Sam Neill enjoyed a big year in 1993 thanks to a main character in Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster Jurassic Park as well as a supporting role in Jane Campion’s The Piano. Neill followed up as the lead in 1994’s John Carpenter horror tale In the Mouth of Madness.

John Trent (Neill) works as an independent insurance investigator. When renowned horror novelist Sutter Cane (Jürgen Prochnow) disappears, his publisher Jackson Harglow (Charlton Heston) hires him to find the missing author.

Though Trent suspects this all exists as a publicity stunt, he takes the gig and works with Cane’s editor Linda Styles (Julie Carmen). Trent goes down a slippery slope that threatens his own sanity.

If Neill hoped Mouth would continue his cinematic winning streak, he encountered disappointment. The film firmly bombed at the box office, though Carpenter’s involvement meant it would enjoy some cult status.

Did Mouth deserve a bigger audience 31 years ago? Maybe, though the end product lacks the consistency to turn into a genuinely good movie.

Mouth peaks early. After a suitably intriguing opening that shows Trent stuck in a psychiatric facility, we see the tale via flashback.

“Horror noir” doesn’t exist as much of a genre, but Mouth clearly exists as part of it – for a while, at least. Carpenter indulges noir tropes in a gleeful manner during the movie’s first act and these create an unusual and vivid set-up for a horror tale.

However, once Trent and Styles start to experience supernatural weirdness, Mouth turns less compelling. While its basic premise of an author whose warped tales come from a reality imposed by mysterious forces sounds good, the movie doesn’t pursue this theme well.

Really, once Trent and Styles begin to encounter the craziness, Mouth loses much real plot. Instead, it tends to turn into a Lovecraftian collection of grotesque and creepy visuals more than a solid story.

If better depicted, these could work. However, Carpenter tends to let the scary images do all the work for him.

We get a lot of cheap “boo moments” and not much else. A lot of this comes across as padding and means that the middle section of Mouth crawls.

Mouth does pick up a bit as it goes into its third act, and it never becomes less than watchable. Still, after a promising start, the movie loses focus and fails to really satisfy.

In the Mouth of Madness appears in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. Though not a dazzling image, the Dolby Vision presentation appeared to reproduce the source well.

Sharpness seemed largely solid. A little softness occasionally appeared in a few interiors, but most of the movie showed positive clarity and accuracy.

I saw no issues with jaggies or shimmering, and edge haloes remained absent. Grain seemed appropriate, and no print flaws marred the proceedings.

The film went with a fairly natural palette and the colors delivered largely appropriate life. While not eye-popping, the hues gave us good vivacity when allowed, and HDR added some spark to these elements.

Blacks seemed deep and dark, and shadows offered positive delineation. HDR contributed extra punch to whites and contrast. Again, this wasn’t a visual showcase, but it worked well given the nature of the photography.

Music dominated the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundfield, as the side and surround channels offered active presentation of the score. These elements embellished the material well.

As for effects, creepy scare scenes – of which we found many - used the back/side speakers actively and showed good localization. This was a more than adequate soundscape.

Audio quality seemed positive. Music offered nice range and punch, while dialogue was natural and concise.

Effects showed positive clarity and impact. This ended up as a solid “B+” soundtrack.

The disc comes with three separate audio commentaries, the first of which comes from director John Carpenter and producer Sandy King Carpenter. Both sit together for a running, screen-specific look at story/characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, various effects, and related topics.

Thanks to his chats with Kurt Russell, John Carpenter enjoys a strong reputation as someone who Gives Good Commentary. However, I think his tracks tend to be inconsistent and listeners probably think they’re more entertaining than they are because Russell laughs his butt off through them.

Partnered with his wife, my belief hardens with this spotty discussion. While we get a decent number of movie notes, these come stuck among a lot of less than productive moments.

John often simply describes the on-screen action, so insights come infrequently. Honestly, the most compelling aspects of the commentary relate to the occasions Sandy makes her disdain for then-New Line head honcho Bob Shaye known.

Sandy never really gets the chance to dish dirt, though, so those moments pass. Fans will likely get enough material from the chat to make it worth a listen, but it will probably seem mediocre to those of us not fully enamored with the film.

For the second commentary, we get director John Carpenter and director of photography Gary B. Kibbe. Both sit together for their running, screen-specific look at photography, story/characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, and connected domains.

More technical than the Carpenter/Carpenter track, this one proves a bit more satisfying, mainly because Carpenter seems a little more engaged and on-topic. Still, we get too much of his usual tendency to simply narrate the movie, so the end product remains inconsistent.

The third commentary comes from podcasters Rebekah McKendry and Elric Kane. Both sit together for their running, screen-specific examination of influences and inspirations, some production elements, and their thoughts about the film.

At times, McKendry and Kane offer some decent notes about the film’s Lovecraftian elements and related areas. However, much of the track just comes across like a general appreciation of the movie so I can’t claim we find a lot of insights here.

Under Interviews, we get four separate segments: producer Sandy King Carpenter (21:37), actor Jürgen Prochnow (6:46), actor Julie Carmen (9:47) and special makeup effects artist Greg Nicotero (16:35).

Carpenter looks at her career and experiences during Mouth whereas the actors discuss their roles, performances and experiences. Unsurprisingly, Nicotero digs into his creations for the film.

Carpenter repeats some of the material from her commentary but still brings some new info, though it disappoints she doesn’t dig into her problems with Bob Shaye. The actors offer decent details but Nicotero’s reel fares best via all his insights along with some useful behind the scenes shots.

We Are What He Writes goes for 33 minutes, 25 seconds. It offers notes from Camille Zaurin, Tom Rutter and George Lea, as each gets their own segment.

Oddly, “Writes” fails to name the participants until its end credits, and it never gives us a notation to tell us their “jobs”. Perhaps it shouldn’t matter that we don’t know their “qualifications”, but it seems like a weird choice to present the three commentators without any identifiers.

The compilation of opinions looks at John Carpenter’s filmography as well as interpretation and nuances of Mouth. The quality of the insights varies but the overall package comes with a decent collection of thoughts.

Next comes Reality Is Not What It Used to Be. This one spans 11 minutes, 27 seconds and involves film scholar Alexandra Heller-Nicholas.

She looks at connections to other aspects of culture as well as more interpretation of the film and its themes. Though billed as an “appreciation”, Heller-Nicholas avoids bland praise and gives us an appealing take on the project.

An episode of Horror’s Hallowed Grounds lasts 11 minutes, 31 seconds as host Sean Clark takes us on a tour of locations used for Mouth. These programs usually give us enjoyable glimpses of the locations and this one becomes another fun view of the shooting spots.

Home Movies from Hobb’s End runs 12 minutes, eight seconds and delivers behind the scenes footage taken during the production of Mouth. Despite some rough video quality, we get some interesting clips, especially when we look at various effects.

A circa 1994 vintage featurette occupies five minutes, three seconds and brings remarks from John Carpenter, Carmen, Prochnow, and actors Sam Neill an Charlton Heston. We also hear from some unnamed ILM and KNB personnel I didn’t recognize.

They give us a general look at the movie’s story and characters as well as a few effects domains. We find a bland promo reel.

In addition to a trailer and 14 TV spots, the disc concludes with an Image Gallery with 90 stills. These mix ads, movie shots and behind the scenes photos to deliver a solud collection.

At times intriguing, In the Mouth of Madness lacks the consistency it needs. While aspects of this noir and horror combination click, the entire package doesn’t fully connect. The 4K UHD comes with very good picture and audio as well as an appealing collection of bonus features. Expect a high-quality release for an erratic film.