In the Mouth of Madness is a 1994 American supernatural horror film directed and scored by John Carpenter and written by Michael De Luca.
Neill stars as John Trent, an insurance investigator who visits a small town while looking into the disappearance of a successful author of horror novels, and begins to question his sanity as the lines between reality and fiction seem to blur.
John investigates a claim by book publisher Arcane regarding the disappearance of acclaimed horror author Sutter Cane, whose latest novel, In the Mouth of Madness, is due for release.
Arcane's director, Jackson Harglow, assigns Sutter's editor, Linda Styles, to assist John, who believes their claim is an elaborate publicity stunt.
While he sleeps during the drive, Linda experiences surreal phenomena, including passing a young cyclist who later appears as an elderly man, and the road disappearing.
After abruptly arriving in Hobb's End, the pair encounter landmarks from Sutter's novels, and check in at the local hotel run by Mrs. Pickner, one of his characters.
The pair visit the church, which Sutter's books describe as built on a site of ancient evil predating humanity, filled with unimaginable pain and suffering.
Sutter explains that the sheer number of people who believe in his work has made his narratives real, dissolving the boundaries between reality and fantasy and enabling the return of the "old ones".
To his horror, Jackson reveals that John delivered the manuscript months earlier, and In the Mouth of Madness has since been published, with a film adaptation in production.
John discovers the facility abandoned and overhears a radio broadcast reporting an epidemic of extreme violence and mutations spreading worldwide, with entire cities lost.
It took seven weeks for KNB to create all the practical effects for the film, the biggest of which was an "eighteen-foot Wall of Monsters" that was mounted on rollers and operated by a crew of twenty-five people.
The opening scene depicts Trent's confinement in an asylum, with the bulk of the story told in flashback, a common technique of Lovecraft.
Lovecraft stories: The Whisperer of the Dark (The Whisperer in Darkness), The Thing in the Basement (The Thing on the Doorstep), Haunter out of Time (The Haunter of the Dark/The Shadow Out of Time), and The Hobbs End Horror (The Dunwich Horror), the latter also referencing Hobbs End underground station from Nigel Kneale's Quatermass and the Pit.
The website's critical consensus reads, "If it fails to make the most of its intriguing premise, In the Mouth of Madness remains a decent enough diversion for horror fans and John Carpenter completists.
[16] Critics generally commended the film on its technical aspects, particularly its special effects, acting, and directing, but perceived it as being too complicated, confusing, pretentious, and underwhelming.
[citation needed] Lisa Schwarzbaum, writing in Entertainment Weekly, gave the film a C rating, remarking that "much of it [is] bloatedly self-indulgent and a small part wicked funny", with only a smattering of successful moments.
[19] John Hartl of the Seattle Times also gave the film a positive review, saying it's "a stylized collection of well-timed shockers, helped along by the contributions of its capable cast.