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In the Mouth of Madness (1994)

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All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 4.9/10
Reviews Counted: 31
Fresh: 14 | Rotten: 17

No consensus yet.

Average Rating: 4.6/10
Critic Reviews: 9
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 7

No consensus yet.

audience

liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 22,643

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Movie Info

Hired to help locate a missing author, an insurance investigator discovers to his terror that the nightmarish events depicted in the writer's best-selling horror novels are coming true. Wishing to be both a horror film and a parody of the genre, John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness combines supernatural thrills with winking references. For instance, the vanished author, Sutter Cane (J�rgen Prochnow), is modeled on writers like Stephen King and Howard Phillips Lovecraft, from his great

R, 1 hr. 34 min.

Horror

Directed By: John Carpenter

In Theaters: Feb 3, 1995 Wide

On DVD: Feb 8, 2000

New Line Home Entertainment

In the Mouth of Madness Trailer & Photos

Cast

Sam Neill
John Trent
Julie Carmen
Linda Styles
J�rgen Prochnow
Sutter Cane
Charlton Heston
Jackson Harglow
David Warner
Dr. Wrenn
John Glover
Saperstein
Frances Bay
Mrs. Pickman
Tom Bell
Farmer
Conrad Bergschneider
Axe Maniac
Bernie Casey
Robinson
Peter Jason
Paul
Gene Mack
Guard #2
Sean Roberge
Desk Clerk
Deborah Theaker
Municipal Woman
Wilhelm von Homburg
Simon
Dennis O'Connor
Cop
Ben Gilbert
Young Teen
Sharon Dyer
Homeless Lady
Garry Robbins
Truck Driver
Marvin Scott
Reporter
Carolyn Tweedle
Nurse
Kevin Zegers
Kid
Hayden Christensen
Paper Boy

Critic Reviews for In the Mouth of Madness

All Critics (37) | Top Critics (12) | Fresh (14) | Rotten (17) | DVD (12)

A thinking person's horror picture that dares to be as cerebral as it is visceral.

February 13, 2001 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times

| Comment

Kevin Thomas

Los Angeles Times

Top Critic

One wonders how In the Mouth of Madness might have turned out if the script had contained even a little more wit and ambition.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times

| Comments (2)

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Top Critic

Cheesy horror celebrating the power of cheesy horror, while pretending to be appalled.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle

| Comment

Mick LaSalle

San Francisco Chronicle

Top Critic

A stylized collection of well-timed shockers, helped along by the contributions of its capable cast.

January 1, 2000 Comment

John Hartl

Film.com

Top Critic

Confusing, weird, and not very involving.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: ReelViews

| Comment

James Berardinelli

ReelViews

Top Critic

Finely attuned to the disquieting realm of the irrational.

April 22, 2010 Full Review Source: Lessons of Darkness

| Comment

Nick Schager

Lessons of Darkness

best of the post-cold war carpenter movies

April 3, 2006 Comment

Stefan Birgir Stefansson

sbs.is

Not Carpenter's worst, but it tries.

July 8, 2004 Comment

Ken Hanke

Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Too all over the place to be effectively scary. I suppose it's an accurate portrait of insanity, but too hard to follow.

July 14, 2003 Comment

Fred Topel

About.com

Kind of scary return to form for Carpenter.

March 4, 2003 Comment

Alex Sandell

Juicy Cerebellum

Carpenter can't establish the kind of welling dread that Lovecraft conjured, so he shifts to makeup and pyrotechnics.

February 28, 2002 Full Review Source: Goatdog's Movies

| Comment (1)

Michael W. Phillips, Jr.

Goatdog's Movies Source: Goatdog's Movies

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for In the Mouth of Madness

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Soft like yellow baby poop.Apparently, the only thing worse than being stuck in a hack Sutter Cane story is being stuck in a hack John Carpenter movie.

October 6, 2007

Bob Stinson

Super Reviewer

I enjoy this one very much. It didn't do to well at the box office and critics and fans alike have panned this. I've always had a feeling that over time, it would find its' audience and be appreciated. In the Mouth of Madness is a spooky movie influenced in part by H.P. Lovecraft, but make no mistake...this is all

March 26, 2008

El Hombre Invisible

Super Reviewer

In the Mouth of Madness Quotes

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1. Axe Maniac: Do you read Sutter Cane?
– Submitted by Greg A (3 months ago)
1. John Trent: Every species can smell its own extinction. The last ones left won't have a pretty time of it. And in ten years, maybe less, the human race will just be a bedtime story for their children. A myth, nothing more.
– Submitted by Creep F (12 months ago)
1. John Trent: It's Cane's story and it'll spread with each new reader. That's how it gets its power.
2. Dr. Wrenn: What about the people who don't read?
3. John Trent: (smiles) There's a movie.
– Submitted by Creep F (12 months ago)
1. John Trent: (talks to a teenage boy reading a Sutter Cane book) Like the book?
2. Young Teen: I love it.
3. John Trent: (pulls out an axe) Good. Then this shouldn't come as a surprise. (Kills the teenager)
– Submitted by Creep F (12 months ago)
1. John Trent: (about the new book) Have you read it?
2. Paul: No. I never read Cane's work. I haven't got the stomach for it.
3. John Trent: Pull it. Don't distribute it. Even if everything I've said is totally Looney Tunes...I know this book will drive people crazy.
4. Paul: Well, let's hope so. The movie comes out next month.
– Submitted by Creep F (12 months ago)