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In the Mouth of Madness (1994)

Rate: 2
Viewed: 10/07

10/07: Every director invariably has an oeuvre of pictures that are either hits or misses, so proclaiming John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness a huge miss is no brainer.

And what the heck happened to him? Save Escape from L.A., John Carpenter hasn't made a decent picture since the late 80's. I wonder why. In In the Mouth of Madness, nothing works for me despite the camp mood which only lasted briefly.

The acting is below standard, and Sam Neill is no great shakes. I've never liked him. He's either mimicking Jake Gittes of Chinatown or trying to be Damien Thorn again so he can have his Satanic powers back or something.

I can barely survive the film in one sitting. There's a story, but it's not interesting. The numerous abstract twists and turns leaves me dead tired. How the movie starts isn't good, to say the least. The mood has me going but never takes me for a ride. Mainly, I'm treated like an outsider unlike John Carpenter's all-time classics Escape from New York, Halloween, Prince of Darkness, and The Thing.

Sad to say, the 90's swallowed up John Carpenter, and he has never returned since then. His masterful touches have always been the set-up of the atmosphere and the creation of suspense. Well, In the Mouth of Madness has none of them. Glancing through the DVD cover, I noticed that Paul Wunder of WBAI exclaimed it's "the best film in John Carpenter's career!" Either he hasn't seen the others or is a fucking hack critic.

All in all, I regard John Carpenter among the best horror directors in history, having seen his masterpieces many times, but In the Mouth of Madness is absolutely nothing like them.

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