Disc Reviews
In The Mouth of Madness 4K Review
John Carpenter’s very much overlooked In The Mouth Of Madness has been showing signs of life over the past five years or so, Finally! There have been plenty of memes, and YouTubers have gracefully been using various clips of Sam Neil laughing maniacally, or crying out in terror on a blue-hued bus, as a way of demonstrating – well, craziness in whatever topic they happen to be talking about. But the film overall has had more of an appreciation. And rightly so! It’s quite frankly one Carpenter’s best films ever, and it holds up remarkably well.
Sam Neill plays an investigator sent by a publishing company to find the whereabouts of a missing author. Quite a well-known author it turns out, and Neill’s guy finds himself putting together small clues and traveling across the country until he finds himself in a town that doesn’t appear on any map. In fact, a town that only exists in the author’s horror novels. And this is where as they say, the plot thickens!
History may be written by the winners, but time also tells of what sustains, and ITMOM has sustained through time and has emerged as a Carpenter winner. So, the message is simple. If you haven’t seen it – it’s here now.
There are plenty of commentaries (two featuring Carpenter), and a few newly commissioned interviews to help pad out the extras, but the film really does deserve a proper making of documentary like so many of Carpenter’s previous films have had the luxury of.
Sandy King (producer) delivers a decent new interview; the same cannot be said for Jurgen Prochnow (Sutter Kane), which is pitifully short for no good reason. Julie Carme and Greg Nicotero’s archival interviews are much more pleasing and lengthy. To be sure, we miss any new words from Carpenter, and Sam Neill seems to have always been absent from this film wherever it has been released. And it would be nice to hear from the screenwriter too at some point. But for the time being, Arrow have the distinction in the UK of have the best looking and the most loaded version yet of a truly remarkable film that knows just what it is: Horror.
Steven Hurst
4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
• Brand new 4K restoration from the original 35mm camera negative by Arrow Films
• 4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
• Original lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 and stereo 2.0 audio options
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Archive audio commentary with director John Carpenter and producer Sandy King Carpenter
• Archive audio commentary with director John Carpenter and director of photography Gary B. Kibbe
• Brand new audio commentary by filmmakers Rebekah McKendry & Elric Kane, co-hosts of Colors of the Dark podcast
• Making Madness, a newly filmed interview with producer Sandy King Carpenter
• Do You Read Sutter Cane?, a newly filmed interview with actor Jürgen Prochnow
• The Whisperer of the Dark, an archive interview with actress Julie Carmen
• Greg Nicotero’s Things in the Basement, an archive interview with special effects artist Greg Nicotero
• We Are What He Writes, a new featurette in praise of John Carpenter and In the Mouth of Madness
• Reality Is Not What It Used To Be, a new appreciation by film scholar Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
• Horror’s Hallowed Grounds, an archive featurette looking at the locations used in the film
• Home Movies From Hobb’s End, behind-the-scenes footage
• The Making of In the Mouth of Madness, a vintage featurette
• Theatrical trailer and TV spots
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Francesco Francavilla
• Double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Francesco Francavilla
• Perfect bound collector’s book featuring new writing on the film by Guy Adams, Josh Hurtado, Richard Kadrey, George Daniel Lea, Willow Catelyn Maclay, and Alexandra West
In The Mouth of Madness is out on 4K Blu-Ray on October 27th