{"id":32313,"date":"2025-10-24T16:55:02","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T23:55:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=32313"},"modified":"2025-10-24T16:55:02","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T23:55:02","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-4k-ultra-hd-review-in-the-mouth-of-madness-1994","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=32313","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! 4K Ultra HD Review: IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS (1994)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d 4K Ultra HD release from Arrow\nVideo will be available for purchase on October 28th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While most admire genre filmmaker John Carpenter, many of\nhis classic titles took some time to gain their stellar reputations. Yes, the\nmajority of his 1970s and 1980s movies were financially successful (with the\nexceptions of studio efforts The Thing<\/em>, Staman<\/em> and Big Trouble\nin Little China<\/em>, which underperformed), but the status of every one of his\ntitles has only increased year after year. He is a legendary filmmaker who has\nbeen ahead of his time in many respects, and beyond his sharp storytelling\nskills, the movies contain deeper thematic ideas (often critiquing capitalism,\nrepressive governments, as well as other subjects) that keep viewers coming\nback for more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the beginning of the 1990s, Carpenter once again\nattempted to make a studio picture. It was Memoirs of an Invisible Man, <\/em>and\nit marked another box office flop. The picture actually has its moments, but\ndidn\u2019t connect with critics or theatergoers. Like many who had thrived in the\n80s with genre pictures, horror movie attendance was dwindling. Thankfully,\nCarpenter found himself an exciting project with In the Mouth of Madness<\/em>\n(1994) from New Line Cinema. While it wasn\u2019t a big production, it was every bit\nas dynamic, scary and thought-provoking as his 70s and 80s work. It didn\u2019t\ninitially light the North American box office on fire, but the film did slowly\nbuild a following on disc over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, Arrow Video is delivering a 4K Ultra HD \u201cLimited\nEdition\u201d of the title that is a must-own for the filmmaker\u2019s enthusiasts. The\nimage quality is vastly improved from previous DVDs and Blu-rays, and the set\ncomes with all kinds of fun commentaries and other bonuses that will inform and\ndelight those who admire the work. If you like this filmmaker\u2019s work, this\nrelease is a must-own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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John Trent (Sam Neill) is a cynical insurance investigator\nwho can debunk just about any false claim there is. When he\u2019s asked to go to\npublishing house Arcane and help Jackson Harglow (Charlton Heston) and editor\nLinda Styles (Julie Carmen) locate missing author Sutter Cane (Jurgen\nProchnow), Trent comes in confident and ready to prove it\u2019s all an elaborate\npublicity stunt. But there are strange aspects to the case. Cane\u2019s fans are\nalmost mob-like addicts and when Trent reads the books, he finds them more effective\nthan anticipated. So much so that he begins having visions. Trent thinks he\u2019s\nfound a lead and takes Styles with him to a small, off-the-grid town where he\nbelieves Cane might be hiding out. But when they arrive, things get even more\nunsettling, to the point where Cane himself asserts that his books are\nmanifesting creatures to life that will cause the end of the world. Trent tries\nto make sense of the scenario, eventually wondering if his own existence is a\nwork of fiction.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pacing is quick, but never confusing. It is suggested to\nthe viewers early on that they will be witnessing Trent going down a dark hole\nfrom which there is no escape. You are simply going along for the ride and\nexperiencing what he does. This is all played with a tinge of dark humor,\nmaking it a bleak but enjoyable ride. Neill is fantastic as the lead character,\nwho is understandably sarcastic given his line of work, and tries desperately\nto hold it together as everything that he is certain about soon starts to\ndisintegrate. Carmen is impressive as well as the editor. She is charismatic,\nyet difficult to get a read on as far as exactly she really knows about the\nsituation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There are some wonderful images and effective jolts as the\npair enter the strange town and react to bizarre events. A looming cathedral in\nthe tiny town is immense and intimidating, as are the numerous unsettling\ninteractions with oddball locals (a reveal of the inn owner and what\u2019s going on\nbehind the front counter isn\u2019t easily forgotten). And a climactic vision of\nTrent running down a darkened hallway while being pursued by a wall of\ngrotesque monsters is a spectacular sequence that makes a permanent impression\non viewers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While many films of its era featured very young characters\nbeing hunted down and slain by a killer, this effort immediately stands out as\nsomething very different. The lead characters are all adults, as are the\nthemes, and the references to author H.P. Lovecraft are apparent throughout.\nAdditionally, the slimy and often tentacled otherworldly monsters are menacing\nand unique, and the film\u2019s themes address issues of sanity and reality. If that\nwasn\u2019t enough, the screenplay takes on the media, the power of art, obsessive\nfans, and even those who are critical of the horror genre. The movie doesn\u2019t\nexplicitly wave its finger and tell you what to think, but the layers are all\nthere when you watch the film. Repeat viewings result in more thought about\nthese subjects, which is why the movie is so good and continues to resonate\nwith viewers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The image quality on the disc is exceptional. The 35mm\ncamera negative was newly scanned for this release and is presented in Dolby\nVision. It\u2019s a very sharp and clean picture. So much so that you can really\ntake in the impressive color in the eyes of readers who have lost their minds.\nThe locations are great, including the psychiatric institute. There are a few\ninterior studio scenes that have a normal filmic look, but I\u2019ve never seen the\nmovie looking so sharp. The big monster chase during the climax down an eerie\ntunnel looks phenomenal in 4K. This is a movie full of fantastically weird\nvisions and they look gorgeous. It\u2019s hard to imagine this title looking any\nbetter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As mentioned, there are some notable bonus features as well.\nThe first is an archival commentary track in which director Carpenter and his\nwife\/producer Sandy King, go over the details of the production. The second\narchival track features Carpenter and cinematographer Gary B. Kibbe. Anyone who\nhas ever heard an audio track with this filmmaker knows that he\u2019s one of the\nbest speakers there is. The filmmaker is honest, amusingly blunt, and tells\ngreat stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the first track, Carpenter talks about shooting in\nToronto, and having fun working with Sam Neill, as well as the rest of the\ncast. He also notes that the locations manager at the time had picked a\ndifferent church for them to shoot at. On the way out to the original site,\nCarpenter saw the cathedral, made them turn in and insisted this was the\nlocation he wanted. The locations person wasn\u2019t happy with his decision and\nquit the picture. You\u2019ll also learn that Sandy King didn\u2019t get on particularly\nwell at the time with New Line head Robert Shaye. The second track is more\nfocused on the photography, lighting and shooting in Panavision (Carpenter\u2019s\nfavorite shooting format).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There is also a new film historian commentary. The critics go over biographical information on everyone involved and provide a lot of background details. They note that this title is a really early \u201cmeta horror\u201d film (along with Wes Craven\u2019s New Nightmare<\/em>) and feel it was simply too ahead of its time to reach a massive audience. It also becomes clear after listening to all the tracks that the movie looks a lot more expensive than it was and that they used every penny allotted to them in the best way possible.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are several new interviews on the disc as well. Sandy\nKing describes her memories of the film and how they saved money and managed to\nget their apocalyptic story made for under $8 million dollars. Amusingly, they\nmanaged to secure the surreal church location because the interiors weren\u2019t yet\ncompleted. She offered to carpet the building in exchange for shooting\nexteriors there, and the church agreed. She also notes that while the movie\ndidn\u2019t do well in North America, they later learned that it was very successful\nand well-regarded in Europe.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jurgen Prochnow also talks about getting involved in the\npicture and how much he enjoyed working on the project. He also notes that the\nmovie\u2019s fanbase has really grown over the years and that he regularly gets\nasked about the movie. Julie Carmen discusses how interesting the story was and\nher experiences on set. And Greg Nicotero relays how the elaborate practical\neffects were done, and goes into detail on the monsters featured in the large\nhallway. There\u2019s one creature in particular that is a lot of fun once you see\nit clearly (it was Carpenter\u2019s favorite monster) and this extra shows it in\ndetail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a new appreciation of the movie from three\nindividuals in which they talk about specific story elements and their personal\nthoughts on them. Truthfully, it\u2019s a bit silly, but those who want to hear some\nwild ideas about the picture and its hidden meanings may find it fun. The\nvisual essay on the picture by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas is much clearer and\noffers more convincing insight into the themes of the movie, as well as how\nthey are presented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There\u2019s a featurette about the various locations, with the\nhost traveling around Toronto to see what they look like today (at least. Most\nare still present and recognizable (including the church), but like everything\nelse, the city has built up around some of these sites so most look a little\ndifferent today. You\u2019ll also get behind-the-scenes footage from the shoot, a\nvintage making- of, a trailer, TV spots and an image gallery. It’s all\npresented in an impressive package that includes a slipbox with a book\ncontaining essays on the movie, a double-sided fold-out poster and\nmore.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After three decades, it\u2019s safe to say that In the Mouth\nof Madness<\/em> is another Carpenter classic and it is fantastic to see the film\ngetting the respect it deserves. The 4K Ultra HD \u201cLimited Edition\u201d features a\nnew 4K restoration and the movie looks better than it ever has before. The\nrelease also contains a ton of informative and fun extras that will impress\nfans. This title is highly recommended to any horror fan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d 4K Ultra HD release from Arrow Video will be available for purchase on October 28th. While most admire genre filmmaker John Carpenter, many of his classic titles took some time to gain their stellar reputations. Yes, the majority of his 1970s and 1980s movies were financially successful (with the exceptions of studio […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":32315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[128,300,1836,2933,2955,2960,4155,7314,9319,9743,9744,9745,9746,10831,11154,11375,13722,13723,14718,17561,22825],"class_list":["post-32313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","category-uncategorized","tag-128","tag-4k-ultra-hd","tag-arrow-video","tag-blasts-from-the-past-2","tag-blasts-from-the-past-in-the-mouth-of-madness","tag-blasts-from-the-past-review","tag-charlton-heston","tag-fantasy","tag-horror","tag-in-the-mouth-of-madness","tag-in-the-mouth-of-madness-4k-ultra-hd","tag-in-the-mouth-of-madness-4k-ultra-hd-review","tag-in-the-mouth-of-madness-review","tag-john-carpenter","tag-julie-carmen","tag-jurgen-prochnow","tag-meta","tag-meta-horror","tag-new-line-cinema","tag-sam-neill","tag-thriller"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32313\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}