Ranking Every John Carpenter Theme Worst To Best
15. In The Mouth Of Madness (1994)
On its own merits, this is a pretty cool rock tune. It sounds kind of like a cross between Alice Cooper, Metallica and Midnight Oil, if you can imagine such a thing. So given that, there is really nothing wrong with this song.
It's the moment when you consider the movie itself that the theme becomes a little questionable. In the Mouth of Madness was definitely one of the better 90s Carpenter films, and so deserved something with a little more clout than what this theme offers. John Carpenter demonstrated several times over that he was a competent musician in the field of electric guitars and steady drum beats, but it was never quite as cool and memorable as his electronic work.
Still, the brooding, ambient, slowed-down interlude is a nice touch. Whether it was intentional or not, that sense of belonging in the wrong song has a neat effect. In all, the theme to In the Mouth of Madness is as charismatic as the next one, but only when you separate it from the fact that it was supposed to be for a horror film.