In The Mouth of Madness (1994) Retrospective / Review
Вставка
- Опубліковано 27 вер 2024
- / oliverharper
www.olivers-ret...
/ ollieh82
/ oliverharpersretrospec...
/ oliverharper1982
In The Mouth of Madness (1994) Retrospective / Review
In the Mouth of Madness artwork provided by Jack Davies / jackdaviesart
Let's Play Channel
/ retropodcasts
My personal interpretation of this film has always been that its extremely literal. In the end, Sam Neil's character realizes he is just that, a character. Not a person. He is in a movie and its about to end. When the credits roll, his whole world will end. Its a movie where the characters inside of it realize that its all just a film, that their choices were never their own, and that the world will shortly and inevitably end. The script being delivered without him realizing makes perfect sense in this context. The film cut away and the event happened off-screen, so he doesn't remember it. As he becomes self-aware he is no longer able to maintain memory continuity between cuts.
What you see in the last scene is not an actor, but rather the character realizing that their short existence and everything they thought they knew was just a movie, and this breaks them as the apocalyptic credits roll.
Go and watch jokers secret of the imaginary axis. This movie could totally be jokers origin story when you compare the two theories!
Pretty sure that's the correct interpretation, explains for instance why Kane's agent tries to kill the MC, because "reality" ends when the story ends, so he wants to kill the MC to stop the story.
....shit
Not very original, then.
www.goodreads.com/book/show/17836069-typewriter-in-the-sky
@@CassandrashadowcassMorrison That accusation is twisting the concept of "original". For that matter, "Tristan Shandy" by Laurence Sterne in 1759 uses similar ideas about characters realizing they are characters. William S. Burroughs also played with this idea in parts of "Naked Lunch" in 1950s. More recently "Black Mirror: Bandersnatch" uses the same theme, but I would say it is still "original."
Underrated gem of a movie, this one. One of my favourite endings ever to a film. Flawed, yes, but probably the best movie representation of Lovecraftian horror ever. Oh, and the theme tune is kickass.
Obscene Vegetable Matter that music is so awesome.
Obscene
I agree, it's probably the best Lovecraftian film ever made. One of my favorite Carpenter films. I don't really care about the flaws. It's unique. I wish there were more good Lovecraftian films, even if they are not based on specific works, but the ideas expressed therein. That said, I would love to see high budget adaptations for Call of Cthulhu, Dunwich Horror, or Shadow Over Innsmouth. A shame del Toro backed out on Mountains of Madness. That could have been something special. I'd rather see that than Pacific Rim or Crimson Peak.
@@cruddddddddddddddd Did you ever watch The Void?
There's a lot of misunderstanding here.
Arcane didn't involve Trent in the hoax.
They sent Cane on a publicity stunt, but he didn't show up (as Styles says). When he didn't show up, they hired Trent (note: "We did send him, he didn't show up, we weren't supposed to find anything"--all of this says it happened in the past, not that it was happening on this trip). They excised this detail because they didn't want to send him on what they thought was a red herring, knowing their own hoax was already "done".
The entry into Hobb's End is his entry into his *perception* of Cane's reality. Was he real before or not--almost doesn't matter, as the point is that he has no control over existence whatsoever, he can do nothing at all to stop things. He's gone mad after the return "suddenly" because he's realized how little he can do to affect the world, so he does the only thing his snapped mind can manage: taking down, one-by-one, those who are affected by the books (which help them to accept/realize/spread Cane's reality). This is deliberately not clean cut, deliberately not explicit sets of rules about was, wasn't, is, and isn't reality--the eventual truth (that the Old Ones have returned via Cane's distortion of reality) is the only definitive truth. Whether what we're seeing (Trent's story) was completely constructed via Cane (this is strongly implied, given that the movie and "book it is based on" tell the story the movie does) or "corrupted" is irrelevant given the end result that, in the end, Cane has asserted enough control that he's the creator retroactively, even if not "always".
This is a pretty normal concept for this kind of "taking over reality" in that noir-esque "giant conspiracy" sort of way.
If you're trying to nail down exactly what always is or was and making it a timeline, you're doing it wrong--that's not how a story like this works. If that's unsatisfying, that's certainly subjectively fine, but it's very, very difficult to have that sort of concrete and explicit timeline in a story about madness, authorship, meta-changes to "reality", and questioning reality itself.
Impressive, very nice.
Let's see Paul Allen's explanation.
Interesting take, but I think none of it was real, at the end of the movie he sees himself on the big screen in the movie and realizes he's not real, just a character, that's why he laughs.
After seeing this movie as a kid, I got home from the theater and went upstairs to my room. I immediately began making Hobb’s End out of legos and had a horde of angry lego people chasing the poor investigator throughout the town.
The psychologists were nice people. Asked weird questions, but nice.
Okay?.
I think this movie convinced me to watch all of Carpenter's movies and then I watched The Thing, which became one of my favorite movies of all time. John Carpenter is easily my favorite director ever!
i'm currently binge watching your movie reviews; i discovered your channel today, and i think your reviews are absolutely excellent. every single one i've watched is objective, honest, and really informative. great channel, my friend; thanks for the videos!
Thats great to hear Calvin!
Same here!
Same here, I've been binge watching Oliver Harper retrospective for days now.
Calvin Lee i discovered the channel today.
I'm doing this just recently. love how there's a history here :)
Nicely done. Incidentally, the Sutter Cane book, "Haunter Out of Time", not only borrows its title from Lovecraft's "The Haunter of the Dark", but also his "The Shadow Out of Time".
Great film. Very underrated and unlike any horror films made in the past 20 or so years, this one actually spooked me.
''never ever ever throw chips at a driver!''
Wise words!
When Trent starts screaming on the bus I near pissed myself laughing.
I'm quite surprised you didn't know about this move until a few years ago, it was a Friday night staple on Bravo for years!
But I think Alan Wake took a lot of cues from this move too.
+Larry Bundy Jr I think Alan Wake took a lot of cues from Sam Lake being a cheeseball plagiarist.
+Larry Bundy Jr All i remember as a kid on Bravo was The Punisher and Toxic Avenger! lol
It was during their late 90s stretch when they were showing a lot of Anime as well.
But I watched it quite a few times on there.
But lol, Sam Lake, The guy who played Max Payne in the first tow games?
+Oliver Harper I swear the punisher was on Bravo like once and I missed it. It took me years to see that movie and only thanks to the internet.
Take that back
This movie is highly Underrated! Loved it , will re-watch it soon! and need to get it on Blu-Ray!
I remember going to see this thinking "might be ok, John's best days behind him, will feel more like a straight to rental
Then about half way through I had the biggest smile, it was awsome.
By the time it finished I was very happy, loved it, but I knew back then it was getting overlooked.
I was telling people but no one even heard of it, plus it was only on cinema a short time.
It's such a shame that a film this good got overlooked.
I placed it as joint 6th best JC film, along with Prince Of Darkness.
Probably the best Lovecraft's Choulchou mythology movie ever! Hello from Athens Greece!
Wow! I totally was not aware of this film either.
On a side note, I think these retrospectives/reviews are among the best on UA-cam. I'm glad you play it straight rather than resort to obnoxiousness. Great editing too.
When this movie dropped I was constantly carrying it around with me in my back pack, lol. Every time I’d go hang out with friends after school or on weekends I would always try to introduce it to those who hadn’t seen it. Many of pot smoke filled rooms with freaked out teens in a small town. Jesus I was fucked up. Anyway, the part that always got me was the scene when the girl, one of the main characters, becomes written. When she says “I’m losing me”. Twisted me for ever.
"Do you subscribe to Oliver Harper?!?"
Hahaha I love what you did there..
"He...sees you..."
@@mitchellw7118 "well tell him I said hi"
Thanks for the great review! I saw this movie the first time as a 15 year old and it left such a strong impression on me that it became one of my all-time favourite horror movies.
This my wife and I favorite movie, classic!
My favourite horror film of the 1990s, excellent choice Oliver Harper!
I've been going through your backlog of videos and Wow! You have been covering all of my most favorite movies that I grew up with through the 80's and the 90's. Great work!
Do you read Sutter Cane? You should, he's absolutely terrifying.
He sees you
But if I answer "Yes", you'll hit me with an axe.
I have it on good authority that his favourite colour is blue.
Hobbs End was also the name of the London Underground station in 1967 Quatermass and the Pit. Hob was slang for the Devil.
I remember first catching _ItMoM_, when it broadcasted on a satellite cable channel back in 2013. I caught it right in the scene when the town was rallying against Cane's church. And after finishing it, I kinda got it. Upon my first viewing, it was a mind f*ck to sit through, but of course this was before I understood anything about Lovecraft. But it is a decent movie, and definitely one of the last good JC movies.My favorite scene: CANE: "Did I mention my favorite color's blue?" *John* *wakes* *up,* *finds* *_everything_* *blue*. JOHN: :O (*SCREAMS!!!*) _I'm_ _blue_ _ah-ba-dee_ _ah-ba-di_.
Great review! And your trailer was damn good as well! 3:10 to 3:42 was such an adrenaline burst xD
Honestly I enjoy the red herring because the plot insists it's not a setup because it ISN'T a setup, they're characters in a plot the writer is Sutter Cane and his demons he serves. It's such a meta headflip even if it is slightly confusing it's a total mindfuck.. I saw it for the first time last night and wow what a masterpiece.
This movie scared the hell out of me when I was younger. Great video.
I have been to that church. It is near Gormley in Toronto. Such an amazing shock when I saw it.
Great movie. +Oliver Harper, will you ever do the Phantasm movie review?
The master's last great film
Vampires was pretty good :P
Cigarette Burns was really good. (Yes, I am aware that is a TV movie)
I liked Vampires. Ghosts of Mars was the sign of the end.
Church = Cathedral of the Transfiguration in Markham, Ontario Canada. Church was paid 10k to film there, Priest had no idea what the movie was about. The building is incomplete in 1994 and wasn't finished until later, and the congregation (Slovak Catholic) later moved out in 2006 and it is now a Greek Catholic congregation. And yes, the church is literally in the middle of nowhere until now, a small European style village is being built up around the church.
In my view this is John Carpenter's best unknown flick. Sam Neil KILLS it, and Prichcow is great as the villain Kane. Just a very dark film I had to watch a few times to get some of the early Easter eggs.
Fantastic video Oliver I love your work, I was just curious are you going to the live John Carpenter show in London this Halloween?
+Doom Yeti Im looking into going. If I attend I will announce it on Twitter / Facebook.
+Oliver Harper awesome! I just got my ticket, I'm sure it will be amazing
RE: the "7 weeks thing", i always assumed that although it only took him a day or two to get home, Kane just revised all the stuff from everyone else's point of view. "You can edit this one from the inside". He wrote out Stiles for everyone but John, and edited the handing over of the manuscript to have happened earlier.
what a wonderful concept for a movie. definitely the most bang-on representation of H.P. Lovecraftian themes in a movie.
Have you seen the Nick Cage Color Out of Space?
Thank you, Oliver Harper.
thank you +Oliver Harper for introducing me to this. Big fan of HP Lovecraft. I rented it from Amazon Prime last night and now I've found favorite horror film!
A must-see horror gem. 10/10
This tackles one of the biggest questions of the existence. Are we the dreamers of the dream or are we the dream of the dreamers?
How the frell have I never seen this? It's straight up my alley in every way. Thank you for this video! Added this one to my LaserDisc wish-list.
Awesome review, Oliver! Hope you do a retrospective/review on "Freddy's Dead".
I always had a soft spot for this film because my hometown is where they shot much of the Hobb's End footage. I remember actually being on set when they filmed the re-occurring driving sequences on our Main St. and thought that the repeated takes were just to get things right. And yes, that church is a real place and every bit the eyesore as in the movie. =)
Ooh, lat/lon? I thought it was rather nice.
Such an under appreciated classic. I was lucky enough to have watched it growing up.
I've been looking for this for years now! Thank heavens I found it :D
Thanks for the upload Oliver. As usual, beautiful editing.
Love your reviews Oliver. Your research is exceptional but i think you missed one thing in this movie. The town of Hobbs End is a direct reference to the Hammer movie "Quatermass and the Pit" from 1967. There the underground stations name is Hobbs End.
Cheers
Thanks for covering this film Oliver! One of my favourites and I think an underrated movie.
Hey this is my favorite Carpenter's movie. I love the cloudy mystery atmosphere. It scared me when I was a kid. I saw it recently again and I still think it's brilliant. The cinematography is beautiful. I agree the plot deserved few more minutes but who knows maybe it would not be as good as it is. In the end it is a masterpiece. Sam Neil nailed it. What a great performance. 5/5
Carpenter can no wrong! I saw this movie as a teen had No idea he did this great movie.
Wow , outstanding!!!
As much as I like Carpenter anything after this, except maybe.Body bags is OK at best, his 70s & 80s output is excellent
I remember a friend telling me about this film over a decade ago, but I completely forgot about it. What you have shown looks interesting and I definitely want to check it out now.
Great work! When you have the time you really ought to do a retroperspective / review of Apocalypse Now - the movie itself is simply amazing, but its production is a story by itself - not to mention the numerous versions floating around: including bootlegged unonfficial versions from Philippines with a whole lot of deleted scenes.
very good review. I have to admit that I got it on first viewing, mostly, but I am a Lovecraft fan. One visual thing, which probably is only me - in the asylum, Sam reminds me slightly of Patient X from "The Exorcist III".
I was at the weekend of horror by lax when John carpenter was there talking about this film on panels, was great guy
I watch it every October, and have for the past several years. Still no idea what is really going on in this movie. But I like it a lot. Great retrospective as always.
Thanks Oliver! You have the best reviews for movies I grew up on! I hope you one day do No Escape. I can't find a single good review for it on UA-cam.
For me the subdued and relatively self-contained nature of the film is an actual strong point, especially compared to many of today's productions where producers always want to show and explain too much. Not gonna say it's flawless but to me, it's these dark corners that make The Mouth of Madness work even more so than what it shows. And to me Sutter Kane was never the real antagonist but simply a vessel.
Hello Oliver, have you ever seen The Keep (1983) by Michael Mann? I saw it when I was 10 at a house party with my parents on tv very late at night and for years after always had some memories about that film, but couldn’t remember the name, just the plot. It took me 20 year to find it, I’m 38 now but it was a thorn in my mind.
I absolutely agree that the movie's failing is that we are given only snippets of each element that become immediately forgettable because how quickly they are over. I honestly don't even remember the monster animatronics in this movie despite how great those props look in these behind the scenes shots, because they appear so briefly, often obscured by darkness and affect the plot so little. We'd have needed more screentime and interaction with each of these elements; I'm convinced the average won't even remember we've met Sutter Cane by the end of the movie and will have trouble following the plot. On the other hand, if you are willing to spend multipe viewings to abrorb the plot, this could be called a strength, as we see events as a regular bystander would, only snippets of everything that seems to be going on regardless of us being there to perceive them as the happen, puzzling events together from details only when they are already beyond help. That said, I think a lot of classic horrors decades before this one suffered from these same structural issues. InmoM feels almost like it dropped here from that black-and-white era of filmmaking. It still remains the most Lovecraftian story yet put to film, for some reason.
Great video man,I remember watching this in my high school years,loved it!!My girlfriend introduced me to it.
I remember watching it on TV when I was 13, and I loved it
Great review as always Mr. Harper. I don't know how this movie ever slipped through my fingers. I must look into this.
Wow...I've actually never heard of this but after the review I plan on picking it up. Great work as always Mr. Harper!
I am always amazed to hear that there are people who don't like this movie. I never even saw advertisements for it back in '94, and the first time I ever even heard of it was when a friend got it on laserdisc around '96 and he was absolutely in love with it, and he had me watch it with him and I was just as blown away by it. Everyone I have ever known loves this movie; I've genuinely never met anyone to dislike it. I admit to being a huge Lovecraft fan with friends who are also fans, and I do my best to avoid the company of idiots, but seriously how stupid do you have to be to "not understand" *In the Mouth of Madness?* The whole thing is explained quite clearly; it's not like the movie is some plotless abstract art film or doesn't make sense. As for the people who just claim that all horror movies are mindless, they mostly just lack enough imagination to actually understand horror; the type of people who generally *do* prefer plotless abstract art films (where the lack of plot and meaning is glossed over by heaping amounts of pretension)
For an actually meaningless "horror" movie (that is loved by pretentious people who otherwise hate horror films) see "mother!" by Darren Aronofsky, a supposed horror movie that is made up of nothing *but* pretentiousness, with fans who claim that anyone who doesn't like it just don't "get it", when in reality we "get it" just fine but "it" is nothing but the kind of superficial banal tripe spouted by stoned college freshman late at night but which the director somehow mistakes for being deep meaningful.
Yeah I didn’t think the movie was that confusing. The inconsistencies are intentional; meant to make the viewer question the reality of the movie, and even our reality. But it’s not overly complicated with its themes, and certainly isn’t pretentious. I seriously loved watching the movie, and I think it’s gonna become one of my all time favorites.
I think this story would have been perfect as a slown-burn Netflix series today, to really give the story ideas the full time they deserve to be explored. (And entire episodes even devoted to basically telling the plots of sutter cane novels.) I could see this getting a reboot and rework in that direction.
It is not well known to wider public, especially these days. Easily one of my favourite movies. Great Sam Neil's performance, the final scene is just great.
This movie needs a novelization with the cover art matching the movies. Authored by Sutter Cane and text that begins to wrap and visually twist around the page by the ending. Creating images and a pice together puzzle made with pages.
I saw it in the theater in 95, blew my mind immediately 🤯
You should do Lord of Illusions.
Oliver i will be seeing this. I've been wondering if it's worth the watch and the comments on here made my mind up. Thank you.
One thing i really like is how people who have been influenced by the book act like the people who have been enslaved/followers of the yellow king, asking have you read Stutter Cane? Like how the followers of the yellow king would ask have you seen the yellow sign? Its kinda on the nose but i like the reference.
Sam Neil's "well FUCK THAT" was just a pleasure to listen to
Don't forget the horror at red hook. HPL's best short story imo.
Good job Harper. BTW I've been watching all your reviews in order just for the fun of it.
Although flawed, a hidden gem, a very charming and mysterious mess.
I think this film was to horror movies what Dune was to Sci-Fi, great potential that you can only peek at through some moments of true greatness scattered here and there.
And of course in both cases great hypnotic power and great atmosphere.
You sure know how to choose flicks.
Fantastic review mate, In the mouth of madness is my fav john carpenter flick. watching your retrospective reviews has encouraged me to want to me to want to do my own video reviews. Do you have suggestion on how to start.
Thanks for another great review.
I think the game Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth also draws elements from this one (especially in the cutscenes).
Aria Mohtadi Haghighi The game is based on the short story by H.P. Lovecraft titled The Call of Cthulhu. This is inspired by the same author’s other story titled The Mouth of Madness.
I saw this movie for the firs time when I was 15. It is one of my absolute favorite and certainly the best "Lovecraft adaptation" even though it's just based on his body of work. Great review!
Tentacle monsters, New England setting and a protagonist falling into madness: it's as lovecraftian as it gets...
Excellent as always. Thanks for your hard work.
In the mouth of madness... in the mouth... innsmouth?
Innsmouth is part of the inspiration for the title. At the Mountains of Madness is the other.
One of the scariest films I've ever seen. Not for the blood and gore, but for the pure existential obliteration of reality that it it leaves you reeling from as the credits start to roll...
But if your favorite color is blue, fear not fellow travelers.
My favourite color is NOT blue.
liked the movie , is the kind of movies that leave you thinking on what happen when it ends.
Nicely done, Oliver. This movie really did leave me wanting more. It didn't seem like it had much of an emotional impact on me. After watching this I think I'll give it an additional viewing.
Holy shit, this film looks excellent. I am going to see if I can buy this. I love H.P. Lovecraft and have often wondered as to why there aren't many films based on his works, yet countless adaptations of Stephen King.
Thanks for doing such a great retrospective on this, I honestly never even heard of this film before now.
I think the main reason lovecraft hasn't been adapted is because it's too complex for the main public. This movie was amazing and very lovecraftian yet most of the reviews are negative saying that it was confusing (which was the entire point of the movie) and that the special effects were bad
I've never heard of it but it looks enticing! The plot reminds me of Jonathan Caroll's "The Land of Laughs".
That little montage right before the talking would make a kick-ass music video. Reminds me of Ozzy Osbourne for some reason, rather than what I’d see in a Metallica video, even though I recall the music was originally meant to be Enter Sandman.
I love this John carpenter movie it is a masterpiece.
Carpenter is my favorite director and this movie is pure gold, i remember watching it as a kid in the late 90s, scare the shit out of me.
I remember watching this at 5 but never remembered its name so thanks for reviewing it.
Me watching the opening : " Wow, that intro is amazing, like the whole movie summed up in..."
Notices the Title of the movie.
Cane: "Did you know my favourite Colour is Blue?"
Me: "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"
Iv'e been looking for this for ages, i watched it when i was a kid and it gave me nightmares but i could never remember what film it was-cheers!
Thanks Oliver! Could you do Body Bags and/or The Burning at some point?
"The Sutter Cane anthology"
"The thing in the basement"
"Whispers in the dark"
"The breathing tunnel"
"Haunter out of time"
"The feeding"
"The Hobbs end horror"
"In the mouth of madness"
There is one thing that disappoints me about this movie. The fact that the Sutter Cane books don't exist. When I see those book covers I'm sad that I can't read them. They look great.
*HOW THE FUCK DID I MISS THIS CARPENTER GEM??*
Love your channel. You have an Amazing voice. Keep up the great work.
Sutter Cane is one of the coolest names I have ever heard.
So February is the dumping ground for movies that Hollywood has no faith in? That explains why Jupiter Ascending and Gods of Egypt were given February release dates. Certainly also highlights how much Fox underestimated how successful the Deadpool film would become.
+Brandon Dozier I think that's just because the other 51 weeks of the last 5 years have been booked with other superhero/comic movies.
Still, Jupiter Ascending was originally meant to be released in the summer of 2014 but got delayed due to the decision to work on visual effects. Out of all the places to delay it to they chose February. Then again, it wasn't like that movie was going to make a profit anyway.
One of my all time fav movies
This film needed to be a miniseries to really flesh out everything that was so great about it.