John Carpenter has several great movies throughout the 80s, such as the Thing, They Live and Big Trouble in Little China, but once the 90s came along, his films’ quality started to die down. That is with the exception of In the Mouth of Madness starring Sam Niell. It’s a story about how an insurance investigator is tasked to travel to Hobb’s End, New Hampshire in search for horror author, Sutter Cane (a character who is a mixture of Stephen King and HP Lovecraft). It is said to not actually exist, but after some investigating, he is able to find the way there. During his visit, he slowly loses his mind as Sutter Cane’s new novel begins to become reality.
The movie does cover how a fanbase can become cultish to an extreme extent by having the fans be consumed by the stories and become violent out in the public. Sam Niell’s character goes through this change throughout the movie after seeing horrifying and repetitive imagery that he cannot escape from. This is probably John Carpenter’s most visually interesting movie with so much abstract concepts and strange looking creatures. It also is elevated by Sam Niell’s performance, he is so convincing in this role as a snob who slowly becomes crazier until he comes to the point of acceptance.