In the Mouth of Madness

with Sam Neill, Jürgen Prochnow, Julie Carmen
Written by Michael De Luca
Directed by John Carpenter (New Line)
by Lex Marburger

John Carpenter takes a cast of character actors and finishes what Wes Craven started in New Nightmare, with its recursive themes and interpretive subjects. An intellectual film, believe it or not. The plot is interesting, all the way through, even with the multiple clichés and standby plot developments. It’s almost planned that way, to lure the watcher into the film. The utter predictability of the stand-ins, minor plot points and direction draw on the collective idea of a horror story. They’ve put them there to be seen, and become the unexpected simply because they have to happen.

Carpenter bites off Stephen King to an excellent degree, fading reality into fantasy, to ultimately blend them utterly and have us question our own perceptions (granted, this will only occur in the thinking viewers, and won’t touch the Great Unwashed very much). Lovecraft fans will enjoy the in-jokes (“Pickman House” and innumerable Cthulu references), and the most surprising element is the lack of cheap shots, i.e. shock effects of the violent creature jumping from the shadows, the burst of soundtrack as an arm plunges through a pane of glass, etc. Carpenter uses three or four, and furthermore, the dark beasts of the abyss are only hinted about and flashed on, summoning the ancient technique of giving over creation of the unholy beasts to the fertile cesspool of the viewer’s imagination, each interpretation as horrible as the last, surpassing anything that could be shown on celluloid. In the mind, they EXIST.

Question your reality, and question the reality of your neighbors. Be wary of national trends of thought. If the collective mind of the masses changes, the reality of the universe will change as well. The quantum physicists have got it right; the universe reacts and exists only as we are able to measure and perceive it. If that perception or measurement changes, reality changes right along with it. Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it.