Review of In the Mouth of Madness (1995) by Alan L — 10 Apr 2008

John Carpenter's most writerly creation, a dramatic sign that as a director, this B-movie savant was capable even the meta-horror niche left open from mainstream sarco-realists. "Sutter Cane" could be Lovecraft, he could be Steven King, his sado-farm-people-gone-demons-from-hell seems Clive Barker to me, with lots of movieman film conceits (dejavu, waking dreams, protracted foreshadowing, stuff that doesn't feel mindbending because we all realize that film unlike life can be rewound).

It's too bad they don't make Hell very scary, the Event Horizon (also Sam Neill) still gives me shivers, but Cane's deep unspeakable secret seems more like cute claymation cuddlies. For Lovecraft fans, prepare to see your classic-age-noir completely modernized.

Sam Neill plays a PI, converted into a worldly claims investigator, we hear more about insurance and the business of writing (axe-wielding psycho-agent, deviant literary-fetishist passive-aggressive editor, Charlton Heston for a Publisher) than we do about true madness.

The sans-Cane nature-of-fate film falling apart to film ending feels cheap, like they ran our of budget, or creativity to give the mad-mad world its due. (No tentacles, no Chtulu), You're telling me it's armageddon and all we get is an abandoned Movie Theater? This is the ending to Blazing Saddles.

Forgive me if I don't feel enlightened, because for 85% of the time they keep this spectacular premise going, and I wish for a finale that did it justice.