poster
Today…February the 3rd, 2010, marks the 15th Anniversary of one of my many favorite John Carpenter films. In The Mouth Of Madness is another team effort by John Carpenter, Sandy King, and writer Michael De Luca. The cast is a brilliant ensemble of characters played by Sam Neill, Charleton Heston, Julie Carmen, David Warner, and Jurgen Prochnow. The story is loosely based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft, and Mr. Carpenter again delivers a fine tale woven with his great talents and unique style.
This one is a heavy dialogue piece, and it is a journey that takes a normal, well grounded in reality private investigator and follows him deep into the realm of insanity as the apocalyptic tale engulfs and makes him the main character in the story of the world’s end. Sam Neill plays John Trent who is an investigator/specialist at insurance fraud. He is hired by a publishing house to find their best selling horror novelist who has gone missing. Sutter Cain is the author’s name, and his books, if you read them, will somehow give you horrible nightmares that will soon possess you and make you a follower of Cain!!! Sam Neill is convinced this is a publicity hoax even though bizarre things start to happen around him after he leaves Charleton Heston’s office. Hell bent on proving this is all a hoax, Sam Neil buys all of Sutter Cain’s books and starts to read…yes the nightmares begin immediately, and Carpenter’s magic begins to drag you in and scare you but good. Neill’s character discovers that all the book covers have some unusual artwork and, with scissors, he cuts away revealing a puzzle that in turn represents a map that takes you to the fictional town from all of Cains stories called “Hobb’s End”. It takes a hellish nightmare to get you there, but once in Hobb’s End, you can not leave, and this is where the real horror and twists begin!!
This is a very rich tale done with great skill and John’s very dark sense of humor. The score is a wild rock and roll piece written and performed by Carpenter and Jim Lange. Carpenter is always maturing as a story teller, and unique to this film is that he frames buildings and architecture through his camera in such a way that they, too, become characters in the story!!! Carpenter is definitely a master at what he does, and this one makes for another fun Saturday night flick to watch with a bunch of friends!! Below are some pics from the film, the trailer and a couple of links to fully immerse you into the Mouth of Madness, Enjoy and Happy Anniversary.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Mouth_of_Madness
nothing like having lunch with an axe murderer watching you
the madness begins
the mystery of the book covers
the map to Hobb's End
the scary church
It's Trent's story now
Trent is gone for good
when the world is about to end, don't forget the popcorn!!!
Eavesdropping with Johnny 
Never saw it. Added to Netflix. I’ll come back later once I’ve seen it. Thanks for the heads-up, bro. 🙂
peace | deg
WOOO this one is a lot of fun!!!
Coolness. 🙂
BTW, see The Book of Eli, eh. Excellent film, excellent faith-based film, excellent and unique sword-play/fight choreography, excellent acting, excellent art-direction, and killer score. 😉
peace | deg
I was trying to figure out which film I will see, as I only have the time to see one with my busy semester in full swing. This was on the list and will most likely win.
Thanks for the nudge! 🙂
Seen it and I agree on all counts. A brilliant tale of how religion can heal wounds and be abused (in the case by Gary Oldman’s character) for power hungry ends.
I’d like to recommend District 9 and Avatar (I saw it in IMAX 3D and it blew me away!)
Haven’t seen it either, but since you’ve recommended it John and since Sam Neill is one of my favourite (and underrated) actor’s, I’ll give it a go.
Awesome can’t wait to get your review!!!
I haven’t seen it either, but it looks like a fun ride! I love popcorn when I’m watching end of the world movies. 😀
FYI – I’m working on the error with the 3rd image…it says it’s showing “mm6” but it’s showing “mm3”. When it’s fixed I’ll reply to this.
Well, if you click on the duplicate (second) image, you’ll actually get to see the right one. 🙂 Don’t know what’s up with this page.
Hey you should watch this one and Alien back to back,,, and ALONE!!!
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-HA-HA!
I just don’t see me watching either of these alone!!! Maybe next time you’re in the neighborhood, you can bring your copies. 🙂
You all have never seen it? What’s wrong with you. I saw it at the theatre when it came out. Sam Neill is actually very funny in the movie. This is one of the few Carpenter movies that I like without Dean Cundey as the Director of Photography. I think Gary B. Kibbe tends to be a little flat. It also has another good commentary on the DVD but Carpenter always has to get Kibbe to talk about his work on the film. :)Love that poster also.
your right about that commentary!!! Gary is a pretty shy guy and sounds pretty Nervous,,, I’m sure he must have sweated off 30Lbs while doing that commentary with John, Loved hearing what he had to say!!! He too is quite a master at his craft
Agreed, this is my favorite John Carpenter film next to “The Thing”. I dig the HP Lovecraft nature of “In the Mouth of Madness”.
Cheers.
it is a greatone and I love Sam’s performance,, man can he get you going with those expressions!!
BTW, look out for young Hayden Christensen, on the bike.
Wow is that who that is!!!
I’ll have to check this out. Of course if Charleton Hesstion is in it then its an automaticmsut see for me.
this is a good one for the Cargo King of Chicago to see!!! And Heston is always top notch!!!
The only reason I have Waynes World 2 is because of Charleton Hesstons cameo.
To this day, my very favorite horror movie, and the best Lovecraft on screen I think we’ve seen so far, even if it is more a homage than an adaptation. Love this film.
Carpenter really did an awesome job translating Lovecraft to the screen,, I felt slightly mad after seeing this one
Ditto–from the description it seems like something I’d have checked out right away if I had known it existed.
OWWWW=WAHHH! lets all rent an old theater for a night and watch it together!!!
Well, glad to see that I’m not the only one who hasn’t seen or heard of this one. Off to Netflix!
not many have seen this one!! It came and went very fast!!! it was released right in the middle of the Oklahoma city bombing and everything else going on at that time was pretty much passed over.
This is one of Carpenter’s lesser-known films, but it’s definitely one of his best. You get pulled in right along with Sam Neill’s character. Your perception of reality changes as his does and I’m betting that you’ll feel more than a little bit uncomfortable at the end.
This movie and “Prince of Darkness” would make an amazing stormy night John Carpenter double feature.
YOU SAID IT!!! remember where that nice old lady who is the inn keeper keeps her husband!!!!!
You are a wonderful man. I saw this a few years ago while channel flicking. I’ve wanted to give it another watch but could never remember the name.
It’s now added to my rental list. And is slightly more classy than my latest pick, Zombie Strippers.
WHAT!!! How could anything be better than Zombie Strippers,,,, HAAAA!
Funny to see that so much supernatural mayhem seems to take place in New England…
Haaa what’s funny is all of this one was filmed in Toronto
I grew up two streets away from the asylum. It’s actually a water cleaning facility.
They mention that in the documentary!!! Did the make strange brew at this same place???
Alpha Base. This is Bob McKenzie. I have a fleshy-headed mutant in sector 16B.
Ahahahaha, good one Matt, classic, eh! 🙂
peace and touks | deg
Ps. Well, ten bucks is ten bucks, eh.
Haha probably! SCTV’s from Toronto too.
“I am your father, Luke. Give in to the dark side
of the force you knob.”
did ya see omega man,, it’s a beauty aah
I’d kiss you if I didn’t have puke breath eh!
Good lord, has it really been 15 years? It really doesn’t seem that long at all. I saw this when it first came out in theaters. It’s not the best John Carpenter movie, but on the whole it’s not too bad, and Carpenter does provide some creepy stuff here. Definitely see this if you are an H.P. Lovecraft fan.
One of Mr. Carpenter’s better latter day films, in my opinion at least, and while not an adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft story, its more Lovecraftian than a lot of movies that claim to adapt his work directly. Lovecraft is a tough cinematic nut to crack though, to be fair to everybody – although for my money, Carpenter’s “The Fog” feels more genuinely Lovecraft-y to me. I actually liked “In the Mouth of Madness” more in later years than I did when it was first released, and there are some elemts of it that I’m still not crazy about (ha!) but one aspect of the movie that was unquestionably fantastic was Sam Neil. He’s the linchpin that holds the whole thing together with the way he elegantly plays a man losing his grip on reality – or perhaps a man keeping a grip on his own sanity while reality slips away, depending on how you look at it. Bold casting there, as despite starring in “Jurassic Park” a couple of years before, Sam Neil wasn’t your standard central casting leading man. But, wow, what a performance.
woooo nice review and some mighty fine points,,, thanks for the comments!!!
Too kind, sir! I’m always happy to play in the Eaves digital sandbox!
the Fog has it’s 30th anniversary in a few days and thats going to be a big blog day!!!
I have trouble remembering my own birthday. How do you know the anniversaries for all these movies? 😀
Huzzah! My favorite Carpenter flick! I can’t wait!
Can’t believe I haven’t watched this one… or heard of it. I’ll add it to my list.
I’ve seen this a couple of times over the years, late at night on the BBC. IIRC, there’s a scene where Sam Neill stops his car in a street in front of a huge mob that look like they’ll tear him limb from limb. That really freaked me out the first time I watched it, because it’s the kind of situation you can actually imagine happening. No monsters or space aliens, just a group of people who out number you, out gun you and want you dead.
I actually thought it was a Stephen King film, though. Just seems like the kind of thing he’d write. Sort of… “what would happen if my novels drove people insane?”.
In a related note, I think the Dr Who program “Waters of Mars” Owes a lot to this film:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_of_Darkness_(film) which was part of Carpenters Apocalypse Trilogy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypse_Trilogy
I think Stephen King and Carpenter both had dreams of Mists and Fogs, with one remembering a dream of God striding just beyond visual range, that we saw from the hive creature at the end of the film adaptation of the Mist, that also dealt with religion’s abuses. There is a woman in Congress who is just like Carrie’s Mom-and Bachman is her name of all things!
Strange, strange the universe is….