IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS
A film review by Andreas Kutschera
Copyright 1994 Andreas Kutschera
Recommendation: Worth paying extra money at a good theatre (7/10)
Production country/year USA 1994, New Line Cinema Running Length: 95 mins.
Credits:
Director: John Carpenter
Screenplay: Michael De Luca
Camera: Gary B. Kibbe
Music: Jon Carpenter and Jim Lang
Special Makeup Effects: KNB EFX Group
Special Visual Effects: Industrial Light & Magic
Actors: Sam Neill (John Trent)
Julie Carmen (Linda Styles)
Juergen Prochnow (Sutter Cane)
special appearance by Charlton Heston
John Carpenter is back. And my, was I scared. After a long absence from the screen, John Carpenter does again what he does best and that is horror movies.
The story starts very simple: John Trent is a private eye who is mainly working for insurance companies until he is hired by a publishing house. His job is to find Sutter Cane, their premier horror writer. Cane is even more successful than Stephen King, his newest book is late, fans are going nuts because advance orders cannot be fulfilled.
From that premise starts a journey into a nightmare. Yeah, I know, that's what they tell you about every horror movie. In this one, reality is soon mixed with fantasy as Trent and Styles (Cane's editor at Arcane Books) try to find Cane somewhere in New England (and no, they don't even go near Bangor, Maine). People appear out of nowhere and vanish again, things seem to be changing constantly, there are even the obligatory "go back, before it's too late" warnings. Of course, there is also the unthinkable horror from Beyond. It soon gets to a point when no one knows anymore whether this is reality or not.
And that is the scary part IMHO. You have no control over what is happening because you don't know if you dream or are awake. Something is happening to you and around you and even though everybody else seems to be able to do something, you can't do anything to shape your reality or your fate.
"Them special effects is fantastic," but what else would you expect from ILM? The story is rather consistent (if you accept the basic horror premises :-) and the acting is very good, except for Julie Carmen. She only seems to have one face (except for two or three scenes) and her voice shows absolutely no emotion. That was one rare instance when I wished I had watched the dubbed version. Sam Neill continues to impress me. This is the third totally different role I remember after THE PIANO and JURASSIC PARK and he still comes out strong. He's definitely not one-dimensional.
I watched this movie in a THX theatre (the movie has DTS, so I probably got a good estimate) and wholly recommed it for a big screen with DTS. It is definitely worth the Ecu 6-8 (1 Ecu ~ 1 $) they're going to charge you.
I give this movie an 7 on the Movie Ratings Ballot.
- Andreas Kutschera (speed@shogun.ncp.sietec.de) Oh, and one tiny little personal spoiler:
Charlton Heston does not die at the end of the movie.
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