In the Mouth of Madness

It goes without saying that John Carpenter is one of my heroes. His movies have redefined the genre of horror, from Halloween to The Thing. He is one of the few directors that isn't afraid to defy boundaries in the name of scaring people, and he does it remarkably well. One of my favorite Carpenter films is In the Mouth of Madness, an amazingly scary film that is often overlooked by today's audience.

In the Mouth of Madness is one of the very few films that brings Lovecraftian horror to the big screen, and does it well. With today's special effects, I'm still waiting for that super-awesome Lovecraft film, but In the Mouth of Madness comes quite close, which is shocking for a movie made almost ten years ago.

Sam Neill, one of my favorite actors, plays an insurance fraud agent who is hired by a publishing company to locate a missing blockbuster author known as Sutter Caine. He is accompanied by an editor, Linda, and they head off to a mythical town known as Hobb's End to try and locate the recluse author. However, the two quickly discover that there is more than meets the eye waiting for them in Hobb's End, including evil old hotel owners who eat their husbands, decaying children, and Sutter Caine himself, a new "god" who is determined to bring about the end of the world through his newest novel.

The movie deftly treads a fine line between what is reality and what is make believe, and in the end, you may find yourself questioning reality as much as poor Sam Neill's character, who ends up the only sane person in an insane world....or does he? Check this one out for a superb chiller of an evening...just try to shake this one off.