John Dies at the End (2012): Surreal and Meaty, needs to be seen to be believed (Review)

Originally starting life as a web serial by the appropriately monikered David Wong, John Dies at the End has grown into a published novel (and a sequel This Book Is Full of Spiders), before being developed by Bubba Ho-Tep and Phantasm director Don Coscarelli. Now in 2014, Eureka films are unleashing this incomparable film onto an unsuspecting horror community. The story (for what it’s worth) follows friends John (Rob Mayes) and Dave (Wong) (Chase Williamson) as they discover a new drug (soy sauce) that allows them to cross the boundary of life and death, time, dimensions, and things humans just weren’t meant to see. With their whole concept of existence shattered by this drug, John and Dave are faced with the task of saving the world from an otherworldly silent invasion.

Time and understanding the un-understandable are running themes in Coscarelli’s film, but worry not it’s not like the film drops you in at the deep end. “Understanding the un-understandable” is the best way to describe much of what happens in John Dies at the End, the best scene in the film you could use to describe this is in the scene where Dave meets a Jamaican at a party. In that scene the Jamaican (Robert Marley) describes a dream then ponders how your brain knows that lightning is going to strike with enough precognition to weave it into the dream’s narrative. That stoner-baiting question is the logical level that Coscarelli’s latest operates upon, in other words, it’s best not to ask too many questions.

The film is given some illumination by Dave narrating that which cannot be seen – a very effective approach it is too. The original book was written by Dave Wong, our protagonist, and through giving voice to his thoughts it provides that all-important way into an otherwise imperceptible minefield. It’s not just giving voice to his thoughts; it’s also giving voice to the framing device. As the film opens Dave meets Arnie Blondestone (Paul Giamatti); a journalist who he hopes can get his story out into the world. Although the script isn’t concerned with coherence, it’s in these scenes with Arnie and Dave that the film hangs together. That’s not the only strength of Giamatti’s scenes; he also gets an unexpected bit of development that shows how far down the rabbit hole goes.

Peculiar, odd, weird, eccentric, these are the only words that can effectively categorize Don Coscarelli’s John Dies at the End. Instead of throwing around such hyperbole ad nauseam, it would be more fitting to provide examples. There is a fight with a flying moustache, phone calls with a dead man, a monster made of meat products, lots of exploding body parts and still we are just skimming the surface.

Unfortunately, everything positive can also be negative. For starters, the film only starts making a lick of sense on its second viewing and the budget gives a homemade feel to the practical effects. With the concept of dealing with ideas as vast as inter-dimensional brain monsters, there is clearly a limit to what can be done with in-camera effects. There’s a sequence late on that could only be achieved through traditional hand-drawn animation, which is fantastically disgusting, the use of computer animation else cannot be held up to the same standard. These CG abominations stand out much more prominently thanks to the bleeding-edge clarity of the Blu-ray print. Although let’s be honest, if weird looking effects are going to put you off, you really aren’t that much of a horror fan, to begin with.

Acting isn’t great save for the fantastic Paul Giamatti, and as previously alluded the film isn’t really concerned with a conclusively told story arc, so this is a world away from your commercially accessible film. It’s in the imagination that John Dies at the End prevails, there’s absolutely nobody in the wider genre community that would even dream of adapting such audacious intellectual property let alone to craft it with such a sense of fun.

There is one parallel that sums up the John Dies at the End perfectly, think of your unsuccessful TV pilot. A show you loved but wasn’t picked up for series, you enjoy everything wholeheartedly and you want to see more, but all you have is that one episode. With Coscarelli’s affection for the characters and the sequel book this Book Is Full of Spiders to work with, here’s hoping this incomparable universe comes out to play one more time.

If you want to hear more about the film you can listen to our interview with Don Coscarelli on this episode on Spotify. 

Thanks for reading our review of John Dies at the End

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