For its first half this is an effective Lovecraftian potboiler, with
Sam Neill as the insurance agent driven mad by his pursuit of the
mysterious novelist Sutter Cane (Jurgen Prochnow). However, his
narration in flashback becomes less intriguing when he reaches Hobbs
End, the fictional setting of Cane's work. There, an hour in, the film
abandons its nervy mysteries in favour of hallucinatory surrealism
and gloopy special effects. Another John Carpenter failure, then,
it's all the more disappointing given its early promise.
