In the Mouth of Madness – Review

Printers whip up copies of Sutter Cane’s (Prochnow) latest novel “The Hobb’s End Horror.” An ambulance zooms to the local mental hospital. Dr. Saperstein (Glover) welcomes John Trent (Neill), and puts him in padded cell number 9. Trent struggles violently with the staff, but a straitjacket keeps him in line. He yells that he is not insane, which other patients mimic from their rooms. This is not the end for Trent!!

A top professional, Dr. Wrenn (Warner), arrives late at night to talk to John about how he got there. Here comes a flashback! Apparently, John is a New York City insurance investigator who was hired to find out about an author’s disappearance, namely Sutter Cane. This guy outsells all the horror authors, even Stephen King. The books kind of get to you in a way.

A much more composed John meets with publisher Arcane, who seeks him out due to his amazing ability to smoke out a phony claim. Arcane president Jackson Harglow (Heston) notes that they are owed a new novel, and Sutter has only sent a bit of it to his agent. Cane is a billion-dollar franchise and rights to his new book have already been sold. Arcane is in need of Trent to track down the rest, as they know very little about the reclusive writer.

John starts his investigations, which after an odd discovery, takes him to a small town in New Hampshire that is not on any map. The place Hobb’s End turns out to be an entirely terrifying and mind-warping place. Tread carefully…

In the Mouth of Madness is a well-crafted and effective descent into insanity. It feels both realistic and dreamlike which gives it an eerie atmosphere. There are good actors galore and the runtime is short, so there is not much time to get comfortable. While I always enjoyed this one, I feel like it has grown on me and holds up well after time.

This film rounds out Carpenter’s Apocalypse Trilogy, ending it on a good note! The three films are unrelated other than thematically.

Coming soon… In the Mouth of Madness: You’ll go mad with fear!!