In The Mouth of Madness (1994) Retrospective / Review

[@Leventa24]

My personal interpretation of this film has always been that its extremely literal. In the end, Sam Neil's character realizes he is just that, a character. Not a person. He is in a movie and its about to end. When the credits roll, his whole world will end. Its a movie where the characters inside of it realize that its all just a film, that their choices were never their own, and that the world will shortly and inevitably end. The script being delivered without him realizing makes perfect sense in this context. The film cut away and the event happened off-screen, so he doesn't remember it. As he becomes self-aware he is no longer able to maintain memory continuity between cuts. What you see in the last scene is not an actor, but rather the character realizing that their short existence and everything they thought they knew was just a movie, and this breaks them as the apocalyptic credits roll.

[@baronsengir187]

Go and watch jokers secret of the imaginary axis. This movie could totally be jokers origin story when you compare the two theories!

[@rose0fdarkness_892]

Pretty sure that's the correct interpretation, explains for instance why Kane's agent tries to kill the MC, because "reality" ends when the story ends, so he wants to kill the MC to stop the story.

[@RodrigoBassoM1986]

....shit

[@CassandrashadowcassMorrison]

Not very original, then. www.goodreads.com/book/show/17836069-typewriter-in-the-sky

[@squirlmy]

​@@CassandrashadowcassMorrison That accusation is twisting the concept of "original". For that matter, "Tristan Shandy" by Laurence Sterne in 1759 uses similar ideas about characters realizing they are characters. William S. Burroughs also played with this idea in parts of "Naked Lunch" in 1950s. More recently "Black Mirror: Bandersnatch" uses the same theme, but I would say it is still "original."

[@ShaunHaynam]

After seeing this movie as a kid, I got home from the theater and went upstairs to my room. I immediately began making Hobb’s End out of legos and had a horde of angry lego people chasing the poor investigator throughout the town. The psychologists were nice people. Asked weird questions, but nice.

[@delete---7593]

Okay?.

[@FangsFirst]

There's a lot of misunderstanding here. Arcane didn't involve Trent in the hoax. They sent Cane on a publicity stunt, but he didn't show up (as Styles says). When he didn't show up, they hired Trent (note: "We did send him, he didn't show up, we weren't supposed to find anything"--all of this says it happened in the past, not that it was happening on this trip). They excised this detail because they didn't want to send him on what they thought was a red herring, knowing their own hoax was already "done". The entry into Hobb's End is his entry into his *perception* of Cane's reality. Was he real before or not--almost doesn't matter, as the point is that he has no control over existence whatsoever, he can do nothing at all to stop things. He's gone mad after the return "suddenly" because he's realized how little he can do to affect the world, so he does the only thing his snapped mind can manage: taking down, one-by-one, those who are affected by the books (which help them to accept/realize/spread Cane's reality). This is deliberately not clean cut, deliberately not explicit sets of rules about was, wasn't, is, and isn't reality--the eventual truth (that the Old Ones have returned via Cane's distortion of reality) is the only definitive truth. Whether what we're seeing (Trent's story) was completely constructed via Cane (this is strongly implied, given that the movie and "book it is based on" tell the story the movie does) or "corrupted" is irrelevant given the end result that, in the end, Cane has asserted enough control that he's the creator retroactively, even if not "always". This is a pretty normal concept for this kind of "taking over reality" in that noir-esque "giant conspiracy" sort of way. If you're trying to nail down exactly what always is or was and making it a timeline, you're doing it wrong--that's not how a story like this works. If that's unsatisfying, that's certainly subjectively fine, but it's very, very difficult to have that sort of concrete and explicit timeline in a story about madness, authorship, meta-changes to "reality", and questioning reality itself.

[@norpriest521]

Impressive, very nice. Let's see Paul Allen's explanation.

[@edwarddore7617]

Interesting take, but I think none of it was real, at the end of the movie he sees himself on the big screen in the movie and realizes he's not real, just a character, that's why he laughs.

[@calvinscheuerman]

i'm currently binge watching your movie reviews; i discovered your channel today, and i think your reviews are absolutely excellent. every single one i've watched is objective, honest, and really informative. great channel, my friend; thanks for the videos!

[@OliverHarper]

Thats great to hear Calvin!

[@DoctorMinatoArisoto]

Same here!

[@omisan771]

Same here, I've been binge watching Oliver Harper retrospective for days now.

[@Mentagasm]

Calvin Lee i discovered the channel today.

[@Janzer_]

I'm doing this just recently. love how there's a history here :)

[@hairy_cornflake]

I think this movie convinced me to watch all of Carpenter's movies and then I watched The Thing, which became one of my favorite movies of all time. John Carpenter is easily my favorite director ever!

[@eleftheriaeleftheria3302]

Probably the best Lovecraft's Choulchou mythology movie ever! Hello from Athens Greece!

[@Galantski]

Nicely done. Incidentally, the Sutter Cane book, "Haunter Out of Time", not only borrows its title from Lovecraft's "The Haunter of the Dark", but also his "The Shadow Out of Time".

[@MrDeejf]

FWIW, I have never viewed the "seven weeks" as a plot hole in the film. It doesn't track with Trent's time in Hobb's End because it isn't supposed to. It's an attempt to show that Trent's experiences, even though we've seen them, are totally unreliable. There are many ways of interpreting it, including that he made up the "case" entirely, or that he is/was a fictional character who crossed over into reality, among others, but the point is he DIDN'T spend seven weeks in Hobb's End, the book was handed in before he even started his own story.

[@FangsFirst]

It's not that the events are unreliable, it's all a part of showing Trent how totally and completely he is not in control.The case was not made up--the world itself is gaslighting him, because the world is under control of the Old Ones via Cane. The book wasn't handed in before he started in his story until it was--if you'll allow that entirely questionable sense of "timelines". In the strictest of senses, it was *not* handed in before he left, but after he returned...it already had been, because it is the most perfect way to complete his loss of grip on reality or control thereof. He did spend time there, but that time and its relation to concrete, linear events was destroyed by the relinquishing of control of reality to the Old Ones. He was there, but he wasn't, to the rest of the world--this is not about the world itself, per se, it is--in Lovecraftian fashion--about a man realizing how meaningless, purposeless, and totally without control of existence he is, so the world around him can do whatever it wants in the process: even completely contradict itself by "retconning" itself halfway through.

[@FangsFirst]

@The Monarch I've seen Dagon, years ago (as I have many of Yuzna/Gordon's works). I'm giving words to thoughts that were purely instinctive and understood from the first time I watched it--I don't think the movie (or script) really broke things down like this (ie, put thought into the "function" of what it shows), but I think that's how it "just works" all the same. I had to put the thought in because it seemed so very clear to me "exactly" what happened (inexact as it is) and I felt the response to the OP was to explain how it gets to that--even if, for me, that's just how it played out (pretty clearly) as I watched it, without putting all that thought into it.

[@philmja9143]

When Trent starts screaming on the bus I near pissed myself laughing.

[@Larry]

I'm quite surprised you didn't know about this move until a few years ago, it was a Friday night staple on Bravo for years! But I think Alan Wake took a lot of cues from this move too.

[@BobExcalibur]

+Larry Bundy Jr I think Alan Wake took a lot of cues from Sam Lake being a cheeseball plagiarist.

[@OliverHarper]

+Larry Bundy Jr All i remember as a kid on Bravo was The Punisher and Toxic Avenger! lol

[@Larry]

It was during their late 90s stretch when they were showing a lot of Anime as well. But I watched it quite a few times on there. But lol, Sam Lake, The guy who played Max Payne in the first tow games?

[@ChrisDoesTV]

+Oliver Harper I swear the punisher was on Bravo like once and I missed it. It took me years to see that movie and only thanks to the internet.

[@kadenoverstreet6658]

Take that back

[@chesswizard31]

Great film. Very underrated and unlike any horror films made in the past 20 or so years, this one actually spooked me.

[@MatteoPreziosoPH]

I absolutely love this movie, one of my favorite of all times. Brilliant story, perfectly executed. Unbelievable it never got the recognition it deserved.

[@mrmrgaming]

I remember going to see this thinking "might be ok, John's best days behind him, will feel more like a straight to rental Then about half way through I had the biggest smile, it was awsome. By the time it finished I was very happy, loved it, but I knew back then it was getting overlooked. I was telling people but no one even heard of it, plus it was only on cinema a short time. It's such a shame that a film this good got overlooked. I placed it as joint 6th best JC film, along with Prince Of Darkness.

[@nox5870]

This movie is highly Underrated! Loved it , will re-watch it soon! and need to get it on Blu-Ray!

[@bellgrand]

Wow! I totally was not aware of this film either. On a side note, I think these retrospectives/reviews are among the best on KZbin. I'm glad you play it straight rather than resort to obnoxiousness. Great editing too.

[@kiba775237]

''never ever ever throw chips at a driver!''

[@owenshebbeare2999]

Wise words!

[@Skusioh]

Thanks for the great review! I saw this movie the first time as a 15 year old and it left such a strong impression on me that it became one of my all-time favourite horror movies.

[@Grim2]

Just watched it for the first time. Love it! :) Then again, Sam Neil's always a HUGE plus for me. :P

[@chumcool]

When this movie dropped I was constantly carrying it around with me in my back pack, lol. Every time I’d go hang out with friends after school or on weekends I would always try to introduce it to those who hadn’t seen it. Many of pot smoke filled rooms with freaked out teens in a small town. Jesus I was fucked up. Anyway, the part that always got me was the scene when the girl, one of the main characters, becomes written. When she says “I’m losing me”. Twisted me for ever.

[@skeletoncrusader]

I was lucky enough to watch this for the first time on TV in about 1997. I've loved the film ever since.

[@DatsWhatXiSaid]

20:18 Oliver and Sam Neill say "reality" at the same time... is the video real? omg... *reaches for axe*

[@ThornsOfOurTime]

holy molly, they're about to bring end times on our asses... *nervously loads shells into a shotgun*

[@desallis]

"Do you subscribe to Oliver Harper?!?"

[@countryboyblue21]

Hahaha I love what you did there..

[@mitchellw7118]

"He...sees you..."

[@countryboyblue21]

@@mitchellw7118 "well tell him I said hi"

[@thezionsoho]

I've been going through your backlog of videos and Wow! You have been covering all of my most favorite movies that I grew up with through the 80's and the 90's. Great work!

[@bleeneo101]

Do you read Sutter Cane? You should, he's absolutely terrifying.

[@Mrkabrat]

He sees you

[@JeffTheHokie]

But if I answer "Yes", you'll hit me with an axe.

[@owenshebbeare2999]

I have it on good authority that his favourite colour is blue.

[@ClassicalMusicOnline]

Great movie. +Oliver Harper, will you ever do the Phantasm movie review?

[@richardchilds3563]

Hobbs End was also the name of the London Underground station in 1967 Quatermass and the Pit. Hob was slang for the Devil.

[@milesdevlon]

This my wife and I favorite movie, classic!

[@delunevonbek]

I have been to that church. It is near Gormley in Toronto. Such an amazing shock when I saw it.

[@michaelmayo]

I love that he gets himself a huge tub of popcorn before he sits down-the best throwaway gag in the movie...

[@DemonBoy3223]

I remember first catching _ItMoM_, when it broadcasted on a satellite cable channel back in 2013. I caught it right in the scene when the town was rallying against Cane's church. And after finishing it, I kinda got it. Upon my first viewing, it was a mind f*ck to sit through, but of course this was before I understood anything about Lovecraft. But it is a decent movie, and definitely one of the last good JC movies.My favorite scene: CANE: "Did I mention my favorite color's blue?" *John* *wakes* *up,* *finds* *_everything_* *blue*. JOHN: :O (*SCREAMS!!!*) _I'm_ _blue_ _ah-ba-dee_ _ah-ba-di_.

[@Kurtsg10]

My favourite horror film of the 1990s, excellent choice Oliver Harper!

[@northphillyp]

In the mouth of madness and Event Horizon..my underrated masterpieces..ironically both starring Neil

[@tereses1329]

This movie scared the hell out of me when I was younger. Great video.

[@michaelcoffey1991]

In my view this is John Carpenter's best unknown flick. Sam Neil KILLS it, and Prichcow is great as the villain Kane. Just a very dark film I had to watch a few times to get some of the early Easter eggs.

[@vipermark7]

RE: the "7 weeks thing", i always assumed that although it only took him a day or two to get home, Kane just revised all the stuff from everyone else's point of view. "You can edit this one from the inside". He wrote out Stiles for everyone but John, and edited the handing over of the manuscript to have happened earlier.

[@StefanHomberger]

How the frell have I never seen this? It's straight up my alley in every way. Thank you for this video! Added this one to my LaserDisc wish-list.

[@lokuzzz]

Love your reviews Oliver. Your research is exceptional but i think you missed one thing in this movie. The town of Hobbs End is a direct reference to the Hammer movie "Quatermass and the Pit" from 1967. There the underground stations name is Hobbs End. Cheers

[@MegaCrocosaurus92]

Great review! And your trailer was damn good as well! 3:10 to 3:42 was such an adrenaline burst xD

[@BrendanMacWade]

Well done. I remember eagerly awaiting this movie in 1994, only to see it delayed and in limited release in the states. Keep up the great work Mr. Harper.

[@Psilocybin77]

This movie had always interested me after seeing it in Fangoria, but for some reason, I never had a chance to see it. Having seen it, for me; this is easily one of John Carpenter's best movies. For a huge nerd like me, this movie had everything I think I wanted from a horror movie. I love the existential threat and the cosmic horror of the whole thing. I watched it alone in the dark one evening and it left me feeling genuinely disturbed. I think about this movie quite a lot .

[@TookieMacSpookie]

Loved this movie... Was obsessed with it for a little while.. Like 20 years hahaha.. Great review as always

[@bijibadness]

what a wonderful concept for a movie. definitely the most bang-on representation of H.P. Lovecraftian themes in a movie.

[@edwarddore7617]

Have you seen the Nick Cage Color Out of Space?

[@jeremyelkington655]

Thanks for covering this film Oliver! One of my favourites and I think an underrated movie.

[@spikespiegel4928]

Honestly I enjoy the red herring because the plot insists it's not a setup because it ISN'T a setup, they're characters in a plot the writer is Sutter Cane and his demons he serves. It's such a meta headflip even if it is slightly confusing it's a total mindfuck.. I saw it for the first time last night and wow what a masterpiece.

[@cinemaina666]

You've introduced me to this movie and I am grateful, love the look and concept. Can't wait to see it.

[@OliverHarper]

+DAN MAN Glad you enjoyed the review. Definitely seek it out.

[@orgywithpigs6]

Such an under appreciated classic. I was lucky enough to have watched it growing up.

[@GameplayandTalk]

I remember a friend telling me about this film over a decade ago, but I completely forgot about it. What you have shown looks interesting and I definitely want to check it out now.

[@charlesdowney2281]

Thanks for the upload Oliver. As usual, beautiful editing.

[@jadelee6150]

wow I just now found your youtube channel, and really enjoyed this review!!

[@AugustoMauroBecco]

Thanks Oliver! You have the best reviews for movies I grew up on! I hope you one day do No Escape. I can't find a single good review for it on KZbin.

[@Tom-jq8kf]

Carpenter can no wrong! I saw this movie as a teen had No idea he did this great movie. Wow , outstanding!!!

[@edwarddore7617]

As much as I like Carpenter anything after this, except maybe.Body bags is OK at best, his 70s & 80s output is excellent

[@janetcraft]

Great review as always Mr. Harper. I don't know how this movie ever slipped through my fingers. I must look into this.

[@abeschreier]

thank you +Oliver Harper for introducing me to this. Big fan of HP Lovecraft. I rented it from Amazon Prime last night and now I've found favorite horror film!

[@NothingYouHaventReadBefore]

I've been looking for this for years now! Thank heavens I found it :D

[@kkarx]

Hey this is my favorite Carpenter's movie. I love the cloudy mystery atmosphere. It scared me when I was a kid. I saw it recently again and I still think it's brilliant. The cinematography is beautiful. I agree the plot deserved few more minutes but who knows maybe it would not be as good as it is. In the end it is a masterpiece. Sam Neil nailed it. What a great performance. 5/5

[@ClumzorZ]

I really love the bookend montages you put on these videos.

[@BRANDNAMEHERE2023]

Wow...I've actually never heard of this but after the review I plan on picking it up. Great work as always Mr. Harper!

[@MinddKidzag]

Awesome review, Oliver! Hope you do a retrospective/review on "Freddy's Dead".

[@ChiefBrodyRules]

Thank you, Oliver Harper.

[@beatlecost]

The master's last great film

[@TheDRODOR]

Vampires was pretty good :P

[@TheGrindhouse70]

Cigarette Burns was really good. (Yes, I am aware that is a TV movie)

[@blakeharris58]

I liked Vampires. Ghosts of Mars was the sign of the end.

[@JaguarCats]

This tackles one of the biggest questions of the existence. Are we the dreamers of the dream or are we the dream of the dreamers?

[@vonVince]

Great work! When you have the time you really ought to do a retroperspective / review of Apocalypse Now - the movie itself is simply amazing, but its production is a story by itself - not to mention the numerous versions floating around: including bootlegged unonfficial versions from Philippines with a whole lot of deleted scenes.

[@VenusHeadTrap2]

I keep checking out these awesome movies because I want to enjoy your reviews! Never seen madness before, thanks for your recommendations Mr. Oliver

[@DarthSparhawk]

very good review. I have to admit that I got it on first viewing, mostly, but I am a Lovecraft fan. One visual thing, which probably is only me - in the asylum, Sam reminds me slightly of Patient X from "The Exorcist III".

[@danielponder690]

Church = Cathedral of the Transfiguration in Markham, Ontario Canada. Church was paid 10k to film there, Priest had no idea what the movie was about. The building is incomplete in 1994 and wasn't finished until later, and the congregation (Slovak Catholic) later moved out in 2006 and it is now a Greek Catholic congregation. And yes, the church is literally in the middle of nowhere until now, a small European style village is being built up around the church.

[@bobbypaycheque]

I watch it every October, and have for the past several years. Still no idea what is really going on in this movie. But I like it a lot. Great retrospective as always.

[@Protoman85]

In the mouth of madness... in the mouth... innsmouth?

[@TheThejayman32]

Innsmouth is part of the inspiration for the title. At the Mountains of Madness is the other.

[@ShadyPlatinum777]

I remember watching this at 5 but never remembered its name so thanks for reviewing it.

[@MisterTutor2010]

Book that causes insanity to those who read it? Sounds like my dissertation (biochemistry PhD) :)

[@lavierakoover893]

Sounds like Twilight..

[@zachbos5108]

Sounds like The King In Yellow

[@MisterTutor2010]

Have you seen the Yellow Sign? :)

[@lavierakoover893]

The symbol related to the Cthulu mythos?

[@MisterTutor2010]

Lavie Rakoover Yes.

[@TheHi-FiHour]

Thanks Oliver! Could you do Body Bags and/or The Burning at some point?

[@kendo2377]

I'm a Lovecraft fan and I've never heard of this movie. Thanks for the review.

[@Tamayochile]

Hello Oliver, have you ever seen The Keep (1983) by Michael Mann? I saw it when I was 10 at a house party with my parents on tv very late at night and for years after always had some memories about that film, but couldn’t remember the name, just the plot. It took me 20 year to find it, I’m 38 now but it was a thorn in my mind.

[@mikejarrett3297]

Iv'e been looking for this for ages, i watched it when i was a kid and it gave me nightmares but i could never remember what film it was-cheers!

[@gold24k54]

A must-see horror gem. 10/10

[@HugoRedRose]

Excellent as always. Thanks for your hard work.

[@dariusq8894]

I always had a soft spot for this film because my hometown is where they shot much of the Hobb's End footage. I remember actually being on set when they filmed the re-occurring driving sequences on our Main St. and thought that the repeated takes were just to get things right. And yes, that church is a real place and every bit the eyesore as in the movie. =)

[@CTimmerman]

Ooh, lat/lon? I thought it was rather nice.

[@doomyeti3521]

Fantastic video Oliver I love your work, I was just curious are you going to the live John Carpenter show in London this Halloween?

[@OliverHarper]

+Doom Yeti Im looking into going. If I attend I will announce it on Twitter / Facebook.

[@doomyeti3521]

+Oliver Harper awesome! I just got my ticket, I'm sure it will be amazing

[@entennstudio]

I saw this movie for the firs time when I was 15. It is one of my absolute favorite and certainly the best "Lovecraft adaptation" even though it's just based on his body of work. Great review!

[@francisgarza7274]

Great video man,I remember watching this in my high school years,loved it!!My girlfriend introduced me to it.

[@CaptainRufus]

Damn now I really need to see this. Though I really enjoyed Vampires when I saw it back in the day

[@OliverHarper]

+CaptainRufus I may give Vampires another go soon. First time I watched it i thought it was a bit dull but that was about 8 years ago, i may think differently when i revisit it.

[@jacksonjacob7791]

Vampires was Carpenters last good movie imo

[@james87367]

In my opinion this film is one of the most unnerving film's I've ever seen.

[@66cuda]

I was at the weekend of horror by lax when John carpenter was there talking about this film on panels, was great guy

[@AaronLitz]

I am always amazed to hear that there are people who don't like this movie. I never even saw advertisements for it back in '94, and the first time I ever even heard of it was when a friend got it on laserdisc around '96 and he was absolutely in love with it, and he had me watch it with him and I was just as blown away by it. Everyone I have ever known loves this movie; I've genuinely never met anyone to dislike it. I admit to being a huge Lovecraft fan with friends who are also fans, and I do my best to avoid the company of idiots, but seriously how stupid do you have to be to "not understand" *In the Mouth of Madness?* The whole thing is explained quite clearly; it's not like the movie is some plotless abstract art film or doesn't make sense. As for the people who just claim that all horror movies are mindless, they mostly just lack enough imagination to actually understand horror; the type of people who generally *do* prefer plotless abstract art films (where the lack of plot and meaning is glossed over by heaping amounts of pretension) For an actually meaningless "horror" movie (that is loved by pretentious people who otherwise hate horror films) see "mother!" by Darren Aronofsky, a supposed horror movie that is made up of nothing *but* pretentiousness, with fans who claim that anyone who doesn't like it just don't "get it", when in reality we "get it" just fine but "it" is nothing but the kind of superficial banal tripe spouted by stoned college freshman late at night but which the director somehow mistakes for being deep meaningful.

[@thebossbaby7402]

Yeah I didn’t think the movie was that confusing. The inconsistencies are intentional; meant to make the viewer question the reality of the movie, and even our reality. But it’s not overly complicated with its themes, and certainly isn’t pretentious. I seriously loved watching the movie, and I think it’s gonna become one of my all time favorites.

[@Dios67]

The paperboy, "I want my 2 dollars..." ...oh, wrong movie.

[@preferredpronoun3689]

This film needed to be a miniseries to really flesh out everything that was so great about it.

[@LinkMarioSamus]

Good job Harper. BTW I've been watching all your reviews in order just for the fun of it.

[@Lagash]

Amazing movie. Love it every time. I go back to it from time to time. All time classic.

[@blakeharris58]

You should do Lord of Illusions.

[@rtristan82]

Oliver i will be seeing this. I've been wondering if it's worth the watch and the comments on here made my mind up. Thank you.

[@31webseries]

While I'm back-and-forth on Lovecraft, it does help to read a couple of his stories before you watch this. The real shame is that it wasn't made with the marketing gimmics used in later years. Because they definitely would've published the Sutter Cane novels shown in the movie as part of its promotion and I SO want to read them! Who doesn't need a little madness in life?

[@whade62000]

I absolutely agree that the movie's failing is that we are given only snippets of each element that become immediately forgettable because how quickly they are over. I honestly don't even remember the monster animatronics in this movie despite how great those props look in these behind the scenes shots, because they appear so briefly, often obscured by darkness and affect the plot so little. We'd have needed more screentime and interaction with each of these elements; I'm convinced the average won't even remember we've met Sutter Cane by the end of the movie and will have trouble following the plot. On the other hand, if you are willing to spend multipe viewings to abrorb the plot, this could be called a strength, as we see events as a regular bystander would, only snippets of everything that seems to be going on regardless of us being there to perceive them as the happen, puzzling events together from details only when they are already beyond help. That said, I think a lot of classic horrors decades before this one suffered from these same structural issues. InmoM feels almost like it dropped here from that black-and-white era of filmmaking. It still remains the most Lovecraftian story yet put to film, for some reason.

[@SneakingViper]

Excellent review, fun fact ms. Pickman is also a nod to H P Lovecraft's book Pickman's Model :)

[@NodDisciple1]

21:45 You have to remember that time manipulation also plays a prominent role in some of Lovecraft's Tales.

[@DecemberFilms-m8w]

This Film Never Got a DVD Release in the UK, But Hopefully This Year Some Home Media Company in the UK Will Put It Out in the UK DVD Store Shelves

[@themixedvideolounge131]

Fantastic review mate, In the mouth of madness is my fav john carpenter flick. watching your retrospective reviews has encouraged me to want to me to want to do my own video reviews. Do you have suggestion on how to start.

[@rkcpek]

This movie needs a novelization with the cover art matching the movies. Authored by Sutter Cane and text that begins to wrap and visually twist around the page by the ending. Creating images and a pice together puzzle made with pages.

[@guillaumebabey4484]

For me the subdued and relatively self-contained nature of the film is an actual strong point, especially compared to many of today's productions where producers always want to show and explain too much. Not gonna say it's flawless but to me, it's these dark corners that make The Mouth of Madness work even more so than what it shows. And to me Sutter Kane was never the real antagonist but simply a vessel.

[@AriaMohtadiHaghighi]

Thanks for another great review. I think the game Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth also draws elements from this one (especially in the cutscenes).

[@Padre_diego_longoose]

Aria Mohtadi Haghighi The game is based on the short story by H.P. Lovecraft titled The Call of Cthulhu. This is inspired by the same author’s other story titled The Mouth of Madness.

[@HorusHeresy1982]

Someone told me to watch this once when after I was talking about Event Horizon. Didn't even know this and Prince of Darkness. Although just for flatout weirdness, I enjoyed Prince of Darkness more, but this did have a better ending.

[@joemutt359]

Although flawed, a hidden gem, a very charming and mysterious mess. I think this film was to horror movies what Dune was to Sci-Fi, great potential that you can only peek at through some moments of true greatness scattered here and there. And of course in both cases great hypnotic power and great atmosphere. You sure know how to choose flicks.