3/5 stars
Don Coscarelli’s John Dies at the End has the narrative scope to produce a fantastic TV series: it’s vibrant, wacky, and fun, reminiscent of cult favourites such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Reaper. Like a great deal of films, it’s opening is its greatest asset, and within a few minutes we are exposed to a girl who convincingly combusts into an array of snakes, a freezer full of red meat that produces a remarkable ‘meat monster’, and a door handle that turns into a penis – great stuff. Unfortunately this high-octane experience doesn’t last too long and by the second act I was beginning to wonder where they were going with the narrative.
Premiering at Sundance, the film sees Dave Wong (Chase Williamson) detailing his experiences of a new street drug ‘Soy Sauce’ – which sends its user across space and time – to journalist Arnie Blandstone (Paul Giamatti). The majority of the story is told through flashback where we begin to piece together all the various fantastical episodes leading up to their meeting. In a nutshell the film’s leading characters, Dave and John (Rob Mayes), attempt to save humanity from an otherworldly invasion.
John Dies at the End suffers from a distracting TV aesthetic and the humour is at times a tad inane. I’d have preferred if the films ideas were nailed down firmly instead of having a flimsy and often unguided flow. However, I endorse the film’s refreshing and unfettered creativity and I’m sure it’ll maintain Coscarelli’s obscure cult status. Perhaps I should read the novel of the same name in which the film is based on (written by Jason Pargin and published under the pseudonym David Wong) in an attempt to appreciate it, or perhaps I just didn’t ‘get it’.
Tomas Badger
5/5 stars
During John Dies At The End, one character matter-of-factly declares that “if Franz Kafka were here he’d s**t himself”. It’s a line which accurately sums up the latest from Don Coscarelli, director of Bubba Ho-Tep. Based on a novel by David Wong, this is a film which goes to places so equally twisted and silly that it feels like David Lynch directing a Bill And Ted movie. Despite it’s lack of logic, the film is perfect at being what it sets out to be: sardonic, irreverent, mind-joltingly surreal and very funny.
The film follows a young man named David and his ominously-fated friend John who, after being given a substance called “Soy Sauce” by a mysterious drug dealer, begins to have terrifying apocalyptic visions. David and John begin to suspect that the drug has in fact allowed them to perceive genuinely supernatural occurrences, and before long the slacker heroes are embroiled in a sinister plot which involves alternative dimensions, flying moustaches, demonic priests and a quick bit of time travelling. This is Donnie Darko meets Clerks via Buffy The Vampire Slayer, with only the most tenuous of narrative threads holding each deranged episode together ,as the story is told by David to a journalist (played by a gamely droll Paul Giamatti).
Amidst the madness, is a commentary about the nature of substance abuse, but the film never lets this dark subtext get in the way of the fun. There will inevitably be some who finds the lightly-sketched plot and hilariously perplexing narration obtuse, but this is a film which largely defies any buzz-harshening by being just as facetious, engaging and affable as its two leads. If this film doesn’t become a cult classic, then you might get the feeling – like the film’s characters – that there’s something very wrong with the world.
Sean Hayes
