Review of In the Mouth of Madness (1995) by David H — 31 May 2011
I've heard of this one, but I've never really given it much thought. I'm a big Sam Neill fan, and I dig David Warner - though he doesn't have a huge part. What I'm really a gigantic fan of is HP Lovecraft, and this movie is FULL of some great Lovecraftian lore and imagery.
It even pulls passages from his stories straight out and plugs them in as dialog. The titles of the character Sutter Cane's books are even taken from Lovecraft's works. Sam Neill does a great job as the central character in taking us on this journey through madness to find Sutter Cane.
It's fascinating, too. The writing in this film is actually pretty good, realistic, I think. The main character, John Trent, is not entirely likable. He has vices, he swears to his clients, he comes onto women who clearly aren't interested.
..it's so interesting to see a protagonist like this. I was very uninterested in the female lead, played by Julie Carmen, she was so bland and underdeveloped. She was there purely as a tool for the story and nothing else.
Kind of a bummer. But the imagery and symbolism in this film is great. There were some pretty creepy moments, too. There is some cheese involved in this movie, but "In the Mouth of Madness" is a pretty true representation of HP Lovecraft's writing.
This review of In the Mouth of Madness (1995) was written by David H on 31 May 2011.
In the Mouth of Madness has generally received positive reviews.
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