Into the Mouth of Madness

Director: John Carpenter

Rated: R

New Line Home Video: February 8th, 2000

95 Minutes

From Amazon:
The mind-bending worlds of author H.P. Lovecraft have long interested horror directors, but the films have rarely successfully captured his nightmarish mix of madness and mythology. John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness is not directly based on Lovecraft's work, but screenwriter Michael De Luca draws his inspiration from Lovecraft's Cthulu mythology and then adds his own ingenious twists. John Trent (Sam Neill), an insurance investigator recently fitted for a straightjacket, tells his story to a psychiatrist. Hired to track down the missing pop-horror phenomena Sutter Cane, a Stephen King-like author whose fans are literally made for his books, Trent finds the supposedly fictional Hobb's End. He watches the town collapse into madness, murder, and monstrous transformations: the fantastic horrors of Cane's novels played out in front of his eyes. "Reality isn't what it used to be," deadpans one zombielike townsperson. In fact, it is how Cane writes it--but is he Devil, dark oracle, or simply a preacher in the service of an evil that grows stronger with every soul his books convert? The script never quite gets a grip on the blurry relationship between fact and fiction, but those details fade in the face of Carpenter's demented imagery, shiver-inducing twists, and dark wit. It's more eerie mind game than straight-out horror, a portrait of a world gone mad, and Carpenter relishes every hallucinatory moment.

So, I'm ashamed to admit that I have never even heard of this movie. I mean, how could I not hear of it? haha! It was actually really good. I found it on Netflix and decided to check it out because it was directed by John Carpenter and I was not disappointed. It's one of those movies that isn't like...scary, scary. But, it is full of moments where something will walk past the screen and there is a loud noise so you jump haha. I love it! Overall, it's a great movie. I actually just read that Carpenter said it is the third movie in his Apocalypse Trilogy along with The Thing, and Prince of Darkness so I'll have to check those out too!

The movie is about an investigator, John Trent. Well, he's not an investigator necessarily but he investigates cons. Anyways, he is hired by this guy to investigate the disappearance of Sutter Cane, a famous horror novel writer. From that point on, things get weird for him. Literally, from the moment he's hired, there is an attempt made on his life from, what we are led to believe, is just some crazed fan. Trent finds himself swirling into madness at a rapid rate and soon finds himself locked up in a mental institute.

This movie was very well executed. The acting was great, for the time, and the story line was awesome sauce!  It's an older movie but it's great! If you haven't seen it yet, I suggest that you do!!

My Rating: 5/5
Ginger