IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1995 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: John Carpenter takes a Lovecraft
concept and spins it into a stylish horror film--
one of the few really competent horror films I have
seen in the 90s. Still most of the interest is in
the buildup and the payoff is neither original nor
surprising. Rating: +1 (-4 to +4) text
It is ironic that while the Western seems to be in decline and horror films just seem to pour onto video store shelves there are more quality Westerns being made than quality horror films. The horror genre is a classic case of bad films driving out the good. The horror genre of late has been dominated by gore, splatter, plastic prosthetic makeup effects, teenage protagonists, predictable jump scenes, and a tired succession of sequels and remakes. Imagination and creativity are becoming increasingly scarce in most horror films. Now that impressive visual effects are easy, filmmakers are using them in lieu of atmosphere, style, and imagination. One filmmaker who still does use some style and ideas in his horror is John Carpenter. While he falls short of the stature even of David Cronenberg in the same genre, Carpenter does occasionally turn out a very original piece of horror like PRINCE OF DARKNESS or THEY LIVE. IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS is not up to those two films, but it is one of his better horror exercises.
A bit too much of the premise is obvious from the trailer, but the story concerns an insurance investigator, John Trent (played by Sam Neill), who has been driven mad by his recent experiences. Neill gives a bizarre and quirky impression of madness. Trent's experiences involved looking for a missing horror writer, Sutter Cane (Jurgen Prochnow). As a publishing executive tells Trent, "You can forget about Stephen King, Sutter Cane by far outsells him." (If, in fact, it is true in the world of the film, one wonders why Trent would have to be told how popular Cane is.) The trail to find the horror writer leads to a small and strange New Hampshire town, Hobbs End--the story is an expansion of an idea by H. P. Lovecraft but, like PRINCE OF DARKNESS, contains more than one tip of the hat to Nigel Kneale and his QUATERMASS AND THE PIT.
Carpenter recognizes that the most disturbing images do not require special makeup and visual effects. Instead his most haunting scenes involve juxtapositions distorted just slightly out of our reality. There is more wrong with Hobbs End than that it seems like it could be the setting for a horror novel, but what is wrong in the town is artificial and a letdown after we see how the citizenry of Hobbs End react to the secret.
Neill's performance as a madman in the early parts of the film is a real departure for him, but he gives no signs of a severe strain in the events leading up to his madness. Charleton Heston, David Warner, John Glover, and Bernie Casey have minor roles and are under-utilized, though Glover is certainly of some interest as a doctor with a tenuous grip on reality.
At heart this story is an old idea--the small town that appears innocent and hides a deeply sinister core, but Carpenter has hung enough interesting gimmicks on the tale that his fans probably won't mind. I give this film a +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mark.leeper@att.com
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews