1994 Directed by John Carpenter
With the disappearance of hack horror writer Sutter Cane, all Hell is breaking loose...literally! Author Cane, it seems, has a knack for description that really brings his evil creepy-crawlies to life. Insurance investigator John Trent is sent to investigate Cane's mysterious vanishing act and ends up in the sleepy little East Coast town of Hobb's End.
"I'm losing me!"
I can't even begin to tally up the amount of times I have seen In the Mouth of Madness over the past 20 years, but I can tell you that it's so much that I am actually a slimy, deformed, hideous monster transformed from the lurking evil within the mind of Sutter Cane, he's my god now.
The first few times I watched this movie was probably back in 1995-1996, making me no more than 12 or 13 years old at the time and it scared the living hell out of me (but not enough to keep me from coming back to it over and over again). From the early scenes of Sam Neill covered in drawn-on…
John Carpenter fuses lurking Lovecraftian madness with Stephen King psychological terror, resulting in this New England nightmare tentacle jam that’s, at least for me, absolutely perfect.
Equal parts cerebral and visceral with apocalyptic anxieties riding high, In the Mouth of Madness was a video store staple for me in my teens and very well may be my favorite horror picture of the 90’s, a dreamy ride into hellish paperback nightmare rhetoric—filled with goopy KNB effects, one of my favorite Carpenter scores, Sam Neill absolutely killing it as usual, and an ending for the ages as far as I’m concerned.
“Do you read Sutter Cane?”
Part fiction, part reality, all nightmare.
The new 4K scan on Scream Factory’s new blu looks damn fine, destroying the previous bare bones release by a country mile and reminding me how much I love the color blue. I couldn’t be happier this finally got the collectors edition treatment it deserves. Essential.
Sometimes it just seems a director is given one film in which all his unique talents come together. For Carpenter In the Mouth of Madness seems to be that film.
I feel that Carpenter is masterful at two things. Creating suspense and giving his viewer great physical gorey effects. He perfected the first in Halloween and the second in the Thing. In the Mouth of Madness is an almost perfect amalgamation of the two.
The story feels like the bizarre love child of Stephen King and Lovecraft. It deals with Lovecraftian madness and monsters, told in a narrative that seems to come straight out of a King novel. And weaving through this all is the deft hand of one of…
Sam Neill solid as a rock. Sutter Cane, the anti-Stephen King. Warped. Twisted. Demented. Trippy. A mind-fuck from the Horror Master John Carpenter.
Hooptober 4.0 - 2017 - Film #21
I still remember the first time I ever picked up a Stephen King novel. I was twelve years old and I was at my local library. I was scanning the shelves when I came across this title that glared out at me with a strange allure, Pet Semetery. My curiosity was piqued. I pulled it down and flipped it open. Right there in the middle of the page was the word, "Fuck". I was dumb struck, I quickly obscured the word by half closing the book. I then looked around surreptitiously to make sure no one was looking, as though it would be patently clear to everyone within a hundred metre radius that…
I remember New York during the depression... people think they have it bad now. You should've seen the Bowery back then. Bodies piled two-three feet high off the gutter.
This film is slowly but surely turning into one of my go-to movies for my viewing choice. One of those that I can watch whenever I feel like I want to sit back and enjoy a bumpy ride. We all have some of those. In tandem, Sam Neill is becoming one of my favorite character actors (not that I keep track but anyway). I should check out more of his films and might even give Jurassic Park III another shot. Julie Carmen is so undeniably bad it's scary but she makes…
On this rewatch, the story seems rushed to me, and also much of it plays like a broad comedy. However, the thematic elements are still pretty strong - this would be a good double feature with Wes Craven's New Nightmare which came out the same year.
This movie is fun to watch. Sam Neil plays his part perfectly. Great monsters and imagery throughout. I only have one question after ever watching this movie. Do you read Sutter Cane?
Immaginatevi un mondo in cui Stephen King inventasse il soggetto di un film, lo desse a Lovecraft dicendogli "questi sono i paletti dentro cui devi muoverti, per il resto hai libertà assoluta" e, una volta terminato lo script, lo portasse a Carpenter dicendogli "Divertiti". Il risultato che avremmo sarebbe all'incirca il miglior horror degli anni 90' e una pietra miliare su come si racconta e si mostra una storia di tensione in generale. Imprescindibile.
Follow the old cyclist to Hobb's End where Lovecraft is King.
Is this the real life?
Is it just fantasy?
If you’re a fan of H.P. Lovecraft, you’ll love this movie.
Ps. The paperboy is played by Hayden Christenson.
I've long argued that constructivism would usher in the rule of the Old Ones.
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