Rent In the Mouth of Madness on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Michael De Luca
Directed by: John Carpenter
Starring: Sam Neill, Jürgen Prochnow, Julie Carmen, Charlton Heston, Frances Bay
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
An insurance investigator begins discovering the impact a horror writer's books have on his fans is more than inspirational.
Verdict
A disturbing exploration of what's real and fiction as John tries to find horror writer Sutter Cane. The line of reality quickly blurs as he nor we know where Cane is. Does Cane have a preternatural power to conjure the creatures he describes? Finding Cane soon turns into trying to escape him, and that nightmare isn't easy to leave behind. It's unsettling as John can't trust his senses. At the end we're not sure if he ever escaped. The more readers Cane gains, the more power he wields. It's a series of disturbing scenes without a through line. Even the end lacks a punch.
It depends.
Review
After opening with a printing press montage, we see John Trent (Sam Neill) admitted to a mental institution. Before he sees a doctor, John has drawn all over himself and his cell. While he seems delusional, John begins telling his story to the doctor.
As an insurance fraud investigator, John is hired to track down elusive horror writer Sutter Cane. Cane's book release is imminent, and his publishers can't locate him. John thinks the 'disappearance' is a publicity stunt for the book, but he agrees to search for the writer. That's after Cane's agent becomes deranged and tries to attack John with an axe. That would have been enough for me to back away. John begins reading Cane's books for any clues, discovering the book covers create a map that highlights a location in New Hampshire. He also begins having disturbing dreams. Maybe that's related to the guy that tried to kill him with an axe.
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| Sam Neill plays John Trent |
John, along with Cane's editor Linda Styles (Julie Carmen), break out the map and start driving. A modern movie would completely flop here. They would have looked for this town online and either not found it or discovered something odd. In this movie, all they have is a map and general location of Hobb's End, the location often featured in Cane's books. That's enough to start a road trip.
Just getting to this town is strange. Reaching the town is bizarre and surreal. I would have turned around right then and there, but that would ruin the sequence later which is why Linda ignores that the car seemingly floats through some kind of void space before reaching the town. Hobb's End is exactly as Cane described in his books.
What Cane writes exists in this town or somehow manifests. The more people read his books, the more power he gains. This seems like a Stephen King set up with a New England town, monsters, and evil children. Despite the oddities they witness, John and Linda are reticent to leave until they find Cane. John finally has enough after Cane orders him to deliver the new manuscript and leaves, but Linda states she's read the end and can't depart. Reality and fiction blur, with Cane's novels overpowering or overwriting people. John can't escape Hobb's End. Every time he tries, he ends up right back in the middle of town.
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| Julie Carmen, Sam Neill play Linda Styles, John Trent |
While he finally gets out due to no accord of his own, he wakes up where the town used to be holding Cane's manuscript that he left behind. He ditches it again and goes to a motel where the manuscript finds him again. He can't ditch the book or the author.
It's an ambiguous ending with John seemingly watching the movie adaptation that is the very movie we've been watching. Will we soon be infected, overpowered by Cane's writing? Somehow he creates reality, and in John's case it's a loop. He's doomed to fulfill whatever Cane writes. It's his loss of free will that drives him mad.
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