Movies
John Carpenter Wanted to Use Metallica for the Opening Credits of ‘In the Mouth of Madness’
While Halloween, The Thing, and Escape From New York are John Carpenter staples, his Lovecraftian In the Mouth of Madness has always been one of my personal favorites. Carried by Jurassic Park actor Sam Neill‘s performance as an insurance investigator in search of famed horror author Sutter Cane, the 1994 horror film also boasted an electric score by Carpenter and Jim Lang.
Out today, John Carpenter Anthology: Movie Themes 1974-1998 brings together 13 classic themes from Carpenter’s illustrious career together on one volume for the first time. The opening track is that from In the Mouth of Madness, a Metallica-inspired riff originally played for the film by Kinks guitarist Dave Davies, and now played by his son Daniel Davies.
Carpenter, in speaking to CoS, explains why the theme song is in the vein of something off Metallica’s famed self-titled 1991 album:
“Jim [Lang] tried his hand at a main theme, and it just didn’t go,” Carpenter explained.
“What I really wanted was … I wanted Metallica. We tried to get ‘Enter Sandman’, but we couldn’t afford it, or they wouldn’t give it to us.
“I can’t remember what it was, but probably that they wouldn’t give it to us. I sat down and developed this theme on my own because I wanted something that gets up and goes there, you know? Not some spooky music. I wanted something to sound like heavy metal, and that’s what you hear.”
It all makes sense now…
Movies
’28 Years Later’ – Ralph Fiennes, Jodie Comer, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson Join Long Awaited Sequel
Danny Boyle and Alex Garland (Annihilation, Men), the director and writer behind 2002’s hit horror film 28 Days Later, are reteaming for the long-awaited sequel, 28 Years Later. THR reports that the sequel has cast Jodie Comer (Alone in the Dark, “Killing Eve”), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kraven the Hunter), and Ralph Fiennes (The Menu).
The plan is for Garland to write 28 Years Later and Boyle to direct, with Garland also planning on writing at least one more sequel to the franchise – director Nia DaCosta is currently in talks to helm the second installment.
No word on plot details as of this time, or who Comer, Taylor-Johnson, and Fiennes may play.
28 Days Later received a follow up in 2007 with 28 Weeks Later, which was executive produced by Boyle and Garland but directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. Now, the pair hope to launch a new trilogy with 28 Years Later. The plan is for Garland to write all three entries, with Boyle helming the first installment.
Boyle and Garland will also produce alongside original producer Andrew Macdonald and Peter Rice, the former head of Fox Searchlight Pictures, the division of one-time studio Twentieth Century Fox that originally backed the British-made movie and its sequel.
The original film starred Cillian Murphy “as a man who wakes up from a coma after a bicycle accident to find England now a desolate, post-apocalyptic collapse, thanks to a virus that turned its victims into raging killers. The man then navigates the landscape, meeting a survivor played by Naomie Harris and a maniacal army major, played by Christopher Eccleston.”
Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer) is on board as executive producer, though the actor isn’t set to appear in the film…yet.
Talks of a third installment in the franchise have been coming and going for the last several years now – at one point, it was going to be titled 28 Months Later – but it looks like this one is finally getting off the ground here in 2024 thanks to this casting news. Stay tuned for more updates soon!
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