“Do you read Sutter Cane?”
The 90s was a mixed bodybag when it comes to horror movies. After the big Slashers died and went to hell, the early-mid part of the decade had the genre quietly skulking around the multiplex looking for its next victim. The biggest trend saw a slew of classy universal-ish monsters being revamped as bodice-ripping psychological thrillers by serious film-makers like Francis Ford Coppola or Kenneth Branagh. Sure, it wouldn’t be long before we were back to flipping pages from the slasher handbook, but there was no avoiding this sort of gothic ‘Anne-Rice-ification’ for a while. Which was fine, I was totally there for that, but I like my scary movies to grab me by the ears and shake me a little. Still some truly phenomenal fright flicks were dispatched during this time, Demon Knight, New Nightmare, and of course, In The Mouth Of Madness by maestro John Carpenter.
At the time, it seemed like yet another minor bookmark in his oeuvre, another would-be video store cultish shelf warmer that failed to scare up some box office – but it instantly became one of my favourite haunts. The novel mix of Lovecraftian ecclesiasticality and Twilight Zone mind-bending made for a riveting ride with some genuine spooks and jolts.
This was Classy stuff.
I look forward to my trip to Hobb’s End every year around Halloween. -Pop
In the Mouth of Madness booked it on Home Video today in 1995, after a February 3rd theatrical release.