John Dies at the End (Don Coscarelli)

[EyesWideOpen]

imdb

[Dukefrukem]

Loved this
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(with the exception of the bomb scene)

]

[Spun Lepton]

Would definitely go well in a double-feature with Bubba Ho-Tep.

[D_Davis]

Didn't like it. I thought that maybe I'd warm up to it, but as time goes on I like it less and less.

[Spun Lepton]

Didn't like it. I thought that maybe I'd warm up to it, but as time goes on I like it less and less.

Why do you hate America, D?

[EyesWideOpen]

Didn't like it. I thought that maybe I'd warm up to it, but as time goes on I like it less and less.

I'm with you. This felt and looked like how I imagine an episode of Supernatural is.

[D_Davis]

I'm with you. This felt and looked like how I imagine an episode of Supernatural is.

Supernatural is better. And that's not a backhanded compliment.

[Grouchy]

Liked it... It's pretty much as if someone had intentionally decided to make the quirkiest, most erratic B-movie ever. But it also wasn't bad, it had its share of funny moments.

[Thirdmango]

Agreed with Grouchy. I liked it with reservations, it's very erratic and for some that's going to be the best thing but for me it was just sorta fun. I did like the avatar game where I suddenly saw Spun's avatar in the movie and was like, "Ah, match-cut avatar!"

[Dead & Messed Up]

Having read the book, this was frustrating.

I suspect that it'd be a kinda-quirky fun that-was-different flick for casual viewers, but I feel like a lot of the novel's virtues were lost, and not really made up for with any sort of personal touches from Coscarelli. An example: the ax scene at the beginning of the film comes from a very important thread in the novel about facsimiles, but here it leads to nothing. Here it just sets the tone, and it's not necessary when the tone is set a couple minutes later with Snake Lady and Meat Man.

Things in its favor. Some excellent casting, inspired practical effects, and, at its very best, a nice display of how Wong overpacks his material with sci-fi guesswork, Lovecrafty conceits (the From Beyond influence is so bleedingly obvious to me now), and a deeply adolescent anxiety about penises.

I'd hate to call it a bad movie, given the alternatives on Netflix right now, but I was disappointed, for sure.

[Thirdmango]

I've been letting it simmer for a couple of days and if I had the ability to change my vote from yay to nay I would. This left even more of a sour taste in retrospect. Especially after watching Buckaroo Banzai and seeing how a crazy movie should be done.

[Dukefrukem]

Bummed out but your post. This is my favorite of the year so far.

[eternity]

I guess The Cracked Movie is better than The Onion Movie.

[MadMan]

I do wonder if I would like this had I read the book first. But I like this movie anyways. It was freaky, weird, and tons of fun. Mmm, fun in a horror movie. That seems like a lost art these days.

[Rowland]

I watched about two-thirds of this last night before almost falling asleep, so I'll finish it tonight. My review so far: "Make... it... stop..."

[Rock]

I thought it was alright. There are a lot of ideas it seems to be playing with, but it never explores them deeply enough nor it does it achieve the energy level to race through them in an especially interesting way. That being said, it was amusing it times and I thought the acting was solid.

[Rowland]

Oh yeah, I finished watching this, my new worst film of the year. It's like Naked Lunch remade by self-satisfied fanboys, starring a bunch of charisma-less jerks who can't stop mugging like dickwads. Only the Kurtzman makeup effects team and Glynn Turman make it through this unscathed.

[Milky Joe]

top 10 of the '10s