IHdb

ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - February 3rd

"IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS" released in 1995

MINI BLOG

An insurance investigator begins discovering that the impact a horror writer's books have on his fans is more than inspirational, in the third film in John Carpenter's Apocalypse Trilogy, In the Mouth of Madness!

Don't miss out on future blogs, trailers, and clips IHdb has coming up
by Following IHdb's Facebook page above

Efficient, and skeptical, freelance insurance investigator John Trent (Sam Neill) is hired by Arcane Publishing director Jackson Harglow (Charlton Heston) to investigate the dissappearence of its star author, horror writer Sutter Cane (Jürgen Prochnow) - and more importantly, recover the manuscript for Cane's final novel. Trent is partnered with Cane's editor, Linda Styles (Julie Carmen), who  explains that Cane's stories have been known to cause disorientation, memory loss and paranoia in "less stable readers". Convinced that the disappearance is a publicity stunt, Trent notices red lines on Cane's book's covers which, when aligned properly, form the outline of New Hampshire and mark a location alluded to be Hobb's End, the fictional setting for many of Cane's works. As Trent and Styles travel to New England, Styles experiences bizarre phenomena during the late-night drive before inexplicably arriving in Hobb's End, suddenly in broad daylight. Trent and Styles search the small town, encountering people and landmarks described as fictional in Cane's novels, especially the Black Church on the outskirts of town. After witnessing the townspeople attacked by a pack of vicious dogs outside the church, Trent confronts Styles, who admits that Arcane Publishing's claim was a stunt to promote Cane's book, but the time distortion and exact replica of Hobb's End were not part of the plan, suggesting that somehow Cane's books are becoming reality. Later, Styles confronts Cane at the Black Church. Cane exposes her to his final novel, In The Mouth of Madness, which drives her insane. Meanwhile, Trent repeatedly tries to leave Hobb's End, but keeps getting teleported back to the center of town, and evetually crashes his car. Trent wakes up in the Black Church, where Cane explains that the public's belief in his stories has freed an ancient race of monstrous beings, the Old Ones, which will reclaim the Earth. Cane then further reveals that Trent is merely one of his characters, who must follow Cane's plot and return the manuscript of In The Mouth of Madness to Arcane Publishing, furthering the end of humanity!

John Trent: [speaking with a psychiatrist] You're waiting to hear about my 'them', aren't you?
Dr. Wrenn: Your what?
John Trent: My 'them'. Every paranoid schizophrenic has one; a 'them', a 'they', an 'it'. And you want to hear about my 'them', don't you?
Dr. Wrenn: I want to know how you got here.
John Trent: Things are turning to shit out there, aren't they?

Top:   Skeptic insurance investigator John Trent (Sam Neill) joins forces with book editor Linda Styles (Julie Carmen) to find reclusive horror author, Sutter Cane (Jürgen Prochnow) (Above)

Michael De Luca first wrote the script in the late 1980's. Although his character Sutter Cane might appear to be representative of author Stephen King, De Luca more likely based the character on H. P. Lovecraft, with Hobb's End based more on Lovecraft's Arkham rather than King's Castle Rock. The plot of the film also more closely resembles something Lovecraft might have written, focusing on the effects that horrific occurrences have on one's sanity, rather than on the external horrors that most of King's writings lean towards. Even the title, In the Mouth of Madness, appears to be an homage to Lovecraft and his story, At the Mountains of Madness. Also, references to the "Old Ones" by Sutter Cane, along with certain representations of monsters printed on his books and latter brought to life, are allusions to The Cthulhu Mythos - a series of stories by H.P. Lovecraft and continued by other writers into modern times (in this sense, one could consider In the Mouth of Madness Carpenter's own contribution to The Cthulhu Mythos). 

One of the first directors he offered it to was John Carpenter, who initially passed on the project. New Line Cinema later announced production in 1989 with director Tony Randel attached to direct (and later Mary Lambert when Randel dropped out). Production stalled however, and three years later Carpenter returned to the project, with filming taking place from August to October 1993, in Ontario, Canada. The exterior of the Black Church seen in Hobb's End is actually the Cathedral of the Transfiguration, a Slovak Byzantine Rite Roman Catholic former cathedral located in Markham (outside Ontario). The building used as the mental institution at the beginning of the film is actually a water filtration plant in the Beaches area of Toronto.

John Trent: [speaking with a psychiatrist] Every species can smell its own extinction. The last ones left won't have a pretty time with it. In ten years, maybe less, the human race will just be a bedtime story for their children. A myth, nothing more.

Above:   Director John Carpenter on set

The dozens of monsters featured towards the end of the film were a combination of men in suits, animatronics and a full-sized "wall" of creatures. It took over thirty people to operate the monsters. At one point during filming of the "Wall of Monsters" sequence, the Wall of Monsters ran over Greg Nicotero's foot! The effect of Julie Carmen spinning her head around was done by having a contortionist stunt-double wear an up-side down prosthetic mask of Carmen's face. Since the stunt double couldn't see, the filmmaker had to guide her on where to go by sound. The demonic Mrs. Pickman creature was shot as a miniature (originally it was a man in a suit prosthetic, but Carpenter didn't find it convincing enough). When Jürgen Prochnow lets the monsters from the other side into our world, originally in the script the entire town was sucked into the other side. When this proved to be too costly, an effects artist over at Industrial Light and Magic recommended that instead he "tears" himself apart like paper.

Released in December 1994 in Italy, before its February release in the US, In the Mouth of Madness grossed a disappointing $3.5 million in its opening weekend, and earning only $9 million at the box office during its US theatrical run. Critics were mostly divided, offering mostly mixed reviews. Kevin Thomas from The Los Angeles Times wrote, "A thinking person's horror picture that dares to be as cerebral as it is visceral", while Roger Ebert (writing for the Chicago Sun-Times) noted, "One wonders how In the Mouth of Madness might have turned out if the script had contained even a little more wit and ambition." 

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE:   9%

___________________________________