Infamousta
brilliant actors, brilliant editing
Winifred
The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.
Wyatt
There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.
Sam Panico
I have no idea how to even start discussing this movie, other than to tell you that it's all over the place narrative and insane concepts make it a film that seems created for a target audience of one - me.Written and directed by Phantasm creator Don Coscarelli and based on the book by David Wong, this film feels nearly impenetrable and like the kind of movie that you need to be on soy sauce, the drug from the film, to comprehend.Coscarelli found the story by accident. He says, "True story: I received an email from a robot on Amazon.com, and it told me if I liked the zombie book I just read, that I would like John Dies at the End. I read the little logline, and it was just amazingly strange. I thought, 'Well this might even make a good movie.' Plus, it had arguably the greatest title in motion picture history."The film begins with David Wong pondering whether an axe he has used to kill a skinhead who keeps coming back from the dead is the same axe because it has a new head every time. Immediately, you know that this film has no interest in slowing down or worrying if you're not getting it.David goes to meet Arnie Blondestone (Paul Giamatti, Private Parts), a reporter who wants to know about the strange events that make up David and his friend John's lives. It turns out that awhile back, David saved his friend Amy's dog, Bark Lee, after he bit a Jamaican drug dealer.Later, John is given the soy sauce drug by that very same drug dealer. Soy sauce opens the mind to things no one else can see, as well putting whoever uses it into alternate realities. That's proved right away when a past version of John begins calling Dave and guiding him. Then the syringe full of the drug bites Dave and sends him through a whole bunch of other timelines.Soon, Detective Lawrence Appleton questions John and Dave, because everyone that was at the drug dealer's house has either disappeared or died violently. The reporter says that everything is a lie at this point, but Dave shows him a monster that convinces him to stay.What follows is an adventure that includes celebrity exorcist Albert Marconi who gives the boys an LSD bomb to stop Korrok, an ancient biological superintelligence that has become a god inside another reality that prefers to communicate via cartoons, as well as a side journey to a future where John and Dave are the messiahs that will free Earth from a deadly plague. However, our heroes want nothing to do with any of this, preferring to play basketball.And what happens with that newspaper interview? Does John die at the end? Can a dog save reality? I really don't want to spoil any of this for you.I was completely entertained by this movie, but it's one of those ones that I have trouble telling others about. There are long stretches of talky dialogue that demand that you pay attention to the film. This isn't background noise, but something that demands to be experienced. For those looking for something original and willing to make the commitment, I can offer no higher recommendation.
stegor
John Dies At the End ... Or not ... Since this is a spoiler free zone ... Contains likable characters, an implausible plot, plus more than a modicum of laughs.Played straight throughout, despite risible effects, the acting deserves an award.Some great one liners, easily missed, and genuine moments of lateral thinking.Quintessentially quirky, at times erratic, with tenuous twists which raise a smile.Not for the kiddies or movie mavens - Nor for those dependant on logic. But anyone prone to accept the improbable could certainly find this film rewarding.It's different. Low budget. Yet somehow endearing. Worth watching for Bark Lee alone.
Jennifer oooo
Was boring and disturbing. Had watched it w/ a male friend of mine who liked it. I found it to be very sexist. Pay attention to the role of the dude's eventual girl friend and the two women who follow that guy around. All the important roles are held by men and the women who did make it into this terrible movie are only there because they are nice to look at. Felt so degrading watching this. The worst was when the two guys went into that other world and there was a population of women led by a man (of course). They were all topless with their faces covered. Are you serious? Very disturbing. If you are a women, watch this if you want to hate men. If you are a man, watch this if you hate women, you will thoroughly enjoy this.
poe426
PHANTASM I-IV were all entertaining in a mind-boggling, time-bending, inter-dimensional kind of way. Like JOHN DIES AT THE END. Don Coscarelli seems to be in his element, here, and he dishes up body-snatching alien invaders from another dimension by the score. Being totally unfamiliar with the book upon which this movie was based, I have absolutely no preconceived notions about what the movie "should've" been: I know only that it's great fun in the spirit of the PHANTASM films and that the lead does an incredible job- the movie wouldn't've been half as good without him (OR his sidekick). The cameo by Angus Scrimm as a creepy clergyman was a nice little touch, too, but it was Paul Giamatti's jaw-dropping reaction to seeing into the Other Realm that really stood out in a movie laden with solid performances. The inclusion of Practical Effects was also greatly appreciated: the cold-cuts composite creature was as funny as it was unsettling and greatly ENHANCES the film. I couldn't stop laughing when Dave asks his "dead" friend, John, who he's talking to on a phone: "Where are you? In Heaven...?"
