Review of In the Mouth of Madness (1995) by Jim W — 12 Oct 2010

The final instalment of Carpenter's Apocalypse Trilogy (The Thing, Prince of Darkness). To be honest, after the first two, I'm kind of out of breath for the third. I wouldn't rank it with the first two, and The Thing is the clear winner of the three, but it does grow on you.

We get Sam Neill as an insurance investigator sent to Hobbes End to retrieve the Steven King of his time, Sutter Cane. Cane makes more money then a three-holed whore, and his publisher (played by Chuck Heston by the way.

..) is going to make DAMN sure that he gets a nice fat check from Cane's latest, 'In the Mouth of Madness.' Fine, all in a days work for the best, freelance insurance investigator in the biz right? Well, that would make for a shitty flick, so we begin this adventure finding out the there is no such place as Hobbes End.

Think that stops John Trent (Neill)? The best investigator since Sam Spade? NEVER! He just gets in his car and drives baby, drives! The second clue that things might not be right could possibly be when the car drives into complete blackness, over a gapping cavern, and passes a guy on a bicycle that looks like a cast-member from Day of the Dead.

Not to mention he actually finds Hobbes End. All this without a single 'oh shit' moment. This John Trent is something folks. Did I mention that Hobbes End is a fictional place in which Cane's last novel took place?? GET OUT JOHN! RUN! DRIVE! Not a chance.

He's braver than John Wayne vs. the Camanche. So, what's a guy to do? Why... use the last novel as a guidebook of course! Elementary my dear Watson. What's real? What's fiction? What's animatronic? What's puppeteer-ed (not a word)? What's shot in miniature? Scary shit that's what! It even has a few moments that reminded me of The Thing.

... and truly warmed my heart. Well done Mr. Carpenter (tip my glass).