In the Mouth of Madness

How this film uses it

The town of Hobb's End from Cane's novels turns out to be real. The people and places appear exactly as written, and the story begins to write itself. The film asks what happens when enough people believe a story.

Where to see it

The arrival: John and Linda drive to Hobb's End, where landmarks and residents appear just as Cane wrote them.

How this film uses it

John tells his story from a padded room in an asylum. That frame looks like a way to explain the weirdness, but it ends up locking you into his account and then into the apocalypse. The last scenes make the telling feel like part of the horror.

Where to see it

The asylum: John is delivered to an insane asylum, restrained, and begins telling his story to a doctor. At the end, the asylum is deserted.

How this film uses it

The last scene has John wandering into a cinema to see a movie of his own story. He watches himself say the line about reality, and he breaks down in laughter. The film closes with the film that has taken him over.

Where to see it

The final scene: John enters a cinema and watches the film adaptation of In the Mouth of Madness replay his story. He bursts into hysterical laughter.

How this film uses it

John cannot tell what is real, and neither can you. Linda sees the same cyclist as a young man and an old man, the road vanishes and John keeps ending up back in the town center. Every attempt to escape confirms that the rules are not his.

Where to see it

The loop: while trying to escape Hobb's End, John keeps finding himself teleported back to the town center. He crashes his car in frustration and wakes in the church.