A horror novel drives people insane in this tribute to Lovecraft and Stephen King.
Private detective John Trent (Sam Neill) is hired by Arkane Publishing to locate missing horror author Sutter Cane, whose books are rumoured to drive readers insane. Trent’s search leads him to a bleak village called Hobb’s End, where things get very strange very fast.
We’re kicking off our theme programme A Tentacular Touch with perhaps the best H.P. Lovecraft adaptation ever: In the Mouth of Madness, a title clearly based on At the Mountains of Madness. This final chapter in John Carpenter’s Apocalypse Trilogy – following The Thing (also screening at Imagine this year) and Prince of Darkness – is brimming with Lovecraft references. And the world-famous horror writer at the centre of it all, Sutter Cane, is obviously a tribute to Stephen King. Sam Neill, with that gloriously crazed look in his eyes, is unforgettable. It’s the same gaze he used when he appeared in that other 90’s cosmic horror classic, Event Horizon.
On 2 November, In the Mouth of Madness will be introduced by horror- and literature expert Evert Jan van Leeuwen.
