In the Mouth of Madness - Collector's Edition [Blu-ray]

According to John Carpenter, "In the Mouth of Madness" is the capstone of his "Apocalypse Trilogy" - Part 1 begun in 1981 with his masterful reinvention of 50's B horror classic "The Thing," where a long-frozen, world-conquering alien "force" is unthawed in Antarctica, with potentially global-annihilative results.Part 2 according to Carpenter came six years later, with his "heady, post-graduate-minded Einsteinian horror classic," - PRINCE OF DARKNESS, a wonderfully inventive, thoughtful, if not entirely "logical" (well, isn't that the point of the "horror" genre anyway? "Abandon all logic, all haven, all hope for salvation ... Ye who [foolishly] enter here!"). In "Prince," Carpenter once again designs a "modern" world, not unlike "The Thing," only set in sunny, mostly upscale California, with a team of university physicists, radiologists, mathematicians, linguistics scholars, philosophers and a priest (underplayed brilliantly, as usual, by the incomparable, late Donald Pleasance) - pitted against a "secret which can no longer be kept" - namely, "Satan's son," trapped for over 7 million years inside of a weird, metallic cistern, which, creepily enough, "can only be opened from the inside." Triggered by a super nova perhaps (we're never entirely sure), Satan's son, having been buried in the Middle East long ago after his father was somehow, "banished to the darkside," is now awakening, and proceeds to slice, dice, and "water gun" its way through the team of stalwart scientists. Here again we see shades of "The Thing," with the scientists on the short end of the "magic wand" to repel it.Now enter Part 3 - "In the Mouth of Madness" - the FINALE! Because the end is TRULY nigh. Whereas in parts 1 and 2, the "unspeakable beast" only wreaked "local havoc" (with major caveats), NOW we are, as a race - WHOLLY DAMNED!! And Carpenter makes no ambiguity of our fate. As John Trent (Sam Neill) muses ruefully from the sanctum of his padded cell to his pychiatrist (David Warner): "Every species can smell its own extinction. The last ones left won't have a pretty time of it. In ten years, maybe less, humanity will be nothing more than a bedtime story to 'them,' a myth they tell to their children...""ITMOM" is a difficult film in that so much of it is ... ostensibly random, "diaboli dictu;" many of the scenes underline incredulity, and the plot is ostensibly, almost irrelevant. What IS relevant is that the world is going to hell, and everyone who reads "Sutter Cane" (a not-so-subtle play on "Stephen King") SPEEDS along the return of "nameless, shambling things; The Old Ones" ala H.P. Lovecraft.Carpenter piles on "the works" without worry of logic or storytelling coherence, because - as we're told - "reality isn't what it used to be anymore." It sure isn't. As Trent is on a bus back to Manhattan, Sutter Cane mysteriously appears in the seat next to him, and - because Cane is "God" now (self prescribed) - it is axiomatic that he can do anything. So he says to Trent, "Did I ever tell you that my favorite color is blue?" Cut to the next scene, where Trent wakes up, and the entire bus and passengers are gelled in a blue filter. Naturally, Trent screams and is awakened by his fellow passengers, who try to comfort him, "Hey mister, it's okay. You just had a bad dream."Lots of clever tropes infuse "Madness" throughout, although this 3rd installment, by DESIGN, is THE LEAST easy to take of the 3 "apocalypses." Nevertheless, the brilliance of Sam Neill (remember him as grownup Damien from "Omen 3?") more than carries this finale. In fact, "In the Mouth of Madness," or so I have discovered for my own viewing purposes, has a FAR GREATER appeal to me NOW, on DVD, than when I first saw this film back in 1993 at the Theatre. Dark spirits only know why?But it can't be coincidence that Carpenter laid out his trilogy - very numerologically NEATLY so. Every film, from "The Thing" to "Madness," was made 6 years apart (1981, 1987, 1993) - 666! Or, more correctly, 66... unless Carpenter's oevre up until "The Thing" might be considered his "first 6." Another trope. Another mystery. Another thing to make us go, "hmmmmmm ...".But to be certain, as Sutter Cane (well rendered by Jurgen Prochnow) tells Trent, "My first books were something. But this next one is going to drive the whole world ABSOLUTELY MAD!" And the addition of late cinematic maven Charlton Heston as Arcane Publisher Jason Harglow, is revealing. Remember Heston's earlier career when he was in such apocalyptic roles as "The Planet of the Apes" could inspire? Coincidence here? In Carpenter's able horror-craft hands, we would do well not to question "The Master."This one is for PURE HORROR ENJOYMENT strictly! Abandon ALL logic. The scientists and wonks from Parts 1 and 2 are probably all dead by now anyway. "Do YOU read Sutter Cane?"

John Carpenter's 1995 film "In the Mouth of Madness" is in my opinon his most underrated directorial effort. Featuring a cool story of H.P. Lovecraftian inspired intrigue and mayhem, the film has grown in stature over the years after initially bombing theatrically. It also features one of actor Sam Neill's best and most entertaining performances to date.Previously released on blu-ray by New Line back in 2013, that disc was actually no slouch at the time featuring a good transfer and an encode usually topping out in the upper 20's in terms of megabits per second. It was pretty bare bones however featuring a commentary track with John Carpenter and the beyond bored sounding and uninterested cinematographer Gary B. Kibbe. Carpenter tries his best but Kibbe just sounds like he does not want to be there. The theatrical trailer was also included.Leave it to the fine folk at Scream Factory to give the film some collector's edition attention 5 years later. Their new disc features a new 4K transfer from "original film elements" which I am assuming would be the original negative if they went with a full 4K transfer and not the interpositive which is odd that SF would list it that way. Regardless this transfer is a marked improvement on the original 2013 disc. Color saturation is much better and more natural. It also features a higher bit rate staying around 35 mbps. One other thing that I noticed doing direct comparisons between the two discs is that the SF edition features more picture information on all sides of the frame, most noticeably on the bottom. The 2013 disc looks zoomed in comparison. No digital sharpening or noise reduction appears to have been done on the new disc as well. Detail is immaculate on the new transfer. Audio is presented in lossless 5.1 sounding full and well balanced. English subtitles are also included.As for the rest of the disc, here is the full list of specs:NEW 4K Scan Of The Original Film ElementsNEW Audio Commentary With Director John Carpenter And Producer Sandy King CarpenterNEW Horror’s Hallowed Grounds – A Look At The Film’s Locations TodayNEW The Whisperer Of The Dark – An Interview With Actress Julie CarmanNEW Greg Nicotero’s Things In The Basement – A New Interview With Special Effects Artist Greg Nicotero Including Behind The Scenes FootageNEW Home Movies From Hobb’s End – Behind The Scenes Footage From Greg NicoteroAudio Commentary With Director John Carpenter And Cinematographer Gary B. KibbeVintage Featurette – The Making Of In The Mouth Of MadnessTheatrical TrailerTV SpotsWhile the extras are definitely more plentiful on the new disc, it still feels a bit light for it to be labeled a collector's edition. However all of the new stuff is quite informative and the new commentary track is a huge improvement on the original one which was also included.This new edition of this often underappreciated film is well worth double dipping on if you have the 2013 disc. The new transfer is immaculate and the host of new special features are most welcome too.

Buena adaptación de la historia de Lovecraft. Varios idiomas de audio y en los subtítulos.

Pas facile d'évoquer ce film sans trop en dire.C'est totalement en accord avec les écrits de HP Lovecraft, le créateur de Cthulhu.C'est sombre, âpre et prenant. On ne sort pas indemne d'un tel film.Carpenter, une fois encore, montre qu'il est un maître du frisson et de la peur.

Ottimo horror di John Carpenter che se la cava egregiamente con una storia alla Lovecraft. Non poteva mancare nella mia videoteca. Edizione BD tedesca, ma con audio disponibile anche in lingua originale inglese e in italiano.

Esta es una de las mejores películas de terror, merece mucho la pena comprarla.Excelente película y compra.

Superbe film avec un sam neil au top de sa forme