IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS
A film review by Eric Grossman
Copyright 1995 LOS ANGELES INDEPENDENT
An intelligent horror film is one of the most rare treasures a movie-goer can find. A genre with enormous potential to engage our minds as well as manipulate our emotions is most often just an excuse to thrill teenage boys with sliced organs and buckets of fake blood. Fortunately, John Carpenter, the director of HALLOWEEN, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, and THE THING, has once again given the horror film a much needed creative infusion with his new film, IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS.
John Trent (Sam Neill) is a cynical private investigator who is hired by book publisher Jackson Harglow (Charlton Heston) to find Sutter Cane (Jurgen Prochnow), an hugely successful novelist whose work is known to have a disturbing, psychological effect on some of its readers. Cane had disappeared only days before his latest novel was to be finished and his frenzied fans have already begun rioting in the streets. Skeptical that he is being used as part of a publicity stunt, Trent nevertheless decides to take the case. After a few sleepless nights reading Cane's previous fiction, he deduces that author has hidden himself away in Hobbs' End, a village that is not on any New England map. Trent and Cane's editor, Linda Styles (Julie Carmen) travel to the town where the true "horror beyond description" begins.
Owing a great deal to the works of H. P. Lovecraft, an early Twentieth Century author who, next to Edgar Allan Poe, is considered to be the horror genre's most influential writer, MADNESS is about indescribable terror. Creating suspense and tension on a cerebral level, Carpenter and screenwriter Michael De Luca have succeeded in alluding to the horror more often than showing it, and when the "things" in the dark are revealed, it is in such a way that enacts genuine fright, not simple revulsion or laughter.
Neill is perfectly cast in his difficult role as Trent. He employs the right amount of humor and sarcasm to create a likable character who we care about as he leads us on a macabre journey where the reality we take for granted is ever changing. Julie Carmen gives a sharp performance as Styles, Cane's tough editor who discovers that she knows a little too much about the village of Hobbs' End.
In addition to Heston and Prochnow, the supporting cast includes fine performances from David Warner and John Glover. Powerful imagery, sharp editing and better than average special effects create moments that are real nail-biters.
This is the best horror film I've seen in years. It's great to see John Carpenter back in true form. Movies like this should be seen on a big screen with a good crowd. If you like mystery and a good scare, don't miss this one, or who knows how many years you'll have to wait for the next one.
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