In the Mouth of Madness Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

In the Mouth of Madness Blu-ray Movie Review

It's All in His Head, or We're All in His

Reviewed by Michael Reuben October 12, 2013

John Carpenter has identified In the Mouth of Madness (hereafter "ITMOM") as the third and closing chapter of an Apocalypse Trilogy that began with The Thing (1982) and Prince of Darkness (1987). The film shares elements with both predecessors, and it bears Carpenter's unmistakable stamp, but it adds a loopy philosophical element (maybe serious, maybe not) that was already lurking in the background of Carpenter's Dark Star (1974).

In The Thing, humanity's extinction was threatened by an extraterrestrial; in Prince of Darkness, by a malevolent force from another dimension. In ITMOM, armageddon may be just a paranoid delusion—or it may be the real thing, without any chance at redemption. The script by former New Line President Michael De Luca purposely leaves the audience in the dark (in more ways than one), and you can almost hear Carpenter chortling with glee as he decorates De Luca's riddles with plenty of scares and slime. For his part, De Luca consciously drew from H.P. Lovecraft, whose work he quotes directly at key points in the script.

Audiences didn't know what to make of ITMOM when it first appeared, and it did minimal business, but Carpenter's customary frugality ensured that New Line made back its money. In the years since its brief theatrical run, the film has become a cult classic, as additional viewings revealed even further layers to the film's hall of mirrors and new fans discovered the strange disorientation it produces in viewers—a sensation not unlike the one ascribed to the film's mysterious author, Sutter Cane, on his readers. Some of them get dizzy, some turn homicidal, while others are transformed into gooey bulbous creatures with tentacles. Or so I've been told by John Trent, who's the hero of ITMOM.

New Line Cinema still existed as a separate company when it released ITMOM on laserdisc in 1997 and on DVD in 1999. Now New Line is part of Warner, which is releasing it on Blu-ray. The Blu-ray gives Carpenter's inventive visuals a whole new depth of cheerful lunacy.

Blurring the line between illusion and reality is an ancient storyteller’s art, but ITMOM takes it to extremes. Early readers of this review claimed that it told the “entire” plot, but those who know Carpenter’s film recognize that I have extracted a single strand—the most realistic one—from ITMOM’s gradually fraying narrative. It’s the strand that a first-time viewer will try clinging to, as the proceedings make increasingly less sense, but it snaps long before the film reaches an end.

John Trent (Sam Neill, who is perfect in the role), a former insurance investigator, is brought into an insane asylum in a strait jacket, kicking and screaming that he's not insane. The affable Dr. Saperstein (John Glover), whose idea of happiness is listening to The Carpenters, checks him in. Saperstein also greets Dr. Wrenn (David Warner), who may or may not be a physician but clearly belongs to a covert government agency. "Things must be getting pretty bad out there to bring you fellas in", says Saperstein. "You think he's one of them?"

(Just as "Saperstein" is the name of the shady obstetrician in Rosemary's Baby, the name "Wrenn" may come from Max Renn, the hero of David Cronenberg's Videodrome, which has much in common with ITMOM.)

Trent tells Wrenn his story. His main insurance client, Robinson (Bernie Casey), was facing ruin because of a claim by Arcane Publishing due to the disappearance of their tentpole author, Sutter Cane (Jürgen Prochnow). Cane is a popular horror writer whose work bears obvious similarities to that of Stephen King—except that Cane outsells him. His latest novel, In the Mouth of Madness, is due at the printer's shortly, but the manuscript hasn't arrived. As if to demonstrate the power of Cane's work, Robinson's and Trent's lunch meeting is interrupted by an ax-wielding maniac who attacks Trent, but not before pausing to ask him: Do you read Sutter Cane?

After meeting with the head of Arcane Publishing, Jackson Harglow (Charlton Heston, always a commanding presence), and Cane's editor, Linda Styles (Julie Carmen, Fright Night Part 2), Trent begins reading Cane's books, which give him nightmares, but he also finds clues directing him to Hobb's End, which is supposed to be a fictional setting (like King's Castle Rock). Trent is now convinced it's a real place in New Hampshire. He sets off driving along back roads, with Styles in tow at Harglow's insistence.

Carpenter has fun with this road trip, which grows increasingly spooky and surreal, until it eventually bumps down under a covered bridge that is definitely not in Madison County. In fact, the sign says "Hobb's End", but the travelers may well have entered another dimension. The local inn is run by Mrs. Pickman (Frances Bay, a David Lynch regular), who keeps her husband chained up, swears she never heard of Sutter Cane and has a painting in her lobby of a couple resembling Trent and Styles that routinely comes alive. But the scariest sight in town is the black-turreted church that some of the townspeople storm with guns, demanding the return of their children. The doors open to reveal the grinning figure of Sutter Cane, just before a pack of vicious Dobermans attack the mob.

Styles and Trent do eventually confront Cane, but only after many false starts and nightmarish encounters. But is it really Cane or just someone who resembles him? He does give Trent a manuscript to take back to the publisher, and Trent somehow finds himself returned to the "real" world, where he does everything in his power to destroy the text. In spite of his efforts, when he visits Harglow's office with his tale, Harglow looks at him strangely. You delivered the manuscript months ago, he tells Trent. The book is already a bestseller, and the movie comes out soon.

Dr. Wrenn listens to this tale without reaction and leaves Trent's cell without comment. But shortly after, Trent walks out of the now-deserted facility and into . . . what? By this point, the viewer should have noticed that everything we've learned has come from Trent, who, despite his protests that he's not insane, is one of the least reliable narrators since, well, Sutter Cane. The film's title isn't just "Madness"; it's "In the Mouth of Madness", and Trent's mouth is about as tainted as they come. Are we witnessing his paranoid delusions just as he experiences them? Or has Sutter Cane truly become the new god of this world, as he claims ("I think, therefore you are")—imagining it to his desires and writing it to his specifications. In Cane's personal theology, he has prepared the way for the slimy "Old Ones" (whatever they are) to take over the world, or at least that's what Trent believes. As many times as I've watched ITMOM, I still can't find a clear point at which Trent leaves a "real" world and enters an imaginary one. It's one of the neatest jobs I know of erasing the line between illusion and reality.

Watch carefully, and you can see Carpenter designing uncertainty into almost every scene. The asylum where Trent is committed is far too big, the cells too spacious (especially if cases of insanity are multiplying at the rate suggested), the presiding Dr. Saperstein far too indifferently beatific, and the facility too empty of doctors, to be credible. Arcane Publishing has more people crowding its narrow halls and stairwells than Grand Central Station, and none of them appears to be doing anything besides rushing back and forth, getting in the way of Trent and Styles. The alley where Trent's apartment is located looks like an urban war zone—hardly the place where a well-paid investigator would live—and there's something off about the huge Sutter Cane posters near his entrance. And how does Trent know how to cut up Cane's book covers to form the map to Hobb's End? Seeing patterns where none exist is a common symptom of schizophrenia.

Then again, maybe Sutter Cane just wrote him that way.

In the Mouth of Madness Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Gary B. Kibbe has been Carpenter's director of photography on almost every film since Prince of Darkness, although Carpenter is known for taking a strong hand in the technical element of all his films. Kibbe's contribution to the look of ITMOM is difficult to assess, for reasons discussed in connection with the commentary by him and Carpenter. However, I have seen ITMOM many times, from theatrical release through various video manifestations, and I am satisfied that the presentation on Warner's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray is a superior and faithful rendition of the film's original anamorphic 35mm photography.

Detail is plentiful, black levels and contrast are appropriate and colors are subtle and well-saturated. ITMOM has many scenes where darkness is required, e.g., in Trent's cell or when Sutter Cane shows Trent and Styles the wooden enclosures barely holding back the "Old Ones" from our world. Too much light or an overabundance of shadow detail would compromise the effect. As with the film's editing style, what you don't or can't quite see is more unsettling than what you see all too clearly.

The film's natural grain pattern is visible if you look closely, but it is exceedingly fine. No signs of filtering or other untoward digital manipulation were visible, nor did I detect any compression artifacts (the average bitrate is on the low side at 22.92 Mbps, but the large black bars are partly responsible). This is an effective presentation—I almost said "pleasing", but that's not the right word for a film like ITMOM.

In the Mouth of Madness Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

ITMOM arrived early in the era of discrete multi-channel digital formats, but as far as I know, it did receive a DTS 5.1 mix. On Blu-ray, its 5.1 mix is presented as lossless DTS-HD MA. Carpenter has always used sound to great effect for "gotcha!" moments, and he does so here too. He also reuses some of The Thing's creepy rustles, crackles and other creature effects for the Old Ones. Specific effects (breaking glass, pounding on doors, barking of attack dogs, a shotgun blast, the sound of baseball cards folded in bicycle wheels) register forcefully with solid impact.

The surrounds are used for a more subtle presence, especially in environments like Arcane Publishing, the deserted streets of Hobb's End, the asylum where Trent is held or the inner chambers of the ominous cathedral where Sutter Cane finishes his manuscript. The surrounds also help expand the musical score by Carpenter and Jim Lang, of which the most memorable portion is the suitably apocalyptic heavy metal tune that opens and closes the film.

In the Mouth of Madness Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary with Director John Carpenter and Cinematographer Gary B. Kibbe: This commentary was recorded for the laserdisc of the film, and it's something of a legend, albeit in the category of "so bad it's good". If nothing else, it's a classic example of how not to do a commentary. Kibbe clearly doesn't want to be there, but Carpenter seems determined to make him talk; so he asks technical questions about lighting and lenses, and Kibbe gives dry technical answers. Neither of them discusses the film in any depth. They could have been photographing a still life.



• Theatrical Trailer (480i; 2.35:1, enhanced; 1:47): Intriguing but obviously not enough to draw crowds.

In the Mouth of Madness Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

ITMOM capped a remarkable two decades for John Carpenter that began with Dark Star and Assault on Precinct Thirteen (1976) and included both Halloween and Starman. After ITMOM, some of the zest seemed to go out of Carpenter's filmmaking, and after 2001's Ghosts of Mars, he largely shut down. But if, as some have claimed, ITMOM is the last great film that Carpenter made, it's a fitting capper to a great career of thrillers and horror films, summing up and encapsulating everything that makes Carpenter the unique and special talent that still delights audiences and inspires young directors. The Blu-ray version is the best this film has ever looked since its brief foray into theaters. Highly recommended.