IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS (1994)
Seen one way, this one "has it all," or at least a lot of stuff that I usually like: cosmic horror, metafictional conceits, gooey practical creature effects, an eclectic assortment of 80s character actors. And yet... this is a true case of the whole being less than the sum of its parts. Nothing really makes sense, nothing quite gets the room it needs to breathe, and while a sense of atmospheric dread does occasionally begin to gather in the film's creepier moments, it never truly swells: you find yourself waiting for a thunderclap that never comes.
A ★★½ review of In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
Seen one way, this one “has it all,” or at least a lot of stuff that I usually like: cosmic horror, metafictional conceits, gooey practical creature effects, an eclectic assortment of 80s character actors. And yet... this is a true case of the whole being less than the sum of its parts. Nothing really makes sense, nothing quite gets the room it needs to breathe, and while a sense of atmospheric dread *does* occasionally begin to gather in the film’s creepier moments, it never truly swells: you find yourself waiting for a thunderclap that never comes.
jbushnell
