight for the hospital.
The receptionist informs him that there was a car accident; but the driver is unhurt.
The psychiatrist then wonders why he's called to work this early. The receptionist mysteriously
replies that he'll know, once he gets to talk to the man in his office.
Sure enough, the psychiatrist recognizes the man as the renowned detective, Vogel. The psychiatrist
knows that Vogel was assigned to the case of a local girl, who disappeared a few months ago.
He asks the detective why he is back in town. But Vogel doesn't explain. Instead,
he demands to know why the hospital is forcing him to talk to a psychiatrist when he is fine.
The psychiatrist replies that Vogel has blood on his clothes despite driving alone,
and not being injured at all. Vogel sighs and relents. Then He begins his story.
Two months before, Vogel arrived in the small town, after being assigned
the case of the missing teenager, named Anna. Vogel first went to the gas station near the town
border. He took note of the security camera, pointed at the main road by the station. He
was also informed by a local policeman that that road is the only way in and out of town. Vogel was
supposed to have a briefing in a few minutes; but he chose to go to Anna's parents' house first.
The mother described Anna's personality to Vogel. By all accounts, she was a kind,
responsible, and obedient girl. She was also very religious, and was a member of a confraternity.
Her mother could not fathom that she would ever run away of her own accord.
When he stepped outside of the house, Vogel clapped his hands a few times. Some of the
neighbors hear him, and look curiously. Vogel finally arrived at the police station
for the briefing. He believed that someone had kidnapped Anna. But first, Vogel established a
timeline. Anna left her house last night to go to a meeting at the confraternity church.
Minutes after she left, her phone was shut off. She never got to the church.
An interesting fact that Vogel had also noticed earlier, was that the neighbors could usually
hear what was going on in the street; but they never saw or heard anything that night.
He thought that the kidnapper had planned the attack very thoroughly; and he knew what
time the neighbors would be busy that night. Vogel then ordered the local police team to
scan the gas station security camera footage, for potential suspects who left town last night.
That night, Anna's mother and father held a press conference,
calling for the return of their daughter. The next day, Vogel and the local policeman
noticed that the press was tailing them. The problem was that their police force is very
small; and they lacked the resources needed for a proper investigation.
The policeman suggested that they call for backup; but Vogel knew that no one would be helping them,
unless they make the case a media spectacle. So Vogel ordered the local police officers to
dress up in hazmat suits, and comb the river for evidence. The press got a video of their
operation, and reported in the news that they were forensics specialists working on the case,
instead of inexperienced local policemen. The reporters also emphasized that Vogal
is a veteran detective, who previously worked on another notorious serial killer case.
Because of Vogel's stunt, more police officers and specialists arrive in town to help out. They were
able to organize search parties, and comb through evidence and tips. A helicopter was coming; and
Vogel wanted it to hover over the town. Anna's father arrived at the police station.
He handed Vogel his daughter's diary that his wife had found, while cleaning her room.
When Vogel got to the hotel that night, he saw a familiar foe. Sitting in a chair was a whip-smart
and ambitious news reporter, whom Vogel had butted heads with in the past. He told her about the
diary, and remarked that the entries there were all about religion and cats. The reporter laughed
and said that since she grew up in a conservative family, Anna must have a second diary, with all
her secrets in it. She was surprised that Vogel was being friendly, since their last encounter
during his mutilator case did not end happily. Vogel assured her that he bears her no grudges.
In fact, he even gave her a 25-minute head-start over the other reporters, by revealing to her
first that someone had left a white cat stuffed toy, in front of Anna's house just earlier.
More and more people started leaving gifts and messages at the house. Vogel's team carefully
watched all the onlookers there, since the kidnapper was most probably in the crowd,
and would take home a souvenir. One of the officers saw a boy in a hooded jacket,
taking a video of the crowd. He then took one of the stuffed animals. The other policemen wanted to
apprehend the boy immediately; but Vogel cautioned them that the reporters are watching. It wouldn't
look good, if they arrested a young boy. A female police officer got fed up with Vogel's
tactics. She screamed at him for pitting the people in town against each other.
Vogel explained to her that even if she thought that all the townspeople were kind,
the logical answer was that Anna knew who her attacker was, and willingly went with him.
Later that night, the policeman called Vogel, and informed him that he had identified the young boy.
He recently moved into town with his family, and was caught a while ago for filming lovers in bed.
The boy now had therapy sessions with the same psychiatrist from earlier in the film.
Vogel called the reporter again, and informed her that something big would be happening that night.
He then went to the boy's house, and snooped around in the basement. The detective found a
laptop with footage of Anna the boy had taken secretly, because he was in love with her.
Vogel promised the boy that if he surrendered, and told him where he took the girl, he would make him
very famous in the press. The boy wordlessly showed Vogel a video he had taken, while Anna
was in her yard. Caught in the video was a white car, that was parked near Anna's house.
This eliminates the boy from being a suspect. In the present, Vogel asks the psychiatrist
about the boy being one of his patients. The psychiatrist discloses that the boy's father was
abusive; and his mother took the boy to escape him. Filming everything that interested him,
is his way of coping with his trauma. The psychiatrist then changes the topic,
and asks Vogel why there is blood on his clothes. Once again, the detective gives a
mysterious answer. He says that the town was so insistent that the kidnapper was an outsider;
but the people knew deep inside that evil was lurking among them all along.
It turns out, the white car is owned by a teacher named Martini, in Anna's school.
He moved his family to the small town six months ago. His wife previously had an affair;
but she stayed with him. However, he was also having serious financial trouble. On
the day that Anna disappeared, his wife noticed that he had a bloody wound on his left hand.
He was also out the whole day, and didn't tell her where he was. He explained that
he was wounded by a tree branch. Vogel leaked the video of the white
car to the press. As a result, the reporters began hounding Martini.
Martini met an attorney, who offered his help in proving his innocence. He warned Martini
that Vogel has a history of using the media to go after suspects, despite the lack of evidence.
Vogel held a press conference. The reporter needled him about once again going after a
suspect without concrete proof; and she mentioned that this will be like the mutilator case. She
revealed that Vogel's previous suspect in that case, had ended up being innocent all along,
casting doubt on Vogel's investigative skills. The policeman arrived at Martini's house later,
bearing a search warrant. A team of forensic analysts scoured the house for any DNA evidence.
They also searched Martini's car, and found lots of cat hair.
Vogel went to Anna's house next. The mother was walking around the yard in a stupor,
and muttering about her daughter being hungry. Her husband ushered her inside;
and he explained to Vogel that his wife is being treated by the psychiatrist as well.
Martini and his wife met with the attorney again. He showed them newspaper clippings from the
mutilator case. A few years ago, an unknown man began putting bombs inside supermarket products.
Vogel was the lead investigator on the case; and he relentlessly pursued a man as a suspect.
He used the media to sensationalize the circumstantial evidence he has;
and it was enough to garner a guilty sentence from a judge. The man went to prison for four years,
and suffered a stroke before being acquitted of all charges. The state compensated him with a huge
amount of money, for the damages he suffered. The reporter aired an interview with a female
student of Martini's. She showed the reporter his text, asking her to come to his house for
acting lessons, implying that he was the kind of man, who goes after underage girls.
This enraged Martini's wife. He denied that he was flirting with the student;
but she was now beginning to doubt her husband's innocence. Unbeknownst to them,
Vogel was listening to their argument via the recording devices, hidden in their house.
The reporter covertly met with Martini in a cemetery that night.
She offered him money for an exclusive interview; but he refused.
While alone, Martini deepened the cut on his hand, using one of his tools.
Martini sits down for a talk with Vogel one rainy night. The detective revealed that the
kidnapper probably used a stray cat to lure Anna in, and kidnap her. And since Martini had
stray cat hairs in his car, it's looking more and more possible that he really did it.
The next day, the police found Anna's backpack in the river.
Vogel personally interrupted Martini's class, to inform him that they had also found his blood
on the backpack. He then arrested him. Back in the present, the psychiatrist shares
that he's been living in the quiet town for three decades now. He then accuses
Vogel of illegally putting Martini's blood on the backpack; so he can arrest him. Vogel
replies that the case needed a break, so as to boost the media's interest in it. It turns out,
when he met with Martini the other night, some blood dripped from his wound onto the table. Vogel
put Martini's blood on the backpack afterward. One day after Martini's arrest, an elderly
journalist called Vogel, and professed that she has proof of Martini's innocence.
It turned out, she had been following the legend of the Fog Man for years. Fog Man was connected to
a series of disappearances, that started 30 years ago. Each of the six girls that went missing, were
14 to 16 years old, and had the same red hair as Anna. If Anna was just the latest of the Fog Man's
victims, then Martini can't be the kidnapper, because He's only a little boy 30 years ago.
The journalist also gave Vogel a package, that was sent to her anonymously on the
day Anna went missing. It contained Anna's real diary. Inside, Vogel found entries,
detailing Anna's love for a teenage boy she had met at the beach. She wrote that she had drawn
his initials on her left arm, as proof of her love. Vogel also found a picture, tucked inside
the diary. It showed a grave site, with a wooden cross in the middle of the forest near town.
Vogel went to the grave site, and dug around there. He found a buried VHS tape.
When he played the tape, he saw that a man was filming himself in front of the mirror with a
camera. His face was obscured by the camera; but near the left side of the frame is an
undressed young red-headed girl. The man was also holding up a picture of a church in town.
Following the lead, Vogel went to the church, and found another VHS tape there.
However, he was ambushed by the reporter, who accused him of destroying evidence.
Back in the present, the psychiatrist shares that he loves fishing; but he only hunts one kind of
fish: the rainbow trout. Vogel then tells him that the journalist has sold him out to the reporter,
so she can make him look like he was framing Martini. Then,
Vogel announces that he had killed the person who committed the kidnapping that night,
which was why he had blood on his clothes. Because of the reporter's story, Martini was
freed from jail soon. The public was now fixated on finding the Fog Man, the real
killer of those teenage girls. As an exonerated man, Martini was offered a lucrative book deal,
and various interviews to talk about his harrowing experience.
Vogel was dismissed from the investigation. But he had one last card up his sleeve.
He called the reporter, and offered her the exclusive information regarding Anna's diary.
In exchange, he wanted her to interview him and Martini together.
A flashback reveals that Martini watched the reporter's story on how Vogel's suspect
for the mutilator case, was found innocent after being imprisoned, and got monetary compensation.
Stuck in his poor financial situation, he got inspired by the local tale of the Fog Man and his
unsolved murders. The boy was a student in his class, and one day, he found his video camera,
filled with footage of Anna. He saw that Anna was a redhead, and was the same age as the Fog
Man's victims. Martini started stalking her and concocting his plan. He pretended he was
looking for a stray cat, and then asked for her help before kidnapping her.
He then took Anna to a remote room, where he killed her by drug overdose. He threw the backpack
in the river, cut his hand, and left his blood on the table intentionally during his meeting with
Vogel. Additionally, he also sent the flirtatious text to his student. Martini did all this, so that
the clues would point to him as a suspect; but not enough that he would be found completely guilty.
He cleverly planned the scavenger hunt, that would later lead Vogel to the church,
and being exposed by the reporter for destroying evidence. This is to ensure that Martini would
be exonerated; and he'll be rich from the compensation, the book deal, and interviews.
Martini's one mistake was that he couldn't resist drawing the same initial on his arm like Anna did.
Vogel noticed it, and knew that the initial was Martini's trophy, and a vanity for his crime.
In the present, it all clicks for the psychiatrist. He realizes that Vogel
killed Martini after the televised interview,
out of humiliation or anger. He calls in the police officers, so they can arrest Vogel.
The psychiatrist returns to his house soon after that. He has a lot of fishing gear in his garage.
But hidden deep inside his trunk, is a metal tackle box. The movie ends with the psychiatrist
opening it, revealing six locks of fiery red hair. This reveals that the psychiatrist is
the Fog Man all along. He came to town thirty years ago, and started killing the red-headed
girls he was obsessed with. He had gotten away with it for so long, but with the police now
hunting the Fog Man, it appears that the psychiatrist's luck has now run out.
This's Daniel CC movie channel! Stay safe and enjoy your day!