John Dies at the End (2013)
Directed by Don Coscarelli
A new drug promises out-of-body experiences, but users are coming back changed forever, and an otherworldly invasion of Earth is underway.
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18 films that influenced John Dies at the End
What critics say influenced John Dies at the End
Like “Naked Lunch” or “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension” before it, “John Dies At The End” is a weird, wild, and wonderfully unique film that defies just about every convention that critics – and traditional media – throw at it.
If you liked “Donnie Darko” and David Cronenberg’s “Naked Lunch”; if you enjoyed “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” and Michael Haneke’s early films – and the underappreciated third film of George A. Romero’s zombie trilogy, and Zack Snyder’s “Sucker Punch” – well, then I think you’re good with “John Dies at the End.” (You might have to admit that you kind of liked Guy Ritchie’s idiotic work of Madonna-informed mysticism, “Revolver,” and you certainly have to be excited about Giamatti’s upcoming role in Ari Folman’s “The Congress,” adapted from a novel by Polish sci-fi cult hero Stanislaw Lem. ) Like I say, self-limiting.
The effects tip this off as an attempt to make a David Cronenberg (“Scanners,” “Naked Lunch”) comedy, with a few “Fright Night” touches.
John Dies at the End is joyously heterodox in its method, an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink mélange of sci-fi, black comedy, and action, with disquieting body-horror sight gags that at times recall David Cronenberg’s Naked Lunch .
In case you missed it , I'm a big fan of John Dies at the End, mainly because it's not a movie you can really say is like anything else; I have made comparisons to both Naked Lunch (drugs 'n demons) and Buckaroo Banzai (insanity from alternate dimensions hunted by celebrity superstars) a few times here, but it's a lot more satisfying as a story than either.
Filled with humor, kinetic action, heady scifi and philosophical mumbo jumbo, cool monsters and strong, cool characters, John Dies At The End is a movie whose family tree includes Big Trouble In Little China and Buckaroo Banzai.
(Williamson and Giamatti meet at a restaurant called “They China,” for God’s sake—and the attentive cinephile will catch allusions to Big Trouble in Little China, not surprisingly).
The effects tip this off as an attempt to make a David Cronenberg (“Scanners,” “Naked Lunch”) comedy, with a few “Fright Night” touches.
For example, the “truth” of the oncoming invasion is known only to those who shoot up the mysterious drug, “Soy Sauce,” a nice tip of the thematic hat to John Carpenter’s They Live.
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Like Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead, Coscarelli’s film functions as affectionate homage to the horror material from which it draws its inspiration.
So I don’t understand why his art, such as it is, hasn’t advanced much over the first film of his I ever saw, “Phantasm,” back in 1979.
Much-hyped, John Dies at the End is a collaboration between horror auteur Don Coscarelli (Phantasm, Bubba Ho-Tep) and Cracked.com…
Directed by Don Coscarelli (“Bubba Ho-Tep,” “Phantasm”) and based on Jason Pargin’s trippy horror novel of the same name (published under his pseudonym David Wong), “John Dies At The End” follows a pair of slackers whose experience with a new drug called “soy sauce” reveals the existence of an interdimensional invasion occurring all around them.
As director Coscarelli demonstrated in " Phantasm " and " Bubba Ho-Tep ," he likes to traffic in scrappy chaos, spicing every dollop of gore with an equivalent dose of laughter.
B-horror-movie auteur Coscarelli made his name with “Phantasm,” a low-budget 1979 film about a boy grappling with the supernatural that was an antidote to “E.T.” and the film that introduced the world to “The Tall Man” character and actor Angus Scrimm.
If you liked “Donnie Darko” and David Cronenberg’s “Naked Lunch”; if you enjoyed “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” and Michael Haneke’s early films – and the underappreciated third film of George A. Romero’s zombie trilogy, and Zack Snyder’s “Sucker Punch” – well, then I think you’re good with “John Dies at the End.” (You might have to admit that you kind of liked Guy Ritchie’s idiotic work of Madonna-informed mysticism, “Revolver,” and you certainly have to be excited about Giamatti’s upcoming role in Ari Folman’s “The Congress,” adapted from a novel by Polish sci-fi cult hero Stanislaw Lem. ) Like I say, self-limiting.
Well, a professional, anyway: The writer-director is Don Coscarelli, the guy who made “The Beastmaster.”
Don Coscarelli is a cult director, responsible for movies as diverse as Phantasm, The Beastmaster, and Bubba Ho-Tep.
His oeuvre includes the Phantasm series of films, The Beastmaster, and the insane Bruce Campbell vehicle Bubba Ho-tep.
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It's along the lines of Quentin Dupieux 's " Rubber ," but really pushes the boundaries of absurdity.
Its genre-movie cameos include an appearance by a frighteningly skinny Doug Jones (Abe Sapien in “ Hellboy ”).