Well as John Trent says to Sutter Kane "this is a rotten way to end it." Not the end of the Friday Frights yet, and this is a household favorite--so not a rotten way to end it, and, well, it's probably not, but maybe, the last film of the day.
With all of the Canadian celebrating that has been going on around here today, we've had Canadian actors, Canadian directors, made 100% in Canada, set in Canada, Canadian themes, etc.--but we haven't yet screened a film shot entirely in Canada with a non-Canadian cast and a non-Canadian director. With John Carpenter's In The Mouth of Madness we have just that.
This, of course, is John Carpenter's jab at the pulp horror fiction industry (everyone thinks that is exclusively Stephen King--it's not, think also, Dean Koontz, Clive Barker, etc., after all King is the only real horror writer mentioned in the film). It is also a homage to the creators of horror writing. In this case H.P. Lovecraft and his demonic writhey things that seem to have the last laugh in Carpenter's world--they manipulate the hack horror writer into keyboard typing them back into the human world. The return of the Old Ones, Carpenter style.
The film was shot exclusively in Canada, in and around Ontario province. It was one the first film productions to take advantage of many of the new incentives for filming to the North. The trend was popularized and by the time films like American Psycho were in production, it had become a well oiled machine. [Toronto does a hell of a job of standing in for NYC in Am. Psycho!]. Madness was one of the very first films to substitute Toronto for NYC--so it ground breaking in that respect, even if it wasn't exactly seamless.
OK, I'm a life long Carpenter fan; but I'm an equal fan of all of his films (not an apologist so to speak). What I really love about this film is not just the poking at modern horror fiction, or homages to the classic stuff (Lovecraft, Derleth, etc.), it's the actors involved: Sam Niell in a horror film (a favorite), Jurgen Prochnow (mostly an action thriller specialist and famous for Das Boot), Julie Carmen (who got her start in daytime soaps--not exactly Carpenter world!....and don't even think about Demi Moore!), England's own David Warner, and....even Wilhelm von Homburg [not his real name!] who is memorable from Ghostbusters 2. And how the hell did Charelston Heston (I'm not really a fan) wind up in a John Carpenter horror movie based on Lovecraftean demons??? Oh I almost forgot to mention the wonderful Frances Bay as Mrs. Pickman! She's Canadian!
Reputed Canadian Haunted Places:
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| The Bytown Museum, Ottawa |
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| Craigdarroch Castle, British Columbia |
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| Union Cemetery, Niagra Canada |
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| Gilbralter Point Lighthouse |
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| The Peterborough Lift Lock |
To Show But A Few. There Is Lots More!!!!
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