Monster of the Day #1995

Updated on September 4, 2019 By Ken Begg 26 Comments

It was hard not to go with Mel Brooks’ classic Dracula Dead and Loving It, but I guess I’ll opt for John Carpenter’s last great film, In the Mouth of Madness. Although it was a pastiche, it really kicked off a chain of good to great Lovecraft films. I really love this film a lot. Carpenter apparently put all his juice into this this. Six months later the single most useless film I’ve ever seen, his remake of Village of the Damned, also hit theaters.

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  • Beckoning Chasm

    I thought most Lovecraft adaptations were made prior to this? I mean, there were lots made after “Re-Animator,” and they’re still being made today, of course.

  • kgb_san_diego

    Probably all true. But I am with Ken 100% — both in really liking this film, and looking VERY askance at almost everything he did after this… :-)

  • Wade Harrell

    I loved this movie because it was so ambitions. But it wasn’t really a Lovecraft adaptation was it? It was certainly very Lovecraftian, but was it actually based on a Lovecraft story? Some of the best Lovecraft movies are the ones that are heavily inspired by him but not actually based on any of his work.

  • Wade Harrell

    I still remember a quote from a local film critic about the 1995 Village of the Damned…”a better title would be Stars Who’s Careers Are Damned” Ouch!

  • Gamera977

    Sorry, my birthday was today- hit the big five- oh so I took the day off and went for a drive. I admit to being a bit confused, am I supposed to go though some sort of mid-life crisis and buy a muscle car? I already own one- am I supposed to buy a more expensive one?

  • Gamera977

    I always think of the horrible ‘Ghosts of Mars’ with his modern work.

  • Gamera977

    Yeah, I think there are more good Lovecraft inspired works than actual Lovecraft stories filmed. It’s a good film. I hunted down a copy on Ebay when it was out of print and glad I did.

  • Ericb

    Happy Birthday! I have my “midlife” crisis when I was 28 so I could get it over with early. I’m now 55 and am enjoying being an old fart.

  • Ken_Begg

    Yes, but few of them are any good. Dunwich Horror, etc. After this we got a good run of them, especially Dagon. Carpenter, I thought, was the first director to lick the problem of the fact that Lovecraft’s horror can’t really be viewed directly without killing us or driving us mad. And I don’t know, I know Re-Animator is technically Lovecraft, but it doesn’t really capture his sensibilities at all. Great movie, though.

  • Ken_Begg

    Well, no, that’s why I said it was a pastiche.

  • Ken_Begg

    For what it’s worth, I just started watching anime.

    56 in a few months, myself.

  • Gamera977

    Well, I got a big plate of Korean food, a haircut and dropped by the local Sears which is shutting down in a month or so. Bought a pile of tools, everyone on my Christmas list is getting Craftsman this year! I remember when as kids we’d circle what we wanted for Christmas in the Sears catalog. Now the catalog is history and they’re shutting down stores left and right, makes me feel all that much older.
    Anyway sorry to be a bit maudlin, went home took a nap and then fired up the DVD player and watched a movie. So I guess it is with most of us here…

  • Wade Harrell

    Fair enough. Actually I was genuinely asking if it was a Lovecraft story because while I have read a fair amount of Lovecraft, I haven’t read all of it and “In The Mouth of Madness” certainly SOUNDS like it could be a Lovecraft story! When I first saw this movie I had the impression that there was a fair amount of Stephen King in the Stutter Kane character, but that might be because I didn’t know much about Lovecraft at the time.

  • Wade Harrell

    I think one reason the “inspired by” movies have a better success rate than the straight adaptations is that the stories offer very little for filmmakers to work with. Most of the stories just end with the reveal of whatever the eldritch horror is, but you can’t end a movie like that, something has to happen when the monster shows up! Yet, if you beef up the story, purists will complain about the deviations. A work “inspired by” Lovecraft is free from that problem. One interesting work-around was Gordon’s “From Beyond” where the pre-credit sequence is pretty much a faithful adaptation of the entire story, and THEN the rest of the movie is about what happens after!

  • Ericb

    Oh, don’t get me wrong I’m always enjoying new things. One of the great things about growing older is that I feel it gives me a greater appreciation of things. Having seen so many art & entertainment trends wax and wane I don’t let a current trend that I don’t like get me down too much for I know somewhere down the road in some way or form there will be a reaction in response and I can enjoy riding the wave I bit more than when I was so young and serious. In other words I can enjoy both old and new things more at 55 than I did at 25. On the other hand I’m much more ambivalent about new tech.

  • Ericb

    I was able to follow (and enjoy) lots of art & indie type rock and pop up until about the age of 48. Then my favorite record store, Other Music, which specialized in that stuff, closed up shop. There’s nothing I found online that really takes it’s place so I’ve really lost touch with newer music. I can still listen to all my old favorites and check on amazon to see if they have new albums but are far as new artists I’m at a loss and and since I had in one way or another been following pop/rock music since about 1972 ( I had an older brother) not having that anymore leaves a little hole in my life.

  • Marseden

    Here we see the captain of the Olympic Twister team on a trip to a meet.

  • Marsden

    Happy Birthday! I’m only 9 months behind you.

    I don’t know if that says something, most of us a similar age….

  • Gamera977

    Yeah, I was thinking we’re all pretty much the same age.

  • Gamera977

    I think there’s an interest in most of us in older stuff. I notice much more love for vintage movies of the ’50s, ’60s, and ’80s than a lot of modern film.

  • Eric Hinkle

    Happy Birthday!

  • Eric Hinkle

    Talking films in the cosmic horror subgenre, what are some good ones other than ‘Mouth of Madness’ and ‘Dagon’?

  • Gamera977

    Personally I really liked ‘The Whisperer in Darkness’ 2011 and ‘The Call of Cthulhu’ 2005. Be aware both are micro-budget productions but I think they turned out really well and capture the spirit the of Lovecraft mythos.

  • The Rev.

    The Resurrected (1991) is one I like to toss out as few people seem to be aware of it. I found it a very well-done modernization of a Lovecraft story that also manages to be one of the more faithful adaptations.

  • Eric Hinkle

    I’ve seen both of those and keep meaning to get them on DVD. They’re amazing pieces of film given they were made by amateurs. How is it that people unconnected with Hollywood and its resources can make such masterpieces and Hollywood blows it every time?

  • Eric Hinkle

    I’ll keep my eyes open for it. Thanks!