Back From The Dead: In The Mouth Of Madness

Do You Read Sutter Cane?!

The immortal words of John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness (1994) underscore a horror film with its roots deep in the literary genre. The title itself is a reference to H. P. Lovecraft’s novella ‘At the Mountains of Madness’, published in 1936, though — beyond the usual, esoteric Lovecraftian tropes — the similarities in story end there. Though there are tropes aplenty.

Carpenter’s story follows John Trent (Sam Neill), an insurance investigator, hired by a publisher (Charlton Heston) to investigate the disappearance of acclaimed horror writer Sutter Cane (Jürgen Prochnow). Cane himself is based on Stephen King, the man widely credited with taking Lovecraft’s bleak, American-centric cosmic horror and updating it for the modern reader (see Dreamcatcher, It, The Mist, The Tommyknockers  — the list goes on). And Carpenter’s film is a love-letter to both Messrs King and Lovecraft.

The film begins in media res, with Trent being rushed into an insane asylum. The fact that we don’t see it called Arkham is perhaps the only place where Carpenter doesn’t make a nod to his literary forbears. The hotel Trent later stays in is run by Mrs Pickman (what does keep making that noise behind the reception counter?); two of Cane’s novels have direct links to Lovecraft short stories (see if you can spot which ones); and the artwork on the front covers is a clear visual reference to the Stephen King books of the 1980s and 90s.

The film explores themes of madness, reality and what lurks in the horror that is the Sleepy American Town. Trent’s journey sees him team up with Linda Styles (Julie Carmen) to find Hobb’s End — the fictional town that appears in most of Cane’s novels, and a stand-in for King’s Castle Rock. What they find there is that the horrors Cane has been writing about are not nearly as fictional as they might seem.

With some standout performances by Prochnow and  Heston (who, despite top billing, only really appears in two scenes and has less than 6 minutes screen time), the film is the perfect piece of nostalgic horror for any fan of Carpenter, King or Lovecraft (his stories, I mean the man was a massive racist, so fuck him with his own Cthulhu Mythos).

Carpenter’s film makes heavy use of practical effects (one animatronic reportedly took over 30 people to operate), and this gives the film a sort of timeless quality. There’s blood and gore and the perversion of the physical form seen in some of Carpenter’s other films (see the undeniably superior John Carpenter’s The Thing, 1982, for more). Not to mention Carpenter’s usual criticism of authority figures (what he does with the cop in the alleyway almost feels like the natural, cosmic evolution of his 1976 dystopian breakthrough film Assault on Precinct 13).

Sam Neill does his best, bless him. I’ve never found him particularly compelling in horror (see Daybreakers, 2009, Dead Calm, 1989, and even Event Horizon, 1997 — all perfectly fine horror films [well, maybe not Daybreakers], but all with unconvincing horror performances from Neill). But there’s no denying that what the character of John Trent has to deal with is so horrific, it would make anyone a little unhinged.

There was a special edition of this film released back in October. I got it for my birthday. Which is on Hallowe’en, for those of you keeping score. I know, explains a lot, doesn’t it? I know. I’m oversharing now. But the regular 4K version comes out on 6th July.

Oh, and while we’re at it… did I ever tell you my favorite color was blue?