In The Mouth of Madness (1994) Retrospective / Review
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In The Mouth of Madness (1994) Retrospective / Review
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Underrated gem of a movie, this one. One of my favourite endings ever to a film. Flawed, yes, but probably the best movie representation of Lovecraftian horror ever. Oh, and the theme tune is kickass.
Obscene Vegetable Matter that music is so awesome.
Obscene
I agree, it's probably the best Lovecraftian film ever made. One of my favorite Carpenter films. I don't really care about the flaws. It's unique. I wish there were more good Lovecraftian films, even if they are not based on specific works, but the ideas expressed therein. That said, I would love to see high budget adaptations for Call of Cthulhu, Dunwich Horror, or Shadow Over Innsmouth. A shame del Toro backed out on Mountains of Madness. That could have been something special. I'd rather see that than Pacific Rim or Crimson Peak.
@@cruddddddddddddddd Did you ever watch The Void?
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.
Go and watch jokers secret of the imaginary axis. This movie could totally be jokers origin story when you compare the two theories!
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.
....shit
Not very original, then.
www.goodreads.com/book/show/17836069-typewriter-in-the-sky
@@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."
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.
Impressive, very nice.
Let's see Paul Allen's explanation.
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.
Probably the best Lovecraft's Choulchou mythology movie ever! Hello from Athens Greece!
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!
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.
Okay?.
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".
''never ever ever throw chips at a driver!''
Wise words!
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!
Thats great to hear Calvin!
Same here!
Same here, I've been binge watching Oliver Harper retrospective for days now.
Calvin Lee i discovered the channel today.
I'm doing this just recently. love how there's a history here :)
Great film. Very underrated and unlike any horror films made in the past 20 or so years, this one actually spooked me.
I absolutely love this movie, one of my favorite of all times. Brilliant story, perfectly executed. Unbelievable it never got the recognition it deserved.
When Trent starts screaming on the bus I near pissed myself laughing.
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.
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.
+Larry Bundy Jr I think Alan Wake took a lot of cues from Sam Lake being a cheeseball plagiarist.
+Larry Bundy Jr All i remember as a kid on Bravo was The Punisher and Toxic Avenger! lol
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?
+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.
Take that back
Such an under appreciated classic. I was lucky enough to have watched it growing up.
This movie is highly Underrated! Loved it , will re-watch it soon! and need to get it on Blu-Ray!
This my wife and I favorite movie, classic!
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.
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.
@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.
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.
Just watched it for the first time. Love it! :)
Then again, Sam Neil's always a HUGE plus for me. :P
"Do you subscribe to Oliver Harper?!?"
Hahaha I love what you did there..
"He...sees you..."
@@mitchellw7118 "well tell him I said hi"
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.
I was lucky enough to watch this for the first time on TV in about 1997. I've loved the film ever since.
My favourite horror film of the 1990s, excellent choice Oliver Harper!
Wow! I totally was not aware of this film either.
On a side note, I think these retrospectives/reviews are among the best on TH-cam. I'm glad you play it straight rather than resort to obnoxiousness. Great editing too.
20:18 Oliver and Sam Neill say "reality" at the same time... is the video real? omg... *reaches for axe*
holy molly, they're about to bring end times on our asses... *nervously loads shells into a shotgun*
Hobbs End was also the name of the London Underground station in 1967 Quatermass and the Pit. Hob was slang for the Devil.
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!
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.
I have been to that church. It is near Gormley in Toronto. Such an amazing shock when I saw it.
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_.
This movie scared the hell out of me when I was younger. Great video.
The master's last great film
Vampires was pretty good :P
Cigarette Burns was really good. (Yes, I am aware that is a TV movie)
I liked Vampires. Ghosts of Mars was the sign of the end.
Thanks for the upload Oliver. As usual, beautiful editing.
I love that he gets himself a huge tub of popcorn before he sits down-the best throwaway gag in the movie...
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.
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.
Do you read Sutter Cane? You should, he's absolutely terrifying.
He sees you
But if I answer "Yes", you'll hit me with an axe.
I have it on good authority that his favourite colour is blue.
I've been looking for this for years now! Thank heavens I found it :D
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 .
Loved this movie... Was obsessed with it for a little while.. Like 20 years hahaha.. Great review as always
Great movie. +Oliver Harper, will you ever do the Phantasm movie review?
Excellent as always. Thanks for your hard work.
A must-see horror gem. 10/10
Thanks for covering this film Oliver! One of my favourites and I think an underrated movie.
Thank you, Oliver Harper.
I really love the bookend montages you put on these videos.
Wow...I've actually never heard of this but after the review I plan on picking it up. Great work as always Mr. Harper!
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.
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.
what a wonderful concept for a movie. definitely the most bang-on representation of H.P. Lovecraftian themes in a movie.
Have you seen the Nick Cage Color Out of Space?
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?
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.
Great review! And your trailer was damn good as well! 3:10 to 3:42 was such an adrenaline burst xD
You've introduced me to this movie and I am grateful, love the look and concept. Can't wait to see it.
+DAN MAN Glad you enjoyed the review. Definitely seek it out.
Amazing movie. Love it every time. I go back to it from time to time. All time classic.
I keep checking out these awesome movies because I want to enjoy your reviews! Never seen madness before, thanks for your recommendations Mr. Oliver
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!
wow I just now found your youtube channel, and really enjoyed this review!!
Great review as always Mr. Harper. I don't know how this movie ever slipped through my fingers. I must look into this.
Carpenter can no wrong! I saw this movie as a teen had No idea he did this great movie.
Wow , outstanding!!!
As much as I like Carpenter anything after this, except maybe.Body bags is OK at best, his 70s & 80s output is excellent
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.
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 TH-cam.
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. =)
Ooh, lat/lon? I thought it was rather nice.
I was at the weekend of horror by lax when John carpenter was there talking about this film on panels, was great guy
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
In the mouth of madness and Event Horizon..my underrated masterpieces..ironically both starring Neil
Love the Black Rain soundtrack excerpt from 28:21. Very nice touch.
Good job Harper. BTW I've been watching all your reviews in order just for the fun of it.
I remember watching it on TV when I was 13, and I loved it
Great video man,I remember watching this in my high school years,loved it!!My girlfriend introduced me to it.
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.
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!
awesome review! I have been waiting for this one since i started to watch your chanel! :D
Damn now I really need to see this. Though I really enjoyed Vampires when I saw it back in the day
+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.
Vampires was Carpenters last good movie imo
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.
I saw it in the theater in 95, blew my mind immediately 🤯
I remember watching this at 5 but never remembered its name so thanks for reviewing it.
I was waiting for this long while now.
Amazing review as usual ! This is my 2nd favorite Carpenter film after The Thing (obviously). We definetely need to see Sam Neill more often he is so underrated
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".
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!
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.
perfect work, thank you
This was amazing and totally worth the wait.
Don't forget the horror at red hook. HPL's best short story imo.
Saw this in the theater, and loved it.
Awesome review, Oliver! Hope you do a retrospective/review on "Freddy's Dead".
21:45 You have to remember that time manipulation also plays a prominent role in some of Lovecraft's Tales.
I've always loved that film we're watching is the actual adaptation of the novel itself.
Totally underrated, so much fun!
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).
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.
Fantastic video Oliver I love your work, I was just curious are you going to the live John Carpenter show in London this Halloween?
+Doom Yeti Im looking into going. If I attend I will announce it on Twitter / Facebook.
+Oliver Harper awesome! I just got my ticket, I'm sure it will be amazing
In my opinion this film is one of the most unnerving film's I've ever seen.
It is not well known to wider public, especially these days. Easily one of my favourite movies. Great Sam Neil's performance, the final scene is just great.
I'm a Lovecraft fan and I've never heard of this movie. Thanks for the review.
In the mouth of madness... in the mouth... innsmouth?
Innsmouth is part of the inspiration for the title. At the Mountains of Madness is the other.
This film needed to be a miniseries to really flesh out everything that was so great about it.
Love your channel. You have an Amazing voice. Keep up the great work.
One of my all time fav movies