IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS (1994) Ending Explained

[Music] hey what's up everybody welcome to foundflix on today's evening explain we're looking at what's considered the third entry in john carpenter's apocalypse trilogy so you got the thing prince of darkness and finally the subject of this video in the mouth of madness we follow a suspicious insurance investigator working a claim regarding the disappearance of famed horror novelist sutter kane it's up to him and editor linda styles to track down the writer's manuscript along with his whereabouts this seemingly innocuous quest leads them to a mysterious small town where they uncover a disturbing evil that could lead to the end of the world itself anyone out there that's been with the channel for a while y'all know i'm a huge fan of john carpenter i mean obviously it's not just because of halloween or even the thing which is my personal favorite horror flick but it's the other more offbeat entries that i adore too if you haven't seen big trouble in little china get on that [ __ ] immediately he had a real streak for a while there unleashing banger after banger and then things started getting a little spotty yeah happens to the best of them it's around the late 90s things go a bit off the rails leading to ghost of mars and the ward and sorry can't help you there but i do feel like looking at his filmography as a whole including the hits that in the mouth of madness is perhaps the most underrated of the bunch i have always liked this movie but over time was really able to appreciate just how much is going on and now i honestly find it kind of brilliant there's a lot stuffed into this movie and the story is kind of a reality bending mystery wrapped up in a lovecraftian creature feature plus it actually has some surprising depth to our main character that adds a lot to what goes down also the ending itself is a hum dinger one that really stuck with me ever since the first time i saw it things also do get pretty complicated about what's really going on as more and more layers are added to the story of course that is why we are here today so let's take a trip to hobbes inn and in the mouth of madness breaking down the story the important aspects of our protagonists that define his journey and explaining the crazy ass ending the opening takes us through the inner workings of a book being printed accompanied by a seriously hard rocking theme courtesy of john carpenter beginning his transition from synth to more guitar based scores just check this [ __ ] out [Music] the book is entitled the hobbes and horror on the back reading coming soon in the mouth of madness jay's already getting all met up and hearing [ __ ] at a psychiatric hospital a disheveled looking man john trent is dragged in he's tossed in route 9 adamantly insisting that he is not insane he's joined by a chorus of others screeching in agreement including even carpenter himself the doc cranks the carpenters in an attempt to calm everyone down which elicits a dismayed reaction from trent not the carpenters too he moans slumping down the wall the song whirs to a stop and the lights blink erratically someone knocks at the door and when he peeks out a shadow walks behind him trent complains this is a rotten way to end it but he's corrected it's not the end you haven't read it yet flashing through a bunch of wild images a hand bursts through the glass and he falls to the ground and when he looks up things are back to normal leading us to believe it was all just an illusion or a product of his troubled mind although there are mentions of something serious going on in the outside world a specialist dr wren is called in thinking he has the symptoms of these other mysterious cases he asked saberstein if he asked for anything only one request a black crayon which he has already put to some serious use his walls are now completely covered in crosses as well as his outfit and his face wren vows that he's here to help get him out but it seems after that mysterious visitation he'd rather stay here thinking it's safer he too is aware of the occurrences going on outside asking things are really turning to [ __ ] out there aren't they wren changes the subject to him and how he got here and trent reveals that it all started with the disappearance of writer sutter kane trent works as an insurance claims investigator and we see he is damn good at it his subject mr paul is already a sweaty nervous mess with their interrogation but trent has a scam dead to rights they have a photo of not only his wife but his mistress too wearing items that were said to have been destroyed in the fire whoops once they discussed these matters with his wife she sold him out in an instant as trent tells him if you're gonna make your wife your partner don't step out on her words to live by a smart man robinson is impressed with his skills seeing a bus ad for kane's newest book honestly promising you'll go mad with fear sounds good here we get a real insight into trent's perspective of the world and people telling him you learned to expect the worst that way you're never disappointed from across the street a wild odd man wielding an axe emerges and looks to have a single destination in mind jon he smashes the window and leans right up to him asking if he reads sutter kane we see his eyes are especially odd up close looking like his pupil and cornea have divided into two parts how does that happen luckily for trent the police blow the guy away and according to the news it sounds like this is a spreading problem already here considering that kane has in a way ascended beyond being a simple writer to an almost religious figurehead he visits kane's publisher to find out the deal behind his disappearance and jon is a bit dismissive of the author he's the one that writes that horror crap ride his editor linda fires back that he's the most sold author in the world way outshining stephen king clearly what they're going for here they recently were sent chapters for his latest book but the envelope had no information or address on it when he asks about his agent it turns out he already met him his agent was the guy with the axe that went after him linda lays out just how big and important crane is to the company but jon isn't buying what's going on here blowing this off as merely a publicity stunt she reveals that kane's words can actually affect his weaker-minded readers causing things like disorientation and memory loss as for what she knows about the situation according to her his latest writing was becoming more bizarre and erratic him apparently becoming convinced that his writing was real and not fiction he at least now gets just how much of a big deal kane is chuckling wow this [ __ ] really sells doesn't it when asking if he's surprised he tells her nothing surprised him humans have already [ __ ] up everything already why not finish the job by flushing our brains down the toilet walking down a skeezy alley there's several posters for the book one starting to peel away down another way there is a cop beating the absolute hell out of a homeless guy his eyes all weird and blue just like the agents at the bookstore the place is in disarray thanks to the fervor over his books and he grabs a few for himself kid with a rash on his chin catches his attention he stares blankly for a moment telling him i can see and he sees you confused jon tells him well say hi for me i guess after diving into the books he derives it as just pop fiction horror novels all the same stories slimy things in the dark people going mad and turning into monsters which is actually foreshadowing of what's to come however he does admit that his words do in a way get under your skin which he finds impressive we see this effect ourselves he's back at this play and this time the cops face is monstrous and demonic a mob of others with axes shuffling he sees you the agent repeats and they turn on him with their axes he spins away to flee and the cop is there startling him awake or not quite the cop is there on the couch with him the dreaded double dream those are the worst so we now get what stiles was saying about kane's words and how they can affect people and he's had enough already throwing the book away however he is still determined to find out what happened and starts doing some arts and crafts with the covers assembling the pieces like some kind of mad jigsaw puzzle ultimately forming the shape of new hampshire he shows off his discovery to the publisher the red light being hobbs in they're confused as there is no real hobbs end but trent acknowledges it could be possible there are forgotten towns all across america he smirks it's a great scheme find kane and win a lunchbox he asks the publisher if he really wants him to go parglow insists that he's not lying kane is just an important commodity they need back and suggest sending styles along for the trip driving into the night they have a conversation that further solidifies trent's very cynical world view along with another healthy heaping of foreshadowing he tells her due to his work he knows that people are capable of the worst she argues that that doesn't leave much to believe in but it's no matter to him as far as he's concerned the sooner we're off this planet the better she finds herself scared considering what might happen if cain's world were ever to become reality him firing back it's not reality it's fiction she says reality is just what we tell each other it is especially if the definition of insane changed you could wind up in a padded cell she sadly thinks that if everything was gone it sure would be lonely being the last one left they passed some kid on a bike with cards on a spokes disappearing behind them in the darkness her eyes start getting heavy driving ever onwards in the endless nothingness the bike kid somehow circles back and also now appears to be an old man wearing the same outfit but she brushes it off as nothing he shows up again and she barrels right into him coming to his screeching halt the kid cries that he can't get out he won't let me leave she's distracted for a moment and the kid is back to his feet giving her a creepy smile before pedaling away well that was weird and is about to get a lot weirder back on the road it vanishes away into total darkness she looks out the window and the road is now a swirling mass of storm clouds beneath him the wheels then crest some wood and she's blinded by flashing lights circling all around her they then emerge on the other side in a small town and it's morning out of nowhere surprisingly they've made it to their destination hobbs inn checking out the downtown he calls it cute main street usa yet the place is eerily completely empty he peeks into an antique shop and a dog runs out on the street followed by a bunch of children with that same rash on their faces she calls them over yet they vanish they stop off at the pikmin hotel which is strangely familiar to linda she's read about it in the book she knows every detail of the place even the painting on the wall and a loose board under his feet wow she really knows her cane a kindly innkeeper enters and he tries to get some info about the author but she has no idea who he's talking about and trans by the painting she notices that it has changed from moments before the woman's face now turned outward after all these little details she believes that they are somehow in his book but he laughs it off reminding her that the innkeeper in the book is a lunatic that cut her husband into coleslaw no way that nice old lady is capable of that right besides if they were in the book out that window would be a byzantine church and he looks just an old barn she corrects him that he didn't read close enough it's seen from the east and yep sure enough there's a big black ominous church there just as in the book so they start referencing it to learn more about it originally an older church was here and one day this black church appeared and swallowed it whole the only thing left is a mosaic above the door seeing it's there too getting real love crafty the book reveals that its inhabitants are a murderous race of creatures whose existence defies time itself well that's spooky there's even a part of the mosaic that represents archangel michael fending off one of these ghastly creatures but this is only an idea of what they look like the book calls them indescribable another concept ripped straight from lovecraft even these passages are direct quotes from some of his works so void of the unknown indescribable evil it's the fear of the unknown that makes it so scary the concept goes he thinks they're wasting their time and again proving how much linda knows she informs him they'll have someone to question soon and right on cue a bunch of cars come speeding up towards the church led by none other than viggo the carpathian himself no big deal he screams to give his boy back and the door flings open and the child is standing there the doors start opening and closing repeatedly it opens once more and kane appears in the flesh he unleashes guard dogs upon the group a girl is there also creepily informing them i see trent is furious now as the only logical explanation that she knew that people were coming is because this is all staged they just want him to blab about this to the media all just to sell a few more books [ __ ] that he growls she spills the beans that it was supposed to be a stunt but kane never actually showed up they weren't supposed to find anything on their trip but well they did it's real she states adamantly it's all from the book that's how she knows he says that he's read all the books too but it's in the newest one that no one has read except her and the agent its plot consists of the into everything it begins in hobb's end and evil returns taking over piece by piece starting with the children looks like i already got that taken care of he really hopes that she is just making all this up because if he believes what she's saying he'd have to be crazy she bizarrely out of nowhere starts trying to seduce him which is actually kind of hilarious but he's not having it ordering that it's time to leave she decides to stay and he won't be going too far either seeing that he left the car keys behind he comes to the painting that has changed once more the subjects both looking forward now with horrific mutated faces mrs pikmin joins him and looks a bit out of sorts and distracted she keeps getting her attention drawn to something at her feet she kicks at it hearing a grunt in response as style sneaks by behind him and speeds off in the car back behind the desk it looks like the kind old lady is a mirror of her book counterpart her husband is there at her feet and handcuffed yikes stiles returns to the church and the kids are there seeing that they are looking more deformed and creature-like now truly changing into something else the girl's teeth have turned to fangs blood dripping from her mouth styles ask who they are and who they're with they respond they're with her you're my mommy and today's mommy's day she's all okay then and walks away very weird and creepy moment styles discovers the church's door is unlocked and it's pretty spooky inside all the candle holders resembling upside down crosses and there's a big old one up in the ceiling too in another area a kind of black substance seems to be taking over emanating from here most likely that's spreading evil that she mentioned from the book she opens the door to what looks like kane's office but since it's empty she turns away as soon as doing so she hears a typewriter clacking and kane has appeared the room also looks completely different than moments ago a hand grabs her and the door slams clothes disappearing entirely he says he's happy to see her beaming that she can edit this one from the inside looking out he expresses that for years he thought he was making all of his stories up but it was actually them telling me what to write glancing over to a slimy pulsating door they gave him the power to make it real and now it is he invites her to see the book for herself calling it the new bible he grabs her by the head seeing that it is articular book and she's bombarded with all kinds of weird off-putting images he pulls her away blood now seeping from her eyes styles now looks quite out of it and puts her arms around him seeing there's a weird creature dude growing out of his back reminding me of total recall a frantic styles then appears back at the hotel moaning she's losing herself and she's read the new book john scurry's downstairs looking for pikmin seeing in the painting the couple have reached their final forms of writhing disgusting monsters he hears the sound of anguish screaming and the old lady has changed as well chopping up her poor husband just as her character did in the book and terrified he stumbles back not such a sweet old lady after all a johnny boy after reading the book styles has started her own transformation greeting him with a weird smile and straight up chucks him right through the door outside in the greenhouse there's another creature there waving hello on his way to the car he doesn't get too far though encountering a mob of townspeople with torches everyone is encircled around styles the children singing you are a dead girl he seeks refuge in a bar where the father is there all bruised up and mumbling he doesn't know what came first us or the book john can't take it anymore and throws a glass in frustration growling this is not a book it's reality man he shows off a wound on his face courtesy of his own five-year-old boy and turns the gun on himself john pleads for him not to but the father shrugs i have to he wrote me this way and takes himself out the gang is waiting outside for him including styles who punches him right in the face he returns the favor much harder and carries her to the car she somehow got the keys and swallows them you're gonna be a problem styles ain't ya the townsfolk descend upon him and he uses a screwdriver to hotwire the car peeling away just in time from the weirdos on the road he complains to himself this is why you never leave the city linda wakes up chiding him for not believing her and again weirdly goes in for a kiss telling her kane wrote her that way it's good for the book he comes to a stop seeing the bite kid speeding away we hear some fleshy squelching and stiles peaks her head around the corner smiling and then rounds the corner revealing her next evolved form her head all the way around she giggles getting closer to him and he gets the hell out of there yeah good idea however leaving hobb's end proves impossible the lines on the road start glowing orange and he's shot right back to the town square he tries again passing by the my kid with a new passenger stiles riding on the back the road burns away and yep he's right back where he started this time he elects to plow right into the crowd and they separate to let him through until he comes to her and he veers off crashing the car things suddenly bathed in a heavy blue tent he comes to in a confession booth finding that he's trapped inside a white light swells next to him and kane speaks out asking if he knows the problem with religion it seeks discipline through fear but doesn't understand real creation no one before him believed enough to make this real all of this is thanks to his books trent maintains that his books aren't real but he argues that he's just as popular as the bible he sold a billion books and been translated into many languages deeming himself bigger than the pope at this point jon tries to convince himself there has to be some kind of logical explanation for this right kane smirking in response always looking for a con even now you're trying to rationalize he tells him that his books suck and the light bleeds out in response he then reveals the grand plan behind his latest books sure as others could have effects on people but this one will drive you completely mad by getting more and more readers or as he calls them believers it will exponentially increase his power when people begin to lose the ability to know the difference between reality and fiction the aforementioned old ones can begin their journey back the more who believe the faster their journey and with the way his other book sold this one is bound to be very popular he appears there in the booth with him wanna see he offers and grabs his head filled with the same images style saw and were whisked back to his blood office he types off the very last page and hands it over tasking him with delivering it as he's off to join his so-called new publishers john is confused what i do and he twists reality to his whims kane informing him he is what i write just like this town it wasn't here before he created it and neither were you jon is confident he knows what he is nobody pulls my strings man kane brings up the agent divulging that the attack was no accident he read about him in the book and knew what his ultimate role was he was in fact trying to stop jon from delivering the manuscript he refuses to believe that he's a piece of fiction and cain asks him to read if you don't believe see what i have in store for you he points to a massive tunnel there now in the room telling him his world lies beyond that passage he must go now as he can't hold off the old ones any longer the slimy door is starting to give he grabs his skin and peels it away like paper also resembling that tear in the poster from the alley from within a black void is created bordered by words from the book looks like to me he's officially broken or really rewritten reality itself thanks old ones linda starts to read describing exactly what jon's actions are him staring out into the abyss she narrates he then saw them spill from the black pit choked with the bones of countless unhallowed centuries and as he backed away they came pouring out into our world the old ones are busting loose he asked linda one last time to come with him but she responds that she can't she's read to the end and shoves the book in his hands some creatures become visible at the tear and he makes haste down the hall then they make it out of the hole a wall of grotesque creatures chasing after him and they are seriously bizarre looking he trips and falls just as they are about to overtake him and he's back out on the road still trembling in the fetal position another kid rides up on his bike and he asks which way to the highway dropping the book before making his way out of this nightmare once and for all or yeah probably not he hitches a ride to an old motel where the classic sci-fi romp robot monster is playing on the telly childhood favorite of carpenters apparently despite getting out of hobb's end he's still looking nervous and shaken up swaying on the bed the next morning the front desk is empty and about to leave a kid comes out telling him that there's a package for him he's baffled no one knows he's here well someone does he replies it's the book having returned naturally and he storms back down demanding to know who delivered it but he is unable to get any further details so he sets out to destroy the book burning it page by page in the sink afterwards he takes the bus back to the city with a chatty old lady seat mate rambling on about the old days he awakens from a nap to sutter there him chuckling knowingly assuring him that he's not going anywhere i'm god you understand trent fires back god isn't supposed to be a hack horror writer unfazed he shows off his newfound powers telling him did you know blue is my favorite color and he wakes up to an overly blue saturated world causing him to lose it and scream at the top of his lungs he wakes up again and everything is back to normal the lady assuring him it was just a bad dream he is still hopeful to find some kind of real-life concrete evidence that the town is real because otherwise he'd be crazy right but the lady at the hall of records sets the record straight appropriately it couldn't have been called hobbs in there never was or ever shall be a town by that name he loses his [ __ ] demanding to speak to his supervisor but elects to leave without any further incident so it's looking more and more like no matter how unbelievable there's ancient evil magic afoot here he then finds himself back at the posters in the alley and peels further at the tear revealing another one underneath the man in the drawing bearing a striking resemblance to jon reality continues not adding up even though he made it back to the real world when he fills the publisher in on his own story of what happened hergelow is confused thinking that jon doesn't even believe his own story he smirks well if i did i would be crazy he brings up how the books can affect people as stiles told him he interjects oh yes that's who you said i sent along with you but he's positive that he went solo there is no styles at all to his knowledge he mulls over how he couldn't remember and comes to an easy conclusion she must have been written out of the book well that explains it totally normal parkour asks if the book infected him and he gets serious everything i've said is true that is why i had to destroy the last manuscript yet again things aren't as he remembers harglow correcting him that he knows that's not the case he delivered the book himself three months ago it's already been in stores for nearly two months at this point oh no john begs for him to pull the book immediately it's going to drive people crazy you hope so as the movie is coming out next month leaving john terrified to the core of backing away in a stupor at the bookstore things have boiled over into a dangerous fervor for the public clamoring to get their hands on a copy of the book hearing news of it breaking the publishing record worldwide which you know good news for charlton heston and kane although as the news also notes there's violent outbreaks occurring everywhere spreading into a full-blown global epidemic at this point it's the apocalypse people a kid comes out pouring over his fresh copy blood dripping out of his eyes which have also split into two parts he bumps into a deranged looking john asking if he likes the book he croaks i love it he responds well that's good so this should come as no surprise and pulls out an axe destroying the new believer that brings us back to where we first met jon in his padded room he must have been arrested after the murder in the street and assumedly because of his behavior and crazy story is another of the many popping up with similar inexplicable acts of violence yet quite importantly john never actually read the book so he hasn't been changed like all the others with the split eye thing or the tentacles and what have you so really his act here is kind of a foolish attempt to try and stop the spread although he also obviously did more or less lose his marbles too this brings us to the core of john and is ever looking for the con at play ultimately thanks to sutter and his old ones fed power he has to finally accept that this crazy astounding story is true he constantly pushes against this idea and in the end well you can't escape the truth bunch of crazy evil [ __ ] going on around here i don't know what to tell you about he finishes his yarn to dr wren of course to the doctor his story does sound insane but we and trent know the truth about to leave he tells him that every species can smell its own extinction and the last ones left won't be having a pretty time the human race will become a bedtime story a myth for children nothing more this disturbing idea does seem to rattle rin a bit looking puzzled and worried but he still decides that after all that it's just a bunch of nonsense if you can believe he thinks sutter kane is destroying the world i mean that's just ridiculous right this is some more of that foreshadowing back in the car with styles the concept of how reality is just what we make it and now reality itself has been changed her old thing was the idea of insanity can change and that would wind you up in a straight jacket well there you go we see what happened to john he sounds crazy he's not crazy though rin is about to find out the truth for himself thunder rumbles outside and the lights flicker already hearing muffled screams trent knows it's happening seeing shadows of a tentacle creature killing someone through the window he shields his eyes away and just as quickly it abruptly stops things now unsettlingly quiet there's bangs at the door and it is quickly ripped off him seeing bloody claw marks when he steps out in the hall it looks like there was quite a hub bub everything in shambles also seeing several copies of the book amongst the rubble it looks like the place is totally empty of anyone else then the broadcast sets the scene of the world at this point there are only a few stragglers left the epidemic has officially taken over this too references that convo in the car he was just waiting for humans to become a memory mainly due to the fact that he knows so many bad people out there this is also kind of a dig at popular culture in a way and a steady decline over the years he tells her way back at the office while we already destroyed each other and our planet might as well flush our brains down the toilet the ultimate outcome is their self-created destruction they're damned as far as he's concerned and that playing out is what he gets a front row seat to see for himself thanks to sutter john walks the empty streets and comes to a curious site a movie theater playing the movie version of in the mouth of madness starring john trent himself he takes a seat along with some popcorn ready for the big show it begins and plays scenes from earlier in our movie playing with that idea that he was just part of the story all along and getting real meta with it as it continues he can't help but burst out into hysterical giggles as more of his journey flickers on the screen he busts out into full-blown maniacal cackling right so the other consideration being that just like all the others who read the book or saw the movie he's now on his own journey into madness as he finally experienced the story again he's also definitely gone completely bonkers no matter how you slice it one last time to the car styles brought up how it would be for the last people that survived it would be pretty lonely out there so what else can you really do at this point but to come and join the masses another pop culture thing there too get on board the hype train folks it is the only way consume media like i said a lot going on with this one and that's why for me this is a stone cold classic that deserves a lot more attention and praise that brings us to the conclusion of this explained video on in the mouth of madness and don't forget before we go you can send me requests for any movies or tv shows you'd like to see me explain by sending them my way on any of my social media accounts at foundflix what do you guys think of it in the mouth of madness and its ending what's your favorite john carpenter flick let me know your thoughts down in the comments below make sure to like subscribe and follow thanks for watching found flicks see you next time

Channel: FoundFlix

Views: 519,631

Rating: 4.9628625 out of 5

Keywords: in the mouth of madness, in the mouth of madness ending explained, ending, explained, explanation, meaning, john carpenter, trailer, clip, final scene, end scene, sam neill, eyes, monsters, creatures, hp lovecraft, lovecraft, practical effects, 90s horror, foundflix, foundflix ending explaned, twist, apocalypse

Id: x5GUFEgY9l0

Length: 28min 11sec (1691 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 15 2021