In the Mouth of Madness (Film Review)

1994 New Line Cinema
Directed by: John Carpenter; Written by: Michael De Luca
Starring: Sam Neill, Julie Carmen, Jürgen Prochnow, and Charlton Heston
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 95 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 7/10

John Trent is a cynical insurance investigator, believing only what he sees, and thinking the worst of it, at that. One day, he's asked by the massive Arcane Publishing company to track down their star horror writer, Sutter Cane, and retrieve the manuscript for Cane's final novel. Trent is paired up with Linda Styles, Cane's editor, who explains to Trent that Cane's writing has been known to make less stable readers go mad. As Trent's investigations seem to reveal Cane's location, he and Linda ride out to a small town in New Hampshire. They find Cane...and a whole lot more than they bargained for. Through his writing, Cane is attempting to bring ancient and evil godlike beings back to the surface of the Earth where they once reigned. Will Trent accept what is happening around him and try to stop it, or will his insistence in a rational explanation doom him to fall right...In the Mouth of Madness?
John Carpenter's love letter to the infernal writings of H.P. Lovecraft, In the Mouth of Madness, is a lot of fun. As Trent, Sam Neill brings just the right amount craziness, believable when he's dismissing everything going on around him, but also when he IS what is going on. Jürgen Prochnow also does a great job as Cane, suitably over-the-top for the film's tone, but also a bit terrifying. The film has the slightly cheesy feel of something airing on early 90s HBO, i.e. Tales From the Crypt, but at the same time, the production design is pretty wonderful, from a massive insane asylum Lovecraft would have adored, to the gruesome and highly impressive creature work and makeup effects in the film's last act. On a substantive level, this doesn't have the weight of top-tier Carpenter, ala Halloween and The Thing, but it sits comfortably in that midrange level, far above late career efforts like Vampires or Ghosts of Mars. Unfortunately, there are moments, particularly in the middle of the film, that do drag a bit. However, with allusions to both the classic horror of Lovecraft, and even the then contemporary early 90s efforts of Steven King and the publishing world around him, along with its generally fun and creepy horror mood, there's a comfort food feel to In the Mouth of Madness that makes it a worthwhile, mid-tier entry in Carpenter's catalogue.