I think In the Mouth of Madness falls into that column of John Carpenter films that fans of his will either like a lot or wont, and I could understand the points made for the latter. It is a little hard to get into, at first, as being a very strong film based on the sharply timed shocks and paranoia of Carpenter's horror as a director as well as the ideas presented by the writer, and it does veer into going into the same wild level of deliriousness that soon enough becomes the lead character. But it's a work as well where Carpenter is testing himself, and succeeding in a carefree but controlled way, where he goes for having his cake and eating it too. He gets to throw up on the screen some grisly (and, as a possible tip of the hat to the groundbreaking effects from the Thing, a sometimes funny knock-off) special creature effects and with some masterful displays in editing through the images of abstractions into the character's subconscious, while questioning what he's doing all the time, or at least the genre he and others (notably Stephen King) make their bread and butter.
It's a sort of slightly smarter pulp sci-fi/horror piece, not quite at the insane brilliance of They Live though perhaps in its more deliberate fashion a little creepier, as investigator John Trent (Sam Neill) is investigating the disappearance of a severely popular horror novelist, who's books sometimes make people go a little nuts. Trent sees this first-hand from novelist Sutter Cane's agent, who comes at him wielding an axe (it's one of those pure points in the film that mixed the macabre and satire, something Craven didn't quite get at with New Nightmare). He thinks it's a hoax, and soon discovers that he may be in a (fictional?) town called Hobbs End in New Hampshire. What he finds, in typical Carpenter fashion, is describable as being a psychological flip-flopper, where Trent goes from thinking it's all a gag with it being very elaborate, to it suddenly not being, at all. Creatures (supplied wonderfully by KNB) start popping out, disgusting ones that aren't much human, and it even gets to Trett's female companion/literary liaison on the trip. Soon Cane is found in some dank cellar (Jurgen Purchnow, one of Carpenter's most chilling villains in how subtle he is), and he has a new book ready for Trett to bring to the world...
This isn't quite where the film gets weird, though it's probably a little before or a little after this point, and the kind of weirdness I had been hoping to build up. Although it does get close for writer De Luca to being shaky with balancing really dark humor- however in small doses, and depending on how seriously one takes the more overt horror elements- and at the plight of Trent's mind-set in the midst of total Armageddon, Carpenter levels the playing field without missing too many beats. I kept having my mouth hang open either in a 'what the hell' mode or just in sort of plain shock. But it's an entertaining mix and match all the way for a genre fan, and Sam Neill is definitely up for the challenge of playing as well level-headed and rational Trett for the first half, then slowly but surely descending into his own subconscious state of peril- or, perhaps, Trent losing sight on what is perceived as reality or not. Only Neill could go between serious dramatic roles to films like this and Jurassic Park, where his characters' confidence as the practical pragmatist starts to waver as a descent into disaster goes further and further.
What Carpenter ends on in the last section of his "apocalypse" trilogy isn't necessarily a closed-and-shut ending either; I sense that he wants things to be a little closer to the Thing's end, where it's all doom and gloom but there's a wink to the protagonist's state of mind. Trett's last minutes wandering the streets and going into the movie theater watching himself doesn't really spell anything conclusive, I think, which adds all the more to the fun and intrigue. He could just be still in his hospital room, still in the world that dismisses Cane as pulp-sensationalist trash, albeit successful pulp-sensationalist trash (a little relevant today, eg Dan Brown), and not among the total bat-s*** mess that the world has become while locked in his padded room. It's a question left to the viewer, and a smart one to put up in a film that has by this point thrived mostly on its own sensationalism as well, tongue-in-cheek in the guise of crazy small-town break-out scenario. As a Carpenter fan, I say, bring it on.
It's a sort of slightly smarter pulp sci-fi/horror piece, not quite at the insane brilliance of They Live though perhaps in its more deliberate fashion a little creepier, as investigator John Trent (Sam Neill) is investigating the disappearance of a severely popular horror novelist, who's books sometimes make people go a little nuts. Trent sees this first-hand from novelist Sutter Cane's agent, who comes at him wielding an axe (it's one of those pure points in the film that mixed the macabre and satire, something Craven didn't quite get at with New Nightmare). He thinks it's a hoax, and soon discovers that he may be in a (fictional?) town called Hobbs End in New Hampshire. What he finds, in typical Carpenter fashion, is describable as being a psychological flip-flopper, where Trent goes from thinking it's all a gag with it being very elaborate, to it suddenly not being, at all. Creatures (supplied wonderfully by KNB) start popping out, disgusting ones that aren't much human, and it even gets to Trett's female companion/literary liaison on the trip. Soon Cane is found in some dank cellar (Jurgen Purchnow, one of Carpenter's most chilling villains in how subtle he is), and he has a new book ready for Trett to bring to the world...
This isn't quite where the film gets weird, though it's probably a little before or a little after this point, and the kind of weirdness I had been hoping to build up. Although it does get close for writer De Luca to being shaky with balancing really dark humor- however in small doses, and depending on how seriously one takes the more overt horror elements- and at the plight of Trent's mind-set in the midst of total Armageddon, Carpenter levels the playing field without missing too many beats. I kept having my mouth hang open either in a 'what the hell' mode or just in sort of plain shock. But it's an entertaining mix and match all the way for a genre fan, and Sam Neill is definitely up for the challenge of playing as well level-headed and rational Trett for the first half, then slowly but surely descending into his own subconscious state of peril- or, perhaps, Trent losing sight on what is perceived as reality or not. Only Neill could go between serious dramatic roles to films like this and Jurassic Park, where his characters' confidence as the practical pragmatist starts to waver as a descent into disaster goes further and further.
What Carpenter ends on in the last section of his "apocalypse" trilogy isn't necessarily a closed-and-shut ending either; I sense that he wants things to be a little closer to the Thing's end, where it's all doom and gloom but there's a wink to the protagonist's state of mind. Trett's last minutes wandering the streets and going into the movie theater watching himself doesn't really spell anything conclusive, I think, which adds all the more to the fun and intrigue. He could just be still in his hospital room, still in the world that dismisses Cane as pulp-sensationalist trash, albeit successful pulp-sensationalist trash (a little relevant today, eg Dan Brown), and not among the total bat-s*** mess that the world has become while locked in his padded room. It's a question left to the viewer, and a smart one to put up in a film that has by this point thrived mostly on its own sensationalism as well, tongue-in-cheek in the guise of crazy small-town break-out scenario. As a Carpenter fan, I say, bring it on.