In the Mouth of Madness [Blu-ray]

According to John Carpenter, "In the Mouth of Madness" is the capstone of his "Apocalypse Trilogy" - Part 1 begun in 1981 with his masterful reinvention of 50's B horror classic "The Thing," where a long-frozen, world-conquering alien "force" is unthawed in Antarctica, with potentially global-annihilative results.Part 2 according to Carpenter came six years later, with his "heady, post-graduate-minded Einsteinian horror classic," - PRINCE OF DARKNESS, a wonderfully inventive, thoughtful, if not entirely "logical" (well, isn't that the point of the "horror" genre anyway? "Abandon all logic, all haven, all hope for salvation ... Ye who [foolishly] enter here!"). In "Prince," Carpenter once again designs a "modern" world, not unlike "The Thing," only set in sunny, mostly upscale California, with a team of university physicists, radiologists, mathematicians, linguistics scholars, philosophers and a priest (underplayed brilliantly, as usual, by the incomparable, late Donald Pleasance) - pitted against a "secret which can no longer be kept" - namely, "Satan's son," trapped for over 7 million years inside of a weird, metallic cistern, which, creepily enough, "can only be opened from the inside." Triggered by a super nova perhaps (we're never entirely sure), Satan's son, having been buried in the Middle East long ago after his father was somehow, "banished to the darkside," is now awakening, and proceeds to slice, dice, and "water gun" its way through the team of stalwart scientists. Here again we see shades of "The Thing," with the scientists on the short end of the "magic wand" to repel it.Now enter Part 3 - "In the Mouth of Madness" - the FINALE! Because the end is TRULY nigh. Whereas in parts 1 and 2, the "unspeakable beast" only wreaked "local havoc" (with major caveats), NOW we are, as a race - WHOLLY DAMNED!! And Carpenter makes no ambiguity of our fate. As John Trent (Sam Neill) muses ruefully from the sanctum of his padded cell to his pychiatrist (David Warner): "Every species can smell its own extinction. The last ones left won't have a pretty time of it. In ten years, maybe less, humanity will be nothing more than a bedtime story to 'them,' a myth they tell to their children...""ITMOM" is a difficult film in that so much of it is ... ostensibly random, "diaboli dictu;" many of the scenes underline incredulity, and the plot is ostensibly, almost irrelevant. What IS relevant is that the world is going to hell, and everyone who reads "Sutter Cane" (a not-so-subtle play on "Stephen King") SPEEDS along the return of "nameless, shambling things; The Old Ones" ala H.P. Lovecraft.Carpenter piles on "the works" without worry of logic or storytelling coherence, because - as we're told - "reality isn't what it used to be anymore." It sure isn't. As Trent is on a bus back to Manhattan, Sutter Cane mysteriously appears in the seat next to him, and - because Cane is "God" now (self prescribed) - it is axiomatic that he can do anything. So he says to Trent, "Did I ever tell you that my favorite color is blue?" Cut to the next scene, where Trent wakes up, and the entire bus and passengers are gelled in a blue filter. Naturally, Trent screams and is awakened by his fellow passengers, who try to comfort him, "Hey mister, it's okay. You just had a bad dream."Lots of clever tropes infuse "Madness" throughout, although this 3rd installment, by DESIGN, is THE LEAST easy to take of the 3 "apocalypses." Nevertheless, the brilliance of Sam Neill (remember him as grownup Damien from "Omen 3?") more than carries this finale. In fact, "In the Mouth of Madness," or so I have discovered for my own viewing purposes, has a FAR GREATER appeal to me NOW, on DVD, than when I first saw this film back in 1993 at the Theatre. Dark spirits only know why?But it can't be coincidence that Carpenter laid out his trilogy - very numerologically NEATLY so. Every film, from "The Thing" to "Madness," was made 6 years apart (1981, 1987, 1993) - 666! Or, more correctly, 66... unless Carpenter's oevre up until "The Thing" might be considered his "first 6." Another trope. Another mystery. Another thing to make us go, "hmmmmmm ...".But to be certain, as Sutter Cane (well rendered by Jurgen Prochnow) tells Trent, "My first books were something. But this next one is going to drive the whole world ABSOLUTELY MAD!" And the addition of late cinematic maven Charlton Heston as Arcane Publisher Jason Harglow, is revealing. Remember Heston's earlier career when he was in such apocalyptic roles as "The Planet of the Apes" could inspire? Coincidence here? In Carpenter's able horror-craft hands, we would do well not to question "The Master."This one is for PURE HORROR ENJOYMENT strictly! Abandon ALL logic. The scientists and wonks from Parts 1 and 2 are probably all dead by now anyway. "Do YOU read Sutter Cane?"

Great movie, a classic, not a ton of gore or bad language,

honestly i never heard about this movie with a cult following until one day at a coffee shop, a fanatic with an axe outside the store smashed in the window i was seated at. he jumped on the table showed me this very blu ray, and asked me "have you've seen this movie?"i went home that very knight watched it, and couldn't sleep for 3 days; all while shouting "THIS IS NOT REALITY!"

Yup, still good after all these years. One of my favorites.

When IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS came out in 1995, it didn't make much of an impact. I know that because I saw it in the theater, and said theater was almost totally deserted. As it happens the film did make its money back with a few hundred grand to spare, but the mention of it will, even among movie buffs, often bring only a blank stare in return. That's a pity, because despite some rather obvious flaws, this is a reasonably entertaining and extremely disturbing piece of cinema.MADNESS is the story of John Trent (Sam Neill), a cynical insurance investigator who has been hired by a publishing magnate (Charlton Heston) to locate their most profitable author, a reclusive horror-writer named Sutter Cane (Jürgen Prochnow), who has vanished while writing his latest novel. Neill suspects the whole disappearance is a publicity stunt, but after reading Cane's Lovecraft-style novels he begins to be troubled by horrible nightmares, and at one point is even attacked by Cane's agent, who has evidently gone insane. Believing Cane has left him a "map" to his location hidden in the covers of his novels, Trent dutifully proceeds to rural New Hampshire to dig up Kane, accompanied by the magnate's attractive assistant Styles (Julie Carmen), but is shocked when he finds himself in the supposedly fictional town of Hobb's End, where Kane's novels are set. A series of bizarre incidents with the townspeople rattle Trent badly, but he's still convinced everything he's seeing is a show arranged by the publisher to promote sales (the 90s equivalent of "found footage" I suppose)...at least until people begin to die violent deaths right in front of him. Murder, however, is the least of Trent's problems, because it seems as if the terrible nightmares he's been having are actually coming to life. People are turning into monsters, time is shifting out of phase, and reality itself seems to be conforming to the events of Kane's latest novel. But can any of this actually be happening? And if it is, how can he prevent the demented author from "writing" the unhappiest ending of all?There is a good deal to recommend this movie. Sam Neill is always a joy to watch, the great David Warner makes bookend appearances at the beginning and end of the film, and the writing is full of cynical humor and clever dialogue that messes with your head. It's true that it is occasionally slow and sometimes stumbles under the weight of its own efforts to be bizarre, but IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS Is purely and simply a mindfreak. While it more or less fails as a horror movie per se (aside from a few jumps it isn't really very scary), like EVENT HORIZON or even JACOB'S LADDER it succeeds brilliantly in acting as a disturbing cinematic hallucinogen. Using the imagery and reality-bending story devices pioneered by H.P. Lovecraft, it attacks the viewer at the most basic level by rendering things like sight, memory and a sense of what is and is not possible completely meaningless. When Trent, who is all the more sympathetic because he is so cynical and hard-headed (essentially the voice of "reason" in a film about madness) angrily tells Styles that what Kane writes isn't "real," she replies, "It's not real from your point of view. And right now reality shares your point of view. What scares me about Cane's work might happen if reality shared HIS point of view." And without giving away too much -- this movie is easy to spoil if you over-explain it -- that's what MADNESS is all about. What would happen to the world if reality began to conform to the imagination of a horror writer penning a novel about the end of the world?

Ive always liked this film a lot since I first saw a screening of it years back.Its about an insurance investigator who is sent to try and find a horror writer who has gone missing.His books are driving people crazy and its a cool story.This release is a bit short on extras but still a good release. The only thing I really hate about it is its got the title on the cover in German which makes it hard to put in its right place when you have your films alphabeticly on your shelf.

John carpernter's lost classic IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS has finally been given the respect it deservesby U.S. company Scream factoryfirst of all Scream factory gave the film a new 4k restoration 2:35: HD transfer which looks incredible quality 10/10plus the sound mix is also excellent with new 5.1 master mixEXTRAS lots of new extrasa new audio commentary with John carpenter & producer wife Sandy carpentera new interview with Actress Julie carmena new interview with special efects master Greg nicoteroplus lots of behind the scenes special effects footage courtesy of Greg nicoteropus stills Photo Gallery, plus the original trailer in new HD qualityplus the old extras carried over from the very old region 1 dvdwhich is the old dvd commentary with John carpenter & on the set behind the scenes interviewsthis new blu-ray reissue is the best version to get of this classic Horror film no Doubt about it10 times better than the old dvd versionbut you need all regions blu-ray player for sure, Scream/shout factory is a small company from Los Angeleswho's blu-ray reissues are only region A lockedso 5 stars all the way but any Aussie buyer needs a all regions blu-ray player for the Disc to work.

Awesome movie, a classic horror that still stands and doesn't feel dated even today.

Einer der besten Horrorfilme die ich kenne, und das sind so einige. Zur Story schreibe ich jetzt nichts, dazu gibt es eine Inhaltsangabe.Viel mehr möchte ich mich an die Freunde des Horrorfilms wenden. Obwohl der Film mit einer FSK ab 16 Jahre ausgezeichnet ist, geht dieser doch ordentlich unter die Haut, in wahrsten Sinne des Wortes. Für mich persönlich gehören ‚Die Mächte des Wahnsinns’ in meine TOP 10 der Horror-Filme.Bildformat 2.4:1 1080p, 16:9 und Deutscher Ton kommen in Dolby Digital 2.0 daher, bei knapp 95min. Laufzeit. Das Bild auf einem 55“ TV ist völlig ausreichend, wenig Bildrauschen, am Ende völlig ok für einen Film aus dem Jahr 1994.Hier geht‘s am Ende um guten, alten, klassischen Horror- und der wird geboten! Wer ‚Die Mächte des Wahnsinns‘, mit einem Sam Neill in Bestform noch nicht kennt, na dann los! Und viel Freude beim Gruseln!!!

Todo salió bien, llegó bien y se pudo ver bien la peli (también es un film que me guata).