Disc Reviews
John Dies At The End Review
The tagline reads “Just so you know……They’re sorry for anything that’s about to happen” and without giving away too much….. So they should be!
John dies at the end is a frenzied story about two guys, John (Rob Mayes – Enough Said) and David (Chase Williamson – Sparks). A pair of college dropouts who travel through time and various dimensions thanks to a street drug called soy sauce. Some people who take this drug come back to our world, but not in a human form. It’s these people and others from beyond our world who threatens mankind and it’s down to the dastardly duo to save the world.
This weird and sometimes VERY confusing tale is brought to the screen by the director of Bubba Ho-Tep and Phantasm, Don Coscarelli. With this in mind it was a very pleasant surprise to see a cameo appearance from Phantasms very own Tall Man, Angus Scrimm.
It’s also however unfortunate that even with very good performances from Chase and Rob in the roles of the unknowing heroes and the previous back catalogue of the director that it’s not quite enough to hold this train crash of a movie together. Hopping from scene to scene and dimension and time, it’s a very hard film to follow and makes very little sense on its first viewing. Instead of being a roller coaster ride it becomes more of a headache trying to get on top of what’s unfolding on screen. This aside, if you like mindless blood and guts, weird creatures and even weirder monsters and don’t mind the constant toing and throwing between characters and storylines, then maybe this is just the film you’re looking for.
It’s also worth noting that it will only be the Blu-Ray release that hosts the special features for the movie that might help make some sense of Don Coscarelli’s creation with cast and crew commentary, interviews, deleted scenes and background information with mini features Getting sauced and Creature corps.
Shane Meekings
John Dies at the End is available on Blu Ray and DVD on the 13th Feb 2014