Movies: In the Mouth of Madness

Sam Neill has appeared in quite a few interesting-but-flawed horror films (Omen 3, Event Horizon), though 1995's “In the Mouth of Madness” is probably the best effort he's been involved in.

It’s a horror movie directed by none other than John Carpenter. Trent is an insurance claims investigator who goes looking for Sutter Cane, a popular horror novelist that’s gone missing. Trent finds a small town in New Hampshire that’s seemingly straight out of one of Sutter Cane’s books. Did Cane base his latest book on this town? Is this some sort of publicity stunt by the publisher? Have Cane’s books literally driven the town mad?

The first third of the movie is all set-up, with some terrifically creepy reveals (a camera pan that reveals what's behind an old hotel desk is my favorite of the bunch). From there the whole thing loses a lot of steam; Carpenter tends to use the psychological terror inflicted on Trent as an excuse for lazy plotting. When monsters finally do make an appearance, they all look like rejects from "The Thing."

Still, thanks to good performances from Neill and Jürgen Prochnow and a pretty fun ending, it's a decent film for the Halloween season and a nice break from all the slasher movies out there.

Rating: 7/10