L'Antre de la folie

"In The Mouth of Madness" is one of John Carpenter's better flicks. It features the usually bland Sam Neill in a surprisingly good and likable performance, and is packed with oodles of intriguing concepts and spiffy details. The music is good (it was cowritten by Carpenter) and the movie has a great look. There are also lots and lots of ginchy make-up effects, and while some are better than others (the kid who turns into an old man looks like a kid wearing a Spencer's Gifts Old Man mask and fright wig), but the sheer abundance of them make this unique.

Neill plays John Trent, a no-nonsense insurance investigator who loves his job and has disdain for most of humanity- but with a sense of humor. He's sent to find a missing mega-selling author Sutter Caine (Jurgen Prochnow, in a role that would have been kick-ass if played by Stephen King), whose books are a nation-wide craze. Trent ends up in Hobb's End, a town right out of Caine's books (literally) where the morbid tales of fiction are becoming reality.

The movie, although muddled in places, too repetitive (on purpose), and too reliant on flash forwards, has lots of things to say about the perception of reality and it interesting and entertaining.

The supporting cast is good: John Glover and David Warner are psychiatrists, a subdued Charleton Heston is a publisher, and Bernie "Revenge of the Nerds" Casey is Trent's boss, but the highlight is Frances Bay as the sweet Mrs. Pickman. She provides the film's high points and ends up looking like something from the director's "The Thing". The weak link in the cast is the leading lady, Julie Carmen, who delivers every line like she just chugged a case of Nyquil. In addition to her lousy acting, she's dressed in ugly outfits and has a kind of "in-your-face" ugliness. In one scene there is a special effects dummy head in place of Carmen's and the dummy head out-acts her.

This is not as great as "The Thing" but better than "They Live" as far as John Carpenter's paranoid, reality-bending flicks go, and is worth checking out.

The stories of H.P. Lovecraft can be summarized in a simple equation: Mankind + Ancient, Inescapable Horrors = Utter Doom. With IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS, Director John Carpenter uses the dread-filled atmospherics of Lovecraft, in order to pay homage to the writer.

Insurance fraud investigator, John Trent (Sam Neill) is sent to discover what happened to a pulp horror writer named Sutter Cane (Jurgen Prochnow), who seems to have vanished without a trace. Trent, a normal, rational man, soon finds himself entangled in a web of incredible, unexplainable occurrences upon finding the mysterious town of Hobb's End. Here, his skeptical / logical mind is tested beyond its limit.

Like Lovecraft, Carpenter gives us small glimpses of immense things that defy description. Reality bends in on itself, until we, along with Trent, can no longer discern fact from fiction. From the ax-wielding, mutant maniacs, to the unspeakable black church, Hobb's End is a place existing only in nightmare. A very satisfying, apocalyptic horror film...

As someone who has read all of Lovecrafts books I can assure you that this movie has a strong Lovecraftian vibe to it. And even the title seems to be some sort of homage to Lovecrafts work, I presume (In the mouth of madness -> Innsmouth ?) Or maybe I'm just over-interpreting things. Who knows?

With that being said I really enjoyed the movie. It was refreshing and different. Sometimes the prospect of "not knowing what's real or not" is even scarier than straight up gore or monsters. After all the fear of the unknown is the ultimate essence of true horror. This movie had plenty of it so I can't complain.

What a treat of a film this was. It is witty, intelligent, and scary. The basic plot premise is anything but basic as the line between reality and fantasy is almost indistinguishable through most of the film. What is going on? Who really knows...I'm not sure even director John Carpenter knows. But what we do get is a guessing game of what is real and un-real in a very stylish, sophisticated, almost bizarre fashion. The film opens in a mental asylum with protagonist Sam Neill being put in a padded cell whilst in a straight-jacket. The setting is larger than life. The characters around Neill are caricatures for the most part. John Glover plays a doctor(Doctor Saperstein...a possible homage to Rosemary's Baby) with complete camp. David Warner, another doctor, begins talking to Neill and asking him about what happened. The rest of the film then details what Neill did working with regards to a lost author named Sutter Cane. The plot is much more complicated than that and may take subsequent viewings to fully understand WHAT can be understood. The end result is at the very least a very gratifying one as Carpenter constructs a dream-like story that has obvious roots in both the fiction of H. P. Lovecraft and Stephen King. The acting is good all around...Neill is excellent as John Trent. He makes a very believable presence in a sea of un-reality. Julie Carmen is also very good in her role. Look for Charlton Heston as a publisher and Bernie Casey in a cameo as well. Kudos to Mr. Carpenter for bringing his visions of horror to the silver screen once again. This may be his best film...certainly his most thought-provoking and sophisticated.

The efficient and skeptical freelance insurance investigator John Trent (Sam Neill) is hired by the publisher Jackson Harglow (Charlton Heston) to find where the famous writer Sutter Cane (Jürgen Prochnow) might be. After writing a series of best-sellers in the horror genre, affecting the reason and causing disorientation, memory loss and paranoia in the readers, Sutter has simply vanished near the release of his new novel, "Horror in Hobb's End". There is a mass hysteria of his anxious fans waiting for the new release, and John believes that his disappearance is a strategy of marketing. John follows his instincts and travels with Cane's editor, Linda Styles (Julie Carmen), to New Hampshire seeking for the apparently fictional town of Hobb's End. While driving along the night, Linda reaches the Hobb's End, and John discloses that Sutter Cane has unleashed a powerful evil force in the black church of the mysterious town, and his twisted imagination is changing the reality and perception of those that read his novels.

"In the Mouth of Madness" is a journey to fear and madness through the darkness of a twisted mind of a writer. This story follows the style of "Twilight Zone" and actually shows how a writer with the support of the media is able to manipulate hearts and minds. Further, there is a certain criticism in the values and standards of the society where those who think differently or have a different behavior are outcast or even considered crazy. John Carpenter is one of my favorite directors and Sam Neil is perfect in the role of a skeptical man, used to find schemes and con everywhere, having difficulties to accept what is happening. The conclusion is very dark and without perspective to mankind. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "À Beira da Loucura" ("On the Edge of Madness")

Note: On 23 June 2015 I saw this movie again.

Note: On 20 September 2020 I saw this movie again.

Note: On 03 March 2025 I saw this movie again.