{"id":4039,"date":"2014-02-12T16:59:37","date_gmt":"2014-02-12T15:59:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/?p=4039"},"modified":"2014-03-29T08:05:54","modified_gmt":"2014-03-29T07:05:54","slug":"john-dies-at-the-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2014\/02\/12\/john-dies-at-the-end\/","title":{"rendered":"John Dies at the End"},"content":{"rendered":"
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John Dies at the End<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\nFormat:<\/B> DVD + Blu-ray

\nRelease date:<\/B> 17 February 2014

\nDistributor:<\/B> Eureka

\nDirector:<\/B> Don Coscarelli

\nWriter:<\/B> Don Coscarelli

\nBased on the novel by:<\/B> David Wong

\nCast:<\/B> Anton Yelchin, Addison Timlin, Leonor Varela, Willem Dafoe

\nUSA 2012

\n99 mins\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Your new favourite film. A flip, funny thrill ride full of trippy headfuckery, rubber monsters, snappy dialogue and wild ideas, adapted from David Wong’s cult novel by Don (Phantasm<\/i>\/Bubba Ho-Tep<\/i>) Coscarelli. Trying to explain the film\u2019s singular tone is difficult: it’s like a punky horror\/SF adventure infused with the snarky, iconoclastic sensibility of Fight Club<\/i>. <\/p>\n

Read our interview with Don Coscarelli<\/A>.<\/div>\n

Any attempt at a plot summary would be pretty much doomed; suffice to say that it concerns the effects of an intravenous drug called ‘soy sauce’, which has the effect of not so much opening the doors of perception as blowing them off their hinges. Users are apt to receive phone calls from the future and see physical manifestations of beings from other planes of existence, as a prelude to entering a multiverse of trouble and what looks like an inevitable spectacularly messy demise. David Wong (Chase Williamson) is trying to explain his recent life history on the sauce to a journalist (Paul Giamatti), the tale of how he and college buddy John (Andy Meyers) came by the stuff and started a chain of events that leads to them attempting to save the world from creepy inter-dimensional interlopers. Nothing is straightforward in this fast-paced genre mash-up: time and space are distorted, people aren’t what they seem, and metaphysical conundrums pop up with alarming regularity. I’m not sure if it’s about<\/i> anything, exactly. There is a suspicion that it’s more smart-arsed than smart in places, and the random nature of the story means that it loses a little momentum before the home stretch, but I’m quibbling. It’s a blast, a wonderfully weird, eminently quotable midnight movie. Just don’t ask what happens to John, I wouldn’t want to ruin it for you.<\/p>\n

This review was first published as part of our London Film Festival 2012 coverage<\/A>.<\/div>\n

Mark Stafford<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n

Watch the trailer:<\/B><\/p>\n