Review: ‘In the Mouth of Madness’ — John Carpenter’s Lovecraftian Nightmare

Expectations must’ve been sky high for John Carpenter’s 1994 film In the Mouth of Madness. Not only was it the grand finale of his unofficial ‘Apocalypse’ trilogy, tasked with filling the boots of such staggering films as 1982’s The Thing (widely considered Carpenter’s crowning masterpiece) and 1987’s Prince of Darkness, but in hindsight it was also the film which marked the end of an impeccable run of films from one of the greatest horror/genre directors of all time including The Fog, Halloween, Christine, They Live and Big Trouble in Little China as Carpenter’s quality dipped slightly in the mid 1990s with the likes of the disappointing sequel Escape to LA and his remake of the 1960s film Village of the Damned.

This strange, complex film introduces its leading character, John Trent (Sam Neill, having his second encounter with Lovecraftian-leaning horror following on from Andrzej Zulawski’s iconic, completely bizarre 1981 film Possession), as he is unceremoniously checked into a mental institution, desperately clawing and fighting for his freedom to no avail. When a psychiatrist arrives to evaluate him, after John has extensively argued that he is in fact sane (a hopeless effort…