Reviews in Retrospect: In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
I think, therefore you are. Sutter Cane, In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
Look, if you offer me a movie that features the involvement of John Carpenter in some capacity I am already in. I’ve seen virtually all of his movies and of course I’ve seen In the Mouth of Madness and absolutely loved it. It feels strange to review a film I love, but you can love something and view it critically.
So, while I have a soft spot for In the Mouth of Madness it’s also not my favorite of Carpenter’s films. That’s okay. Even not-so-great Carpenter can be pretty great. With the exception of Ghosts of Mars (2001), of course.
You can currently stream In the Mouth of Madness on Shudder.
“Do you read Sutter Cane?”
Part of the appeal of the film is the Lovecraftian nature of it all. The film, written by Michael De Luca (The Lawnmower Man (short), Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare), borrows heavily from Lovecraft’s canon. Interestingly, though, Carpenter did not sign on to direct the film right away, only signing on after Tony Randel (Hellbound: Hellraiser II) dropped out. Carpenter taking on directorial duties makes a lot of sense given the Lovecraftian nature of The Thing (1981).
The film picked up the fantastic Sam Neill as a lead, just shortly after the release of Jurassic Park. Also rounding out the cast are Julie Carmen, Charlton Heston, David Warner, and Jürgen Prochnow as Sutter Cane. The film also has a young Hayden Christensen, before he murdered all those younglings.
The film, like several of Lovecraft’s own stories, is a framed flashback depicting one man’s encounters with unknown powers that drive humanity mad. In the Mouth of Madness follows John Trent, an insurance investigator, his hired to investigate the disappearance of mega-author Sutter Cane and tracking down his next manuscript. As these things go, Trent uncovers twisting and terrifying secrets about Cane and his work.
What Worked About In the Mouth of Madness?
Sam Neill’s John Trent is an unlikable dick of a protagonist and it totally works. He’s not a sympathetic figure despite his traumatic experiences. Much like Lovecraft’s own protagonists, he’s smug, insufferable, and ultimately doomed. Neill ultimately carries the film with sheer unlikability and to see him fall to inevitable madness is a joy.
The film, when Sutter Cane (Jürgen Prochnow) finally appears, really clicks. Ultimately this is not until a good portion of the way through the movie, meaning that the first 40 minutes or so feel a bit scattered. Prochnow’s Cane makes for a fun, albeit limited menace in the runtime and inspires some fun reveals. He doesn’t really figure into the film for the duration, however.
The film’s strength ultimately lies in an exploration of perception and the altering of reality. The exploration of this, however, is limited to the second half of the film. Some of the ways this is accomplished are fantastic, others slightly less.
Had the film not dabbled too much into setting up Hobb’s End, then perhaps there would have been more horrifying scenes of reality-warping. It is commendable that the film manages to evoke so much anxiety in the amount of time it explores these themes.
What Did Not Work About In the Mouth of Madness?
In The Mouth of Madness throws together a lot of ideas and repeated images, but ultimately many of these elements fail to add to a cohesive whole. What the film is showing is snippets of different Sutter Cane stories, but few of these images amount to much. The church, the children, the owner of the inn and her chained-up husband, and the paperboy. They’re all elements of Cane’s writing creating a reality but they just create strange, albeit effective images that just create strangeness for ultimately strangeness’ sake.
Granted, it’s a film directed by John Carpenter and all this strangeness is executed well, visually. There are some genuinely creepy sights and scenarios, for sure. But it just ultimately feels like a series of distractions. The film tries to establish the wide body of work of Sutter Cane becoming reality, but it comes up short. The film really doesn’t take off until Sutter Cane actually appears and begins affecting reality around John.
Final Verdict
As a fan who enjoys the film, the director, and the Lovecraftian themes I can still recognize there are some fairly substantial flaws with In the Mouth of Madness. Carpenter’s direction and sense of macabre are on-point, but the film feels too scattered and wanders too much.
This is a film where the last half is what you’ll end up enjoying most, especially given the absolutely stellar acting of Sam Neill.
(3.5 / 5)
Are you a fan of In the Mouth of Madness? Do you agree with this assessment? Let us know in the comments.
As always, please read our other reviews.
Movies n TV
Returning to the Soothing World of Evil with “The Demon of Death”
“The Demon of Death” is the season 3 premiere of the supernatural drama Evil, created by Michelle King and Robert King.
“The Demon of Death” is the season 3 premiere of the supernatural drama Evil, created by Michelle King and Robert King. The central cast includes Katja Herbers, Mike Colter, Aasif Mandvi, Michael Emerson, Christine Lahti, and Andrea Martin. As of this review, it’s available through Netflix and Paramount+ and its add-ons.
The assessors investigate the weight of a soul. Father Frank Ignatius (Wallace Shawn) agrees to participate in this test despite his growing disillusionment. David (Mike Colter) and Kristen (Katja Herbers) deal with the ramifications of their confessions. Kristen’s girls go on the warpath with Leland (Michael Emerson). Andy (Patrick Brammall) signs his death warrant.
What I Like about “The Demon of Death”
As season 2 ended with a cliffhanger, “The Demon of Death” picks back up with an interesting addition. The episode provides a more obvious stopping point that Season 2 should have taken advantage of. It dumbfounds me because this addition makes for a more interesting and darker cliffhanger. The added context would have made the cliffhanger more palatable. However, it’s a nice twist for the episode.
Dr. Boggs (Kurt Fuller) and Sister Andrea (Andrea Martin) make an interesting pair that adds complexity to both. We even explore some of Sister Andrea’s character flaws, best displayed by her interaction with Kristen in the next scene. Few wise sage characters that display flaws, making this addition appreciated.
Father Ignatius’ introduction adds layers of interest for a character who will play a recurring role, tying into Monsignor Korecki directly. The yet-to-be-explored relationship between Father Ignatius and Monsignor Korecki (Boris McGiver) evokes an interest.
While “The Demon of Death” isn’t a haunting episode, but explores the mysteries and terror of death through science to provide an interesting environment for an episode. It introduces a new character that adds to the cast.
Tired Tropes and Triggers
There’s not much to report here that particularly crosses the line and what teeters on the line holds a dark comedic tone.
Perhaps Sister Andrea’s flaw might rub some the wrong way, as it deals with her overwhelming faith. However, it’s a minor point at the moment. Again, I lean on liking some complexity for the wise sage archetype.
What I Dislike about “The Demon of Death”
“The Demon of Death” still plays it safe with its supernatural elements, but that does seem to be Evil’s standard. At this point of the series, it seems a strange restraint. However, the new normal remains functionally paranormal.
While the premiere starts with an interesting procedural plot, it doesn’t direct the season like prior premieres. This episode doesn’t deliver a massive refocus as season 2’s premiere, but that’s because its conclusion doesn’t deliver as focused of a direction. Regardless, “The Demon of Death” is still an episode that slips away despite its premiere status.
Ben (Aasif Mandvi) seems needlessly hostile as they investigate a soul’s potential weight. The study delivers a thorough scientific process, which makes his resistance linger on the “angry atheist” archetype.
The demon shown on screen certainly isn’t the demon of death the title suggests. While the plot revolves around the mystery of death, there is a demon with a more carnal domain. As future episodes dive into their respective demons, it does seem to be an inaccurate title. However, the demon of the episode will get further focus in a different episode.
Final Thoughts
“The Demon of Death” doesn’t stand out as a premiere but provides an interesting procedural episode. As Father Ignatius will become another key character in the series, giving him an entire episode to introduce him is a nice strategy. While it’s not a haunting episode, it still provides a level of camp with interesting characters to pull it off.
(3 / 5)
Released in 2010, Rare Exports asks an important holiday question. One that no one else has dared to ask.
What if Santa was a ten-story-tall monster buried under the ice for centuries?
The story
Rare Exports is the story of a little boy named Pietari. After doing what is frankly too much research for a little boy, he realizes that Santa is not the jolly old elf we all think of. He is, in fact, a monster who eats bad children. And it turns out that Santa was trapped in the ice near Pietari’s little town. All this would be well and good if a Russian mining team weren’t in the process of cutting him out of the ice. So it’s up to Pietari to convince everyone of the dark, horrific truth.
Santa Claus is coming to town.
What worked
Some movies need to make sense. Some don’t. Rare Exports is one of the latter.
Why were the Russians digging in the snow to find Santa? What was the plan there? What happened to Pietari’s mom? And who did they sell the elves to? Do the elves need air or water to live?
We don’t get answers to any of those questions. And frankly, we don’t need them to enjoy Rare Exports.
This is a wild story about a little boy who discovers that Santa is a mythical monster with a bunch of scrawny old men with big white beards to do his evil bidding and eats bad children who haven’t been beaten by their parents enough. What sort of explanation would help this story in any way?
I mean, we could pick apart why it’s suddenly legal to sell people, or at least mythical creatures that look like naked old men, or why this all happened right next to the only little kid who had the exact knowledge needed. But in the end, wouldn’t that be like asking how Santa gets into people’s homes when they don’t have fireplaces? Doesn’t that objective reasoning just piss on the Christmas magic?
What didn’t work
While Rare Exports was fun, there were parts that I did not appreciate. For one thing, there wasn’t a single woman or person of any color in this film. Literally not one. Not an extra, not in the background. This little Finnish town is populated entirely by white men. And yes, it is Finland and there isn’t a hugely diverse population. But it’s also 2010. People move. Also, women exist.
On the subject of seeing too many white men, we also saw too much of the white men. Specifically, we saw far too many old white male actors entirely nude. There was just no reason for this. These men were portraying elves. They didn’t have to be naked. If they were naked, they didn’t have to have, um, yule logs. Maybe elves are like Ken dolls. There were so many options that didn’t include so much old man wang.
Finally, I wish we’d seen Santa Claus. Not to spoil the ending, but he never actually emerges to attack anyone. And that feels like a cop-out. If we’re going to be teased the whole movie with this depiction of monster Santa, we should at least get to see monster Santa.
Though, after what they did with the elves, maybe it’s a blessing we didn’t see him.
In the end, Rare Exports was well worth watching. It was hilarious, creepy and bloody. And while it wasn’t perfect, it was a delightful holiday horror comedy.
(4 / 5)
Released in 2016, Christmas Crime Story is about a disastrous robbery on Christmas Eve, and all the many lives impacted by the selfish decisions of one person.
And then, suddenly, it isn’t. But we’ll get to that part.
The story
Christmas Crime Story is the tale of a Christmas Eve holdup gone wrong. We see the story from several points of view, starting with Chris, the detective first on the scene.
Chris is having a hard Christmas Eve. So, on his lunch break, he visits his mom at her diner. It appears that they have a contentious relationship. But nothing is solved in this quick visit.
Chris goes on to pull over a man speeding. When the man, named David, pulls over, Chris discovers something in the trunk. That something must have been pretty damn incriminating, because rather than open the trunk, David shoots him dead.
We then switch to David’s pov for the night. Then his girlfriend’s pov. Then, the man his girlfriend has been cheating on him with. And on and on we go, until we see how all of these different stories and people come together for a dark, sordid Christmas Eve.
What worked
The first thing I want to say about Christmas Crime Story is that it’s heartwarming. Like, to a fault, which we will be talking about.
The ending is very sweet, in a Christmasy sort of way. Families come together, people are filled with joy, and all is right in the world for almost everyone. Except for Lena, who deserves to have a bad Christmas, everyone gets a happy ending.
That brings me to my next point. The characters, mostly, are all deeply sympathetic. Even when David or James are killing people, you feel bad for them.
You don’t agree with what they’re doing, but you do feel bad.
You have to feel sympathetic for the man whose girlfriend hired a killer to merk him. Or the woman whose daughter has cancer. Or the guy who just can’t find work, even though he’s trying to make good decisions. You want things to work out for them. You want them to be okay. Even when they do terrible things.
Finally, I always love stories told from so many different points of view. It’s always fun to see a story unfold in a nonlinear way, but in a way that makes more and more sense as we get more points of view. It’s a hard thing to pull off, and I think Christmas Crime Story did it very well.
What didn’t work
Unfortunately, all of the sympathetic characters and clever storytelling methods in the world won’t save a story that doesn’t work. And Christmas Crime Story just does not work.
Let’s begin with the ending. The big twist near the end of the movie. I won’t spoil it, but you will for sure know it if you’ve seen the film. Or, if you waste your time watching the film.
As a rule, twists work when they make sense. Not when it feels like the writers threw up their hands and said, “Okay, but what if everything we just did for the last hour and fifteen minutes didn’t happen, and instead…”
This wasn’t clever. It wasn’t fun. It felt like the writers didn’t know how to end their movie and just decided to cheat.
Finally, I mentioned earlier that Christmas Crime Story was heartwarming. And yes, that is nice.
But is it maybe a little too heartwarming?
I mean, we have an adorable angel of a child with cancer. Her parents don’t have enough money for her treatment. We have two poor guys who are in love with a black-hearted woman. And we have a detective so sweet and kind that he makes you rethink ACAB. And, he’s about to get married to his pregnant girlfriend. And they’re naming the baby after his mom. And his name is literally Chris DeJesus. His mom’s name is Maggie DeJesus. I tried to think of a sillier less subtle name to use as a joke, and I literally couldn’t think of one.
They could have at least named him De La Cruz. That would be more subtle, and I still would have complained.
In the end, Christmas Crime Story just missed the mark. It came very close to being a good movie. But it focused too much on how it wanted you to feel, rather than telling a satisfying story that made sense. Much like that third glass of eggnog, it’s fun in the moment and regretful after. If you’re looking for a satisfying Christmas horror, I’d suggest looking elsewhere.
(2 / 5)
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March 20, 2020 at 2:51 am
All I can say is I love In The Mouth of Madness in the way that I’ll always watch it when it pops up on tv, but a few months later, don’t ask for a plot synapsis.