Drew Turney
Take a liberal helping of ”Ghostbusters”, a dash of ”Superbad”, a few dollops of ”Bill and Ted” and mash it all up and you might get something like this mash-up of genres and ideas. Trouble is, there’s little enough care taken with ”John Dies at The End” you might end up with something just as good using the above method.
It’s an 80s-style comedy horror flick as Dave (Chase Williamson) is telling his incredible story of psychic powers and cross-dimensional travel to reporter Arnie (Paul Giamatti). Frequently referred to in reviews as ‘gonzo’, it’s as good a description as any as Dave and his friend John (Rob Mayes) have to try and save Earth from an invasion of inter-dimensional beings.
It’s all got to do with a new drug on the streets called Soy Sauce, which causes the user to travel across dimensions and come back not entirely human. After an early encounter with a supposedly frightened girl who turns into a basement full of snakes when she explodes, it stops making much sense.
Narrative cohesion is sacrificed on the altar of every outlandish idea writer/director Don Coscarelli can fling, and by the time it’s over the central story (let along the off-the-wall tangents) has been such a barrage of nonsense (literally) you’ll struggle to remember most of it.
DVD : Whole heap of extras on here including deleted scenes, interviews and numerous featurettes.
