In the Mouth of Madness 4K UHD (1995)

"I Think Therefore You Are - In 4K!"

Arrow Films are releasing a special 4K edition of the third in John Carpenter's loosely themed 'Lovecraftian trilogy', all of which were critically panned on release and opened to either indifferent or disastrous box office returns. Of course it's a different story now. THE THING (1982), PRINCE OF DARKNESS (1987) and IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS (1995) are all considered classics but believe me, it wasn't always easy being a Carpenter fan back in the day, sitting in an empty cinema on opening weekend and then having to defend them when critics in both the small and large presses were heading their reviews with titles like 'Quatermass and the Shit'.

There's a nod to Nigel Kneale's third Quatermass in ITMOM, of course, with the novel The Hobbs End Horror playing a key role. John Trent (Sam Neill) is an insurance investigator charged with looking into the disappearance of best-selling horror author Sutter Cane (Jurgen Prochnow) and finding himself in the town of Hobbs Ends where it turns out Cane's novels are becoming reality and are preparing to open the gateway for the return of the 'Old Ones'.

IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS does a fine job of telling its story while allowing Carpenter's obsessions with loss of control and the nature of reality to bubble along as subtext for some of it before throwing logic to the winds and becoming full-blown metatextual. Like Patrick McGoohan's The Prisoner before it, IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS threw down a gauntlet of 'follow that' in the mid-1990s that nobody had the slightest inclination of picking up, which remains a huge shame. But at least we still have the film.

Arrow's 4K transfer is excellent. Flesh tones are a little red at the beginning but obsessive fans who know the film inside out will likely still be surprised at the degree of extra detail that can be picked out, not least much of the writing on posters and signs. 

The disc comes with an excellent set of extras. There are three commentary tracks, including a new one from podcasters Rebekah McKendry and Elric Kane which is packed with facts & enthusiasm and bubbles along nicely. Archival commentaries consist of one with John Carpenter and producer Sandy King, and the other with John Carpenter and cinematographer Gary B Kibbe.

There are are interviews with King (22 minutes) and Prochnow (7 minutes) and archival ones from the  2018 Shout Factory release with Julie Carmen (10 minutes) and Greg Nicotero (17 minutes). Other archival material includes Horror's Hallowed Grounds looking at the movie's locations (12 minutes), 12 minutes of behind the scene footage and a brief five minute making of.

There's more new material in We Are What He Writes which offers, over its 34 minutes, perspectives on the movie from three different creatives - Camille Zaurin, Tom Lee Rutter and George Lea. Alexandra Heller-Nicholas gets her own video essay where she looks at the history of 'cursed media' including paintings and music. There are also trailers, TV spots and an image gallery. The set also comes with a reversible sleeve, double-sided poster and a book featuring new writing on the film. An excellent package for a long under-appreciated work.

John Carpenter's IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS is out from Arrow Films in a limited 4K UHD set on Monday 20th October 2025