10 Movie Villains Obsessed With Immortality
2. Sutter Cane - In The Mouth Of Madness (1994)
"Lovecraftian" is not a vague descriptor, and it's one found in probably every review of this film directed by the great John Carpenter. It stars Sam Neil as John Trent, a private investigator searching for horror fictionist Cane, who's gone missing.
As Trent begins to read through some of Cane's work, he descends gradually into madness. Instead of attempting to immortalize himself through a dug up corpse, Cane chooses literature as his monster: his writing create an alternate reality over which he reigns despotically.
What makes Cane truly sinister is that since his books are entirely a ploy for him to control people's minds, he chose to promulgate through the lowest common denominator of the mass paperback.
The film's greatest reveal is that Trent and his entire world are themselves the fictional invention of Cane. This time, the immortality-seeker is not punished, but instead continues his eternal dominion as Trent is finally defeated by madness.