In the Mouth of Madness From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about the John Carpenter film. For the Luni Coleone album, see In the Mouth of Madness (album). This articles lead section may not adequately summarize key points of its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. (January 2014) In the Mouth of Madness Mouthmadnessposter.jpg Theatrical release poster Directed by John Carpenter Produced by Sandy King Written by Michael De Luca Starring Sam Neill Julie Carmen Jürgen Prochnow Music by John Carpenter Jim Lang Cinematography Gary B. Kibbe Edited by Edward A. Warschilka Distributed by New Line Cinema Release dates February 3, 1995 Running time 95 minutes Country United States Language English Budget $8 million[1] Box office $8,946,600 (USA)[1] In the Mouth of Madness (also known as John Carpenters In the Mouth of Madness) is a 1995 American Lovecraftian horror film directed and scored by John Carpenter and written by Michael De Luca. It stars Sam Neill, Julie Carmen, Jürgen Prochnow, David Warner and Charlton Heston. The film is the third installment in what Carpenter calls his Apocalypse Trilogy, preceded by The Thing and Prince of Darkness. Contents [hide] 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 3.1 Influences 4 Release and reception 5 References 6 External links Plot[edit] Dr. Wrenn (David Warner) visits John Trent (Sam Neill), a patient in a psychiatric hospital, and asks Trent to recount his story: After exposing an arson-fraud scam, Trent, an insurance investigator, has lunch with a colleague who preps him on his next assignment, investigating a claim made by New York-based Arcane Publishing. During their conversation, Trent is attacked by a man wielding an axe who is shot dead by a police officer before he can harm Trent. Trent later meets with Arcane Publishing director Jackson Harglow (Charlton Heston) who tasks him with investigating the disappearance of popular horror novelist Sutter Cane (Jürgen Prochnow), and recovering the manuscript for Canes final novel. He assigns Canes editor, Linda Styles (Julie Carmen), to accompany him. Linda explains the stories are known to cause disorientation, memory loss, and paranoia in less stable readers. Trent remains skeptical, convinced that the disappearance is merely an elaborate publicity stunt. Trent notices a series of red lines on Canes books covers that, when aligned properly, form the outline of New Hampshire and mark a location alluded to be Hobbs End, the fictional setting for many of Canes works. As they set out to find the town, Linda experiences bizarre phenomena during the late-night drive, inexplicably arriving at Hobbs End in daylight. Trent and Linda search the small town and begin encountering people and landmarks described as fictional in Canes novels. Trent believes it all to be staged, but Linda disagrees. She admits to Trent that Arcane Publishings claim was indeed a fraudulent stunt to promote Canes book, but the time distortion and exact replica of Hobbs End were never part of the plan. Linda heads to a church to confront Cane, and is exposed to his final novel, In The Mouth of Madness, which drives her insane. A man approaches Trent in a bar and warns him to leave, then commits suicide. Outside the bar, a mob of monstrous-looking townspeople descend upon him. Trent attempts to drive away from Hobbs End but is repeatedly teleported back to the center of town. After crashing his car, Trent awakens inside the church, where Cane explains that the publics belief in his stories have freed an ancient race of monstrous beings that will reclaim the Earth. Cane reveals that Trent himself is merely one of his characters who must follow Canes plot and return the manuscript of In The Mouth of Madness to Arcane Publishing, ushering the end of humanity. After giving Trent the manuscript, Cane tears his face open, creating a portal to the dimension of Canes monstrous masters. Trent flees down a long tunnel as monsters chase him and he suddenly finds himself lying on a country road, apparently back in reality. During his return to New York, Trent destroys the manuscript. Back at Arcane Publishing, Trent relates his experience to Harglow. Harglow claims complete ignorance of Linda; Trent was sent alone to find Cane, and the manuscript had already been delivered months previously. In The Mouth of Madness has been on sale for weeks with a film adaptation in post production. Trent is arrested after he murders a reader of the newly released novel. After Trent finishes telling his story, Dr. Wrenn judges it a meaningless hallucination. Trent wakes the following day to find the asylum abandoned. He departs as a radio announces that the world has been overrun with monstrous creatures, and that outbreaks of suicide and mass murder are commonplace. Trent goes to see the In the Mouth of Madness film and discovers that he is the main character in the film. As he watches his previous actions play out on screen, Trent begins laughing hysterically. Cast[edit] Sam Neill as John Trent Julie Carmen as Linda Styles Jürgen Prochnow as Sutter Cane David Warner as Dr. Wrenn John Glover as Saperstein Bernie Casey as Robinson Peter Jason as Mr. Paul Charlton Heston as Jackson Harglow Frances Bay as Mrs. Pickman Wilhelm von Homburg as Simon Production[edit] This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2011) The exterior of the Black Church seen in Hobb’s End is actually the Cathedral of the Transfiguration. It is a Slovak Byzantine Rite Roman Catholic former cathedral located in Markham, Ontario.[2] Presently the church is now surrounded by newly built homes called Cathedraltown. The location of the Cathedral is closest to the intersection of Woodbine Ave. & Vine Cliff Blvd. At the time of filming the church had yet to be fully completed. When first entering the town of Hobbs End, the main characters walk along an empty street. It was referenced as Main Street USA. This street is in fact located in Unionville, Ontario, Canada, and is actually named Main Street. The scene where the children are seen running out onto the street is in fact a parking lot that connects directly to an elementary public school called Parkview. Influences[edit] This section possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (July 2014) The film pays tribute to the work of seminal horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, with many references to his stories and themes. Its title is a play on H. P. Lovecrafts novella, At the Mountains of Madness, and insanity plays as great a role in the film as it does in Lovecrafts fiction. The opening scene depicts Trents confinement to an asylum with the bulk of the story told in flashback, a common technique of Lovecrafts. Reference is made to the Old Ones of the Cthulhu Mythos, and to Lovecraftian settings and details (such as a character that shares the name of Lovecrafts Pickman family). As read on-screen, Sutter Canes writings even incorporate direct passages from his work.[3] Sutter Canes novels have similar titles to H.P. Lovecraft stories : The Whisperer of the Dark (The Whisperer in Darkness), The Thing in the Basement (Thing on the Doorstep), Haunter out of Time (The Haunter of the Dark/The Shadow Out of Time) etc. The film can also be seen as a reference to Stephen King, who, like Lovecraft, also writes horror fiction set in New England hamlets.[4][5] King is mentioned towards the beginning of the movie; it is suggested that Canes work is more frightening than Kings and that he outsells King. Release and reception[edit] [icon] This section requires expansion. (January 2014) In the Mouth of Madness was released on December 1994 in Italy and then released on February 3, 1995 in the US. It grossed $3,441,807 the first weekend and garnered $8,946,600 total in revenue during its run.[1] It was a financial disappointment, but it did earn enough to cover the films budget. The film received mixed critical reaction, with 14 positive reviews out of 29 tallied by Rotten Tomatoes for a score of 48%.[6] It ranked 10th by Cahiers du cinéma.[7] In their book Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H. P. Lovecraft, Andrew Migliore and John Strysik write: No film reviewed in this book is so strongly divisive as In the Mouth of Madness. This is a film people either love or hate – there seems to be no in-between. The films weakness is the generic rock soundtrack composed and performed by director John Carpenter, and the disjointed script that apparently left the actors as confused as the plot. The films strength is its Lovecraftian themes and the concept that the writer, Sutter Cane, is changing reality through his writings.[8] A Blu-ray Disc release by New Line Cinema was released on October 15, 2013.[9] References[edit] ^ Jump up to: a b c
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 02:49:00 +0000
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