What we've got here is John Carpenters take on an H.P. Lovecraft tale. Tentacled, slimy, multi-eyed, shapeless horrors abound. People driven mad from seeing cosmic terrors. Pulp horror everywhere! You've the the little old innkeeper lady that keeps her husband naked and chained to her ankle, she beats and cuts him and in a final moment, she transforms, arms tearing into tentacles as she hacks him apart. The horror in the hot house, a serpent armed deep one dwelling in the garden on the side of the inn. The children, deformed and possessed by some dark unseen force. And so much more!
There is just so much awesome pulpy goodness going on in this movie its hard to keep up. I guess I would have to explain. The main story of the movie has to do with John Trent, an insurance investigator as he tries to find Sutter Cane, an AWOL horror writer that was working on his next book. The publisher wants their book, or their money, so they send John to find out what happened. Johns investigation leads him to delve into the novels of Cane and after a while he begins to piece things together. He notices that pieces of the covers form a map. The map leads to Hobbs End, a quiet little New England town that happens to be the center of Canes tales.
He travels there with Linda, Canes editor, and things quickly fly out of control. We see pieces of Canes tales, the innkeeper, the children, deep ones, tentacled beasts, and finally, Cane himself. He claims he has created that place through belief and the power of his words. He has become God. More people believe in his writings than those that believe in the bible. And the more that read his work, the stronger it becomes. He is working on his next book, In the Mouth of Madness, a book which tells of the end when the Old Ones break through reality and wipe humanity from existence.
The effects are top notch and the scene when the Old Ones finally break through the doorway and we see them is absolutely orgasmic. The eyes! The tentacles! The great gaping maws of death! Its all so good. And the little pulp tales are just bone chilling. I really love this movie, probably because I really love Lovecraft.
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