In The Mouth of Madness
by PoeticCrow

"Do you read Sutter Kane?"

When people mention John Carpenter there are usually two movies that come to most people's mind, Halloween and Escape From New York. Not diminishing the contributions these films made not only to the horror industry but to Carpenter's career as well, but with me, there is one film that stands out as his genius. The Mouth of Madness.

This is Carpenter's homage to Howard Philips Lovecraft and to date I have not seen anything that has come close to catching the atmoshere of Lovecraft's work in film that this movie does. Released on DVD, but hard to find, this is a must for any collector's library.

The story revolves around an insurance investigator, John Trent, played with sardonic cynicism by Sam Neil. We open with Neil commiting a brutal act that ends him in an asylmn telling his story to David Warner who jots down notes while gazing at Neil with the look of someone listening to St.John quote revelations. There in the padded cell covered with crosses drawn in black crayon, Trent (Neil), also adorned with black crosses on his face, tells his sory of his flight into madness.

A book publishing company, Arcane House (Arkham House, the publisher of Lovecraft's works?) falls under Trent's investigation as its best selling horror writer Sutter Kane (Jurgen Prochnow) has disapeared with an unfinished manuscript. Before collecting on Kane's insurance the company has to make an attempt to find Kane and so Trent is off to a weird corner of New England called Hobb's End. Is this beginning to sound familiar to Lovecraft readers?

The movie is Carpenter's hallmark in setting mood and atmosphere. The trip where they actually leave reality and enter Hobb's end is done convincingly and is unnerving. The boy on the bicycle riding by is an eerie touch as we watch him age as time becomes twisted. Without giving anymore away on the movie to those who have not seen it, be warned this is a thinking man's horror movie.

Most of Lovecraft's work, though laced with imagery, appeals to mood, atmosphere and the unnerving sense that reality was being ripped open so the nameless ones could re-renter and stake their claim. That man sitting at the table next to you may just not be what he appears to be, or that dog that crossed the street...did he seem to move with a more amphibious loaping gate...similar to that of a large toad? The seams of the present to unravel and the corners of the rooms suddenly become alittle more obtuse. The film seems to convey that pressence especially in Hobbs End and the Black Church, ( an actual old Russian Mosque in New England)both giving off that sinsiter feeling that under the surface things were being pulled down under and devoured mentally.

Sam Neil is very adept as Trent, wearing his cynical nature as well as Bogart playing Raymond Chandler's Marlowe.. It makes the journey all the more belivable as we watch him finally fall off the ledge of sainity. Jurgen Prochnow plays Sutter Kane with such mavolent glee that he is perfect for the role. It is seldom that you can find the kind of actor that can play the Second Coming of Christ in one film (the 7th Sign) and the embassary of the Devil in this one.

The film, being done before the advent of DVD's of course does not contain any extras save a commentary with Carpenter and the lighting director. I found this rather boring actually, though Carpenter did throw in a few stories concerning the actors and commented on how much he had enjoyed working with Sam Neil and his sense of humor. Much of the commentary was on how the scenes were lit, which is educational for film maker wanna-be's but actually hurt it. I would much rather heard more stories about Neil, Heston and Prochnow. There were no post preduction paintings or stills, in fact those can be discovered on his web site listed on the left. Yet, even with this flaw the movie itself is a must to own and is the best homage to Lovecraft I have seen to date.

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