In the Mouth of Madness (1995)

Plot Outline: An insurance investigator is sent to the town of Hobb's End to search for the disappearance of pulp horror writer, Sutter Cane, whose new book is due out soon but the publishing company haven't received it. Convinced they are getting scammed, they hire the insurance investigator to track him down. But when he gets to Hobb's End, he realises that not all is as it seems.

The Review: Never before has a film's title summed up it's content like this. In the Mouth of Madness is one of the weirdest, craziest flicks I've ever seen. The fine line between fantasy and reality is almost non-existent in the film as things happen that may or may not be real. Don't think me a simpleton or anything but you'll have a hell of a job trying to figure out just what the hell is going on. The script didn't go a very good job of holding everything together and neither did Carpenter. There is no question he has a vivid imagination and the film contains plenty of startling images. But without the glue to hold the masterpiece together, the film falls apart almost as soon as the investigator reaches Hobb's End. The film is just so damned mind-bending! As much as I wanted and tried to enjoy it, the more I was confused. Carpenter clearly overdoes trying to confuse everyone, unless he got confused himself. Sam Neill is enjoyable to watch as the insurance investigator. For most of the film he thinks everything that is happening is just a put-up job by the publishing company to trick the insurers. His slow descent into madness is the film's only highlight. Or is he mad? Or is he real at all? The film tries to play on the fact that he may be a fictional character, a real character who is mad or simply the only sane person in the world when everyone else is crazy. But as with the rest of the film, everything gets so damned confusing. I didn't even get to find out whether he's a fruitcake or not. Credit is due for the creativity and imagination of the writers and the director to try and weave together such a complex tale but in the end everyone tries too hard to confuse. There's plenty of cheesy-looking monsters which pop up mainly towards the end of the film which are all well-designed to add to the nightmarish visions that the film is so keen to put forward.

Final Verdict: I don't think even Carpenter knew what he was doing here. In the Mouth of Madness is his worst film by a long, long way and gave me a headache whilst trying to work everything out.

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