92) In the Mouth of Madness (1995) - A Nostalgic Horror Rental

"Reality is not what it used to be."

Director

John Carpenter

Cast

Sam Neill - John Trent

Julie Carmen - Linda Styles

John Glover - Saperstein

Jurgen Prochnow - Sutter Cane

David Warner - Dr. Wrenn

Francis Bay - Mrs. Pickman

I'm very familiar with the John Carpenter film In the Mouth of Madness probably more than I am with John Carpenter. I enjoy his movies for the most part. I did a podcast review of his classic film The Fog. And a good portion of my horror movie favorites, or just favorite movies in general, are John Carpenter films - Halloween, The Thing, Escape from New York, and of course Big Trouble in Little China to name a handful.

In the Mouth of Madness is no obscure film. But it seems like among audiences out there who have heard of Carpenter, this is a movie they're not as likely to know about. The titles I just mentioned may came up first if they were asked to name some of his films off the top of their head. Anyways, I've mentioned Carpenter several times on this blog, but haven't reviewed any of his movies. It's thanks to him that the term "slasher" is a word and a horror sub-genre.  

This movie is a rental I stumbled upon during a visit to my cousin's house (well, my great-aunt's son and grandkids, whatever relation they would be to me? Cousins once removed? Twice removed? I don't know - I'll consult my sanguinity chart later.)

Not only is In the Mouth of Madness another rental title from my past, it's the first movie I watched on a laser disc format. I must have been 14 at the time. My cousins rented it from their respective rental store somewhere in San Jose.

Three things stood out to me when I first watched it. 

First, it has Wilhelm von Homburg whom I immediately recognized as Vigo the Carpathian in Ghostbusters II. I even remember declaring, "Hey, it's Vigo from Ghostbusters two" when he came on screen. It's the only other movie I have ever seen him in.

In the Mouth of Madness also stars John Glover, whom I recognized from Gremlins 2: The New Batch where he plays Trump-esque business mogul, Daniel Clamp. 

But above Glover and von Homburg, what I remember most of all is the unsettling horror images from the movie. They're truly memorable in a movie that's unforgettable thanks to its very unique horror style. They've stayed in my memory all these years.

More than 15 years ago, I went looking for the movie I saw at my cousin's house. I didn't know the name, and had some difficulty finding it, even online. I found it through searching for von Homburg movies. And then I bought it. 

I've intentionally waited until now to review In the Mouth of Madness. I've wanted to give a suitable review. I also have it on my list for potential films for my 100th review. I still haven't narrowed one down, by the way. Evidently, now it won't be this one. 

Sam Neill (Jurassic Park) plays insurance investigator John Trent. An insurance buddy of his asks Trent to work with a client who's looking into a claim filed by a New York company called Arcane Publishing while the two are out having lunch together.

During the lunch meeting, a maniac with an axe breaks through the front window of the restaurant and attacks Trent.

"Do you read Sutter Cane?" this crazy guy asks, his split pupils looking right into Trent's eyes.

Cane is a popular horror novelist in the film, who just released his latest novel. The release incidentally led to huge riots outside bookstores. 

Police shoot the axe guy dead. And it turns out he was Sutter Cane's agent who went insane after reading that new novel, and then killing his family. 

Sam Neill as John Trent in In the Mouth of Madness.

Trent later has a meeting with Jackson Harglow (Charlton Heston), the director of Arcane Publishing which publishes Cane's books.

Harglow tells him the claim involves Cane who has mysteriously disappeared. 

Harglow also wants Trent to obtain the manuscript for Cane's last and final novel, In the Mouth of Madness. 

Trent thinks this disappearance is one ginormous publicity stunt. Still, he agrees to investigate regardless. 

While doing some thinking about the case, he notices how the covers of Cane's novels all contain red lines. 

Trent takes the covers and lines up the red lines discovering that they form the shape of New Hampshire when put together. A location is indicated, too, within the shape of the state. Trent takes this location to be Hobb's End, a town used in the novels. He's certain that's were Cane is.

Harglow sends the company's editor, Linda Styles (Julie Carmen), who edits Cane's novels, to accompany him to Maine.

Styles fills Trent in on how Cane's stories have caused paranoia and delusion among some of his readers.

When they find the town, the atmosphere seems off. In fact, Hobb's End isn't suppose to exist. It's not on any real map. 

They find specific locations in town referenced in Cane's works. All the while Trent is still skeptical about the whole debacle.

Among the locations in town is a lone Eastern style church painted black. Styles is certain Cane is hiding within. 

She goes inside to find Cane, which she does, only to be driven mad when he gives her the manuscript to his final novel. 

As Trent explores Hobb's End, he comes across many unsettling things. He goes into a bar where a local named Simon (Wilhelm Von Homburg) warns Trent to leave.   

Trent runs out, only to be approached by a mob of hideous looking people. 

He jumps into his car and tries to drive away, but keeps finding himself right back where he was. 

He crashes and wakes up inside the church confessional with Cane on the other side of the screen. 

Cane tells him that the belief in his works among those who read his books set loose an ancient evil hell-bent on reclaiming the Earth. 

"That's the point - believe," Cane says. "When people begin to lose their ability to know he difference between fantasy and reality, the old ones begin their journey back. The more people who believe, the faster the journey." It's like a dark, twisted version of The NeverEnding Story as far as premise goes.

Cane also says Trent is just another character in one of his stories, forced to follow his plot by returning the manuscript to Arcane Publishing which will ultimately end the human race.

The plot of this movie is an insane one - literally. And like true insanity, it gradually increases with the story. 

Insanity is portrayed in various ways either through the atmosphere of Hobb's End, or in Trent's grasp on reality as it slips away. 

Some say doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. 

This came to mind during the scene where Trent tries to escape the angry, devilish looking mob and drive out of town only to return to keep returning to the same street with the mob waiting for him. 

This movie takes a ton of inspiration from the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Even the title plays off of Lovecraft's story At the Mountains of Madness. And as the film opens with the main character held within an insane asylum, the story is told as a flashback. It's a method of story telling common with Lovecraft. A little bit of Stephen King is thrown in the mix, not just with mention, but it the movie's New England setting. 

The imagery and insanity is what makes In the Mouth of Madness a memorable John Carpenter horror film.

Uh...nope!

One thing I found clever is the exposition after Trent wakes up in the church confessional, and Cane begins telling him his plans. Placing the scene inside a confessional adds a certain sense of fear that wouldn't exist if Cane and Trent stood looking at each other. 

As Cane is attempting to set evil loose on the world, such a profanation as admitting his evil intentions to Trent inside a place where sinners go to repent is certainly not out of place. 

This movie tries to bring the insanity from the characters to the audience, which is why some critics, such as Fred Topel at About.com, think this movie is "too confusing."

Film critic Roger Ebert said "One wonders how In the Mouth of Madness might have turned out if the script had contained even just a little more wit and ambition."

It may be a more memorable movie if such was the case. But my guess is it would have much more points to pay attention to and think about, which may have limited its audience by the end. 

This is a horror movie that wants its audience to really be engaged, not miss a thing, and keep thinking about they saw long after the credits roll. 

It's ambitious which is why I consider it one of my personal favorites in horror. 

If picking my top 50, maybe even top 10, horror movies, In the Mouth of Madness would be among those titles based on its story line, horror/ thriller element, cast, film atmosphere, and depiction of insanity.

In the Mouth of Madness lives up to its namesake as it's a great depiction of insanity on film.

91) House 2: The Second Story (1987) - A Nostalgic Horror Rental

"I'm a 170-year old fart." 

Director 

Ethan Wiley

Cast

Arye Gross - Jesse McLaughlin

Jonathan Stark - Charlie Coriell

Royal Dano - Gramps

Bill Maher - John Statmen

John Ratzenberger - Bill Towner

Lar Park Lincolc - Kate

Dean Cleverdon - Slim

Even before sitting through the somewhat decent, but not really, horror comedy House, I had plans to watch its sequel House II: The Second Story. 

I remember seeing this film probably shortly after its video release back in 1987 or 1988 thanks to my brother renting it. 

Though the title is the same as part one, the rest is different. There's a different house. There's a different director. There's all different characters. And there's a different plot that's unrelated to the first movie. I guess that makes sense since the title is "The Second Story." 

House II is another horror comedy, this time centering on Jesse McLaughlin (Arye Gross) and his girlfriend Kate (Lar Park Lincoln - Friday the 13th part VII: The New Blood) as they move into an old house that has been in Jesse's family for several generations. 

On the day they move in, Jesse's dorky pal Charlie (Jonathan Stark - Fright Night) and his forgettable girlfriend, Lana (Amy Yasbeck - Problem Child) - I'm surprised the writers bothered giving her a name at all - drop in completely unexpectedly. 

Kate works for a record company, so their true purpose for stopping in is for Kate to discover Lana as a pop singer. 

Anyways, Jesse's parents were murdered in the house while he was in his infancy. Now that he has finally returned, he starts searching through family documents and pictures looking into his family's history. 

While doing so, he finds a picture of his great-great grandfather Jesse, from whom he gets his name, in front of an Aztec pyramid, holding a crystal skull with jeweled eyes. Also pictured is a more ominous looking character Jesse learns is his great-great grandfather's former partner turned adversary, "Slim." 

Evidently, when Grandpa Jesse found the crystal skull, he and Slim had a bitter disagreement as to who would keep it. 

Young Jesse sets out with sidekick Charlie to grandpa Jesse's grave, assuming the skull is buried with him.

When they dig up the coffin and find the skull, grandpa Jesse's corpse (Royal Dano - The Dark Half, Ghoulies II, Killer Klowns from Outer Space) attacks him. 

While being nearly strangled to death by the 170-year old corpse, Jesse manages to choke out that he's his great-great grandson.

Grandpa Jesse is surprised by this revelation and lets him go. Soon, young Jesse and Charlie take a quick liking to grandpa Jesse, whom they start calling "Gramps."  

They take Gramps and his crystal skull home. Much to Gramps's dismay, the skull hasn't kept him from aging as he thought it would. 

This is where one of the funniest lines I heard in a movie as a kid is uttered by gramps - a line that I never forgot. It's a line I searched for when I tried to find this movie years later, but couldn't remember the title. 

"I'm a 170-year old fart," Gramps says when he sees his reflection for the first time since he was buried.

I remember finding this line so hilarious, either I or my brother rewound the scene in a few times to really let the phrase set in.  

'Slim' (Dean Cleverdon) faces off with Gramps (Royal Dano) in House 2.

Anyways, now that the skull is in the home, Gramps tells them that stones from the Aztec temple were used in the house's construction which gives the house power over time and space.

Rooms act as portals to the past. 

During a Halloween party, which gives old Gramps enough cover to roam about the house without standing out to the guests, Kate's creepy boss John Statman (Bill Maher) shows up. 

He spots Jesse chatting with an old fling, and assumes the two are flirting. 

Kate finds out, and ends up leaving.

While all this is taking place, Jesse and Charlie enter one of the upstairs rooms which becomes a portal to the Jurassic era. 

Inside, they come across a baby pterodactyl and a creature that's part caterpillar and part adorable puppy. They call it a "cater-puppy." 

The pterodactyl, along with a caveman intent on stealing the skull, gets loose the house. The expectation is that hilarity will ensue. They take the cater-puppy in as a new pet.

But the last person they want showing up, however, is Slim. 

When horror movies have throw-away characters, as this one does, the audience knows those characters are going to fall victim to a monster or killer in some way or another. That's especially true in slasher flicks. While House II is classified as a horror, it certainly is no slasher.

Rather than die, the throw-away characters in House II just leave. They literally get in a car, and drive away, never to be seen or heard from again. In fact, no one dies in this movie except for 170-year old Gramps who finally dies after 170 years of being buried. Oh, sorry...spoiler alert!

Compared to the first, which didn't have much in the way of "horror" except for a few monsters, part 2's horror is much more watered down.

Watching House II made me realize how William Katt's performance in the first film is what holds that movie together. 

The actors in part two try to pull off something worthwhile with the material they're given. But much of it sounds scripted and forced. Still, I just can't blame the actors too much.

The strange scenarios feel like the movie is being written as it progresses along. 

I shouldn't be too harsh as director Ethan Wiley only had two weeks to write the movie's screenplay. 

Such is the case in the scenes where the baby pterodactyl gets loose in the house, and Jesse and Charlie chase it around while trying to keep it all a secret from Kate, John, and whoever that other girl was. And then the cater-puppy is thrown in for marketability. Sadly, the movie fails even in that regard.

In another scene, an electrician (John Ratzenberger) stops by fix the wiring. While working, he finds another portal to a different time period.  

"One of those time portal things... you see these all the time in these old houses," he tells Jesse when he stumbles upon it after punching a large hole in a wall. 

It turns out the electrician doubles as an adventurer as he pulls out a sword from his tool box, and the three of them go in. 

They walk in on an ancient cult about to sacrifice a virgin. 

They attack the cult members, save the virgin, and they bring her into their own time where she just hangs out with them, and serves absolutely no purpose other than add a little sex appeal.  

This sequel is a mess of randomness.

Ratzenberger is the most entertaining part of the film thanks to his humor and humdrum attitude, uttering lines that begin with "ehh, uuhh..." His character is the only part of the movie that made me laugh.

In the first film, George Wendt (Norm from Cheers) plays the neighbor, Harold. And

Royal Dano as 'Gramps' in House 2.

 Ratzenberger, plays Cliff on Cheers. I wonder if producers tried to get any more stars from Cheers to be in the subsequent House films.

There is one returning actor from part one. Dwier Brown, who plays the Lieutenant in William Katt's Vietnam flashbacks, plays Clarence in part two. As you might have guessed, Brown's return doesn't sell part two.

If part one has a comedic tone similar to Gremlins, part two maintains only some of that. The rest resembles something like a lesser known, haphazard episode of The Twilight Zone. 

And that random haphazard tone is embodied in the thing that's part puppy and part caterpillar

I have not seen the next two sequels, House 3: Horror Show and House IV. I'm undecided at this point if I'll make any attempt to find and watch them.

House 2 is a movie to experience for those who watched part one. But should anyone forego this sequel, they're only missing out on a weak film that seems to have forgotten the horror when it was so quickly put together. 

90) House (1986) - A Nostalgic Horror Rental

"It won, Roger. It tricked me. I didn't think it could, but it did. It's going to trick you too, Roger.  This house knows everything about you." 

Director

Steve Miner

Cast

William Katt - Roger Cobb

Richard Moll - Big Ben

George Wendt - Harold Gorton

Mary Stavin - Tanya

Susan French - Aunt Elizabeth

Michael Ensign - Chet Parker

The 1986 comedy horror film House isn't too off-the-radar, even among non-horror fans. Yet it maintains some amount of obscurity while still being considered quite the nostalgic flick - just enough for me to throw it among titles I've been calling "Nostalgic Horror Rentals."

Like all the rest of them I've posted about, I first came across this movie in the video rental aisle back in my video rental days of the early 1990s.

But what really stands out about this film is the VHS cover art. Of course, it's the main reason I'm writing a review on it. 

It depicts a severed zombified hand floating in mid air, ringing a doorbell, attempting to intrude for the worst on what my young mind presumed was a normal house with the same sort of loving, innocent family just as mine was. The fear that image incited in me at a young age was my mind's insinuation of my family's household in such a terrifying situation. What if a zombie hand rang our doorbell in the same way? My sense of peace would be forever destroyed.

And the movie's tagline "Ding, dong. You're dead," printed on the VHS cover, is a phrase I've always remembered. Why are "they" dead? And why do monsters of any form terrorize random houses? 

I never watched this movie until about 10 years ago, along with its even more ridiculous sequel House II: The Second Story starring a young Bill Maher. I'll get to that one next. 

As far as the actual movie goes, there was little I remembered about it, save for "Big Ben," as I watched it for the second time a week ago.

The movie centers on author Roger Cobb (William Katt -The Greatest American Hero) who recently divorced from his wife after his young son, Jimmy, mysteriously disappears. On top of this, his Aunt Elizabeth commits suicide by hanging inside her home.

As he deals with these tragedies, his publisher is pressing him to write another book just after the release of his latest thriller novel. 

Cobb prefers to write a book based on his own horrific experiences in the Vietnam war, to the dismay of his publisher. Evidently, his fans aren't up for historical fiction.

After burying his Aunt Elizabeth, Cobb decides to take over her beautiful home though his Aunt's attorney, Chet Parker (Michael Ensign- Ghostbusters). Parker prefer he sell the home but Cobb wants to stay so he can start his next book.

No sooner does Cobb move in, he begins having terrible nightmares about his Vietnam experiences. A fellow soldier named "Big Ben," who died during the war keeps popping into his dreams and flashbacks. 
As these dreams keep waking him up at night, monsters and creatures begin tormenting Cobb as they spring from random parts of the house.

Soon, the monsters begin physically attacking him. 

Roger Cobb (William Katt) tackles a monster in his closet, 
in the movie House (1986).

His next door neighbor, Harold (George Wendt), is the only person he can relate the strange happenings to. 

Of course Harold is skeptical and thinks Cobb is more of a danger to himself considering the extremely difficult time he's going through. 

Rather than run in fear, Roger is determined to tackle these entities head-on, combat style if necessary, and hopefully figure out what happened to his son. 

The comedic tone of House reminds me a bit of the movie Gremlins which was released in 1984.

The comedy is in Roger's tactical force against the supernatural monsters intruding the home.  The monsters aim to scare and end up being used for laughs. 

It does try to build up trepidation in the beginning, especially when Cobb has a vision of his aunt's ghost hanging herself all over again. 

When Cobb encounters his first monster after it unexpectedly appears and lunges at him after he opens a closet door, the movie shifts in a different, more comedic direction with hideous, drooling, fanged monsters. 

The comedy is in Cobb's tactical force against the supernatural that's intruding on home. He sets up an arsenal of video cameras, and a shot gun, pointing at the closet where he saw the monster. He practices opening the door and running like he's back in basic training.

Other scenes feel completely forced, pointless, or both just to try to gain some more laughs.
One such terribly written scene takes place when Harold calls the cops after hearing a gunshot from Cobb's house. Harold thinks Cobb might have shot himself, but doesn't realize that the shot was taken at another monster who takes the form of Cobb's ex-wife after its shot and lying dead on the front porch.

The cops come, and Cobb lies stating the gun went off accidentally while he was cleaning it.

What the cops don't know is that Cobb thinks he shot his ex-wife accidentally, and hid the body in a crawlspace under the stair case.

He invites them in for coffee, and no sooner begins to sweat with worries as the cops are close to stumbling upon the body he thinks is his ex-wife's as one officer searches for the bathroom, and the other simply looks around. 

The character Tanya (Mary Stavin) is also pointless character.

She's introduced after Cobb catches her swimming in his aunt's pool. Tanya says his aunt often let her help herself to the pool.

She later stops by to ask Cobb to babysit her son, though she barely knows him. The scene plays out with Cobb unable to get a word in edgewise, not even enough for him to say "I can't." Tanya just assumes he'll do it and piles on the stuff, and instructions, he'll need to watch her son while she's out.

Regardless, House has some talented individuals behind the scenes.

Director Steve Miner has his name in several other horror titles as he directed Friday the 13th parts two and three, Warlock, Halloween H20, Lake Placid, and the 2008 film Day of the Dead. 

For the most part, those films are fair to decent enough. The same goes for this movie.

Film writer Fred Dekker also worked on a few favorited horror films and programs including Night of the Creeps (1986), The Monsters Squad (co-written with Shane Black), and four episodes of Tales from the Crypt. He also wrote the first draft to 1983's unproduced American film Godzilla: King of the Monsters in 3D which had Steve Miner set to direct.

Also, Dekker was a writer for House 2: The Second Story the same year he worked on Monster Squad. 

One scene that gave me a chuckle has Cobb sweeping up monster parts after he kills it. 

I wonder if other movies such as Army of Darkness (1992) and Shaun of the Dead (2004) took inspiration from House as far as their tones of comedic horror/ thriller go. 

Underneath the corny, slightly slapstick humor is a decent and almost original take on the haunted house genre of horror. 

Richard Moll as "Big Ben" in House.

The most notable and iconic part of the movie is Richard Moll (Bull from Night Court) in the role of Big Ben. The role earned him a Saturn Award. 

My problem with this movie is how disjointed it is at times. It's as though the movie is unsure which direction it wants to go. It starts off on a more sinister and serious tone, and switches instantly into a shlocky horror.

House has potential with stronger writing in the humor department and as well as with its the frightful tone. This is the kind of movie that could use a remake with stronger composition, peril, emotion, and comedy. 

It's not a completely bad movie as it fits well enough among other comedy horrors of its decade. It just needs the weak parts strengthened. 

One thing is for sure. I bet it's nightmare fuel for kids of the 1980s, especially the plot point of Cobb's child being separated from his dad in a realm of complete darkness and uncertainty. If the severed hand on the video cover creeped out my imagination, that plot point of the movie would have scared me as a child. even more so than the monster in Cobb's closet.