In the Mouth of Madness

In the Mouth of Madness (1994)

Runtime: 95 minutes

Directed by: John Carpenter

Starring: Sam Neill, Julie Carmen, Jurgen Prochnow, David Warner, John Glover

From: New Line Cinema

OK, so how did people believe that John Carpenter actually joined Letterboxd? Recently, there was a kerfuffle that was only seen by me after it occurred & the faux account was zapped. The site notes in multiple ways (the site itself, social media, e-mails, etc.) when a famous old director has joined the platform. This occurred for Scorsese and Coppola so why people fell for someone calling themselves John Carpenter posting about his own films and random horror movies—a little puzzling. In any regard, this gave me the idea to see the most famous picture of his that hadn’t been experienced by me before.

An experience, this certainly was. Thankfully for me I went into the movie relatively blind; a clip or two was seen but otherwise I only knew that this was about freelance insurance investigator Sam Neill being hired by Charlton Heston to find Sutter Cane, a horror novelist “more popular than Stephen King.” Oh, and I heard it was “Lovecraftian.” It’s funny, I’ve seen a few pictures w/ that description and of course through cultural osmosis know Cthulhu. Unfortunately, I also know of Lovecraft’s personal beliefs… there’s a can of worms I don’t want opened, but it won’t prevent me from possibly reading some of his writing in the future.

Regardless, those who read my recent review of the 2020 movie History of the Occult may have presumed that weird, surreal movies where you question reality aren’t my bag. Not necessarily; after all, I dig another Neill horror picture (Possession) and like with everything for me, the plot and characters are incredibly critical. I was on board with this bizarre journey & the revelation of the irrational that is increasingly disturbing to the rational insurance investigator. This irrational is brought to life perfectly by the glorious practical effects and the Ontario setting that substituted for New York City then the New England that’s the home of King and was the home of Lovecraft.

There are plenty of famous faces, although most (like David Warner, John Glover and Bernie Casey) only have what amount to extended cameos. I’ll note Julie Carmen as the lead girl; while not as famous a name, I’ve seen her in a few other movies and she did deliver in what ultimately was a bold role. As of course it was a solid production from Carpenter and his score was pretty rad, this solidified my opinion that I was a knave, a fool for not seeing this cosmic horror much sooner.

If you have even a passing interest in Lovecraftian horror, In the Mouth of Madness is a must.