John Dies at the End
2013 Directed by Don Coscarelli
Synopsis
Just so you know...they're sorry for anything that's about to happen.
It's a drug that promises an out-of-body experience with each hit. On the street they call it Soy Sauce, and users drift across time and dimensions. But some who come back are no longer human. Suddenly a silent otherworldly invasion is underway, and mankind needs a hero. What it gets instead is John and David, a pair of college dropouts who can barely hold down jobs. Can these two stop the oncoming horror in time to save humanity? No. No, they can't.
Cast
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At one point, a character grabs a doorknob and it turns into a penis.
I shouldn't have to say more.
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It is amazing to think that Don Coscarelli was only 25 when he directed Phantasm in 1979, it is crazy to think that in the past 34 years he has only directed 11 films (including an episode of Masters of Horror). I find it refreshing that even though he has been a known name in the genre (mostly thanks to the Phantasm series), he is still perfectly capable of releasing a great horror film in 2012. He has adapted with the times, using both practical effects and computer animation simultaneously with great results. I am sure the fact the source material was a novel is a major reason for John Dies at the End being so god damn good, but…
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This movie ain't for everyone, but it's totally for me. There's freaky space insects, freaky space drugs, interdimensional travel, people exploding, and the main character takes a phone call on a bratwurst. Easily my favorite film of 2013 so far.
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Director - Don Coscarelli
Writers - Don Coscarelli (Screenplay) and David Wong (Story)
Cast - Chase Williamson, Rob Mayes, Paul Giamatti, Clancy Brown, Glynn Turman, Doug Jones, Tai Bennett, Fabianne Therese, Jonny Weston and Jimmy WongJohn Dies at the End is like Detention on a ton of speed. It combines classic creature-feature horror, juvenile humour and a generous helping of surrealism, resulting in a film that works far better than it has any right to. If you can ignore the batshit plot and the fact that none of it makes a blind bit of sense, you’re in for a real treat when you sit down to watch this film. It follows the story of David (Williamson) and John…
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you
LIE
title. -
I haven't read the source material this is based on, but after watching Coscarelli's adaptation I really want to as I got the feeling I might like that even more than I did the film.
This is a completely bizarre film that plays out like some weird amalgamation of Naked Lunch and Ghostbusters which shouldn't work but does. There is a host of ideas that feel unexplored, but the strong dialogues, breakneck pace and out of the box weirdness make it come together in a neat bundle of unbridled strangeness.
And yes, it has an absolutely brilliant (k)nob joke.
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I really wanted to like this movie.
It was played as a B movie with the hope of something more.
It was barely that.
I liked a couple of the ideas, but they didn't even hold themselves together, much less the entire movie.
David Wong is still a really funny writer on Cracked.com
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Very Cronenberg-esque and absurdish film. Unique, well, yeah. Farfetched and all over the place? Pretty much yes. Do we learn anything from this? Nope. Worth watching? Probably. If you dig flicks like Existenz, Cosmopolis and Southland Tales, then this is pretty much up your alley, or should i say dimension ? {o,0}
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This was surprisingly really good. It's Cronenberg meets Sam Raimi meets the Coen brothers. It's by the guy who made Bubba Hotep but the pacing and story is a lot more accessible, and a good comedic/horror with an 80s celebration of the genre.
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The weirdest movie I watched in a while. By far.
On of the most enjoyable as well!
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Don Coscarelli is an idea man. Watch any of his films. He has tons and tons of cool ideas. However, putting them into a coherent story has never really been his forté, as exhibited here.
I've enjoyed Bubba Ho-Tep and the Phantasm films to varying degrees, so I wanted to love John Dies at the End, but there is just way too much going on here. There are a lot of great sci-fi horror set-pieces, but not enough time is spent fleshing any of them out. It's like Coscarelli is in a big hurry to empty the contents of his imagination that nothing ever gets proper service.
I picture Coscarelli's early notes for this film as hundreds of buzz phrases…
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Almost good.
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I have no clue what to think of this movie.
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Great adaptation.
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Probably much, much better if you are actually on drugs while watching it.