Sundance 2012 Review: JOHN DIES AT THE END - A New Cult Classic
This might sound funny, but John Dies at the End was one of the most anticipated films for me at the Sundance Film Festival even though I really knew nothing about it. I had heard a few fun things surrounding it, and that was enough for me to think that this might be a movie I would really enjoy, and it was. This movie was awesomely hilarious, and completely crazily strange in every sense of the words.
The film was written and directed by Don Coscarelli (Bubba Ho-Tep), and is an adaptation of the novel written by Cracked.com's David Wong. The story follows a couple of college dropout slackers named John and David who end up saving the world from the hostile take over of a evil being from dark dimension. Throughout the course of the film we learn about these two characters and how they come across a paranormal psychoactive drug called "soy sauce," which gives them powers to bend time and space, travel to other dimensions, read minds, and fight off demons. The introduction of this drug takes them on a journey of magnificent madness that I know the majority of you would have a hell of a great time watching.
This film was written for the internet movie geek generation, by the internet movie geek generation, which is why I know this is a film many of you will love. The dialogue these characters spit out of their mouths and the odd situations they find themselves in is joyfully comical. It's just goes so over the top that I couldn't help but laugh. The filmmakers didn't hold back at all with this movie; they committed to going all the way with it and beyond regardless of how ridiculous the ideas were. The movie went to a whole new level at the second half of the story when they ended up taking the characters to another dimension. That second half of the movie almost killed the movie for several people I talked to, but they will all tell you that the first half of the film was amazing.
I loved that they took the film where they did, and accepted it for what it was, embracing the bizarreness of it all. I probably would have loved it just as much had they held back a bit as well. Frankly, I enjoyed the characters. It was their personalities mixed in with the supernatural element and wackiness that made this movie so fun and entertaining for me. There are so many ways this movie could have sucked ass, but it was these characters that made it what it was and made it work so well.
Paul Giamatti was the executive producer of the film, and he also starred in it along side Chase Williamson as David, Rob Meyers as John, the creepily great Doug Jones, and Clancy Brown, who plays a badass well known Russian paranormal psychic named Dr. Albert Marconi, who helps John and Dave on their dimensional journey.
John Dies at the End is sure to end up being a cult classic, and it's not to be missed when it eventually gets released. You need to experience this movie for yourself, nothing I or anyone else says can prepare you for the absurd hysteria!
Here's the Synopsis:
On the street, they call it “soy sauce.” It's a paranormal, psychoactive drug that promises an out-of-body experience with each hit. Its users drift across time and dimensions, but some who come back are devoid of all humanity. While most of Earth’s inhabitants remain blissfully oblivious to its threat—make no mistake—an otherworldly invasion is under way, and mankind needs to be saved. Enter John and David, a pair of college dropouts who can barely hold down jobs. How can these guys possibly be expected to rescue mankind from certain destruction?
Originally erupting from the devilishly ingenious mind of David Wong, alter ego of Cracked.com’s senior editor Jason Pargin, JOHN DIES AT THE END began as a Web serial that became an Internet phenomenon. In the highly capable hands of legendary cult horror director Don Coscarelli (Phantasm, Bubba Ho-Tep), Pargin’s wildly trippy vision is forged into big-screen eye candy. The end result will take you to places in your subconscious that you shouldn’t be allowed to visit.