Episode 178: Edge of Reality: On John Carpenter's 'In the Mouth of Madness'

Earlier this month, Phil and JF recorded a live episode at Indiana University Cinema in Bloomington following a screening of John Carpenter's film In the Mouth of Madness. Carpenter’s cult classic obliterates the boundary between reality and fiction, madness and revelation—an ideal subject for a Weird Studies conversation. In this episode, recorded before a live audience, the hosts explore the film’s Lovecraftian themes, the porous nature of storytelling, and how art can function as a conduit to unsettling truths.

Special thanks to Dr. Alicia Kozma and the IU Cinema team for hosting and recording the event.

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REFERENCES

John Carpenter, In the Mouth of Madness (imdb.com/title/tt0113409)

John Carpenter, Prince of Darkness* (imdb.com/title/tt0093777)

John Carpenter, The Thing (imdb.com/title/tt0084787)

Joshua Clover, BFI Film Classics: The Matrix (bloomsbury.com/ca/matrix-9781839022678)

Philip K. Dick, Time Out of Joint (bookshop.org/a/18799/9780547572581)

David Cronenberg, Videodrome (imdb.com/title/tt0086541)

Louis Althusser, "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (Notes towards an Investigation)" (marxists.org/reference/archive/althusser/1970/…)

Giorgio Agamben, Homo Sacer (bookshop.org/a/18799/9780804732185)

Nick Land, (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Land) English philosopher

H. P. Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu" (hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/cc.aspx)

Jonathan Carroll, The Land of Laughs (hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/cc.aspx)

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