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View Full Version : JOHN DIES AT THE END ( Don Coscarelli, 2013)



tabuno
05-15-2013, 01:36 PM
Director Don Coscarelli attempts to bring together several disparate movie elements that are difficult to blend successfully, including an overarching narrative of flashbacks that ultimately result in two definitive storylines, then incorporating various unusual out of this world experiences that supposedly the audience isn’t normally prepared for as well as a heavy dose of punk humor and younger generation nonchalance that is somewhat out of sink with the older set. This science fiction loaded conglomeration both surprises and at times shocks the audience with its out of the box visuals and plot points that veer significantly away from the mainstream story narrative. The lead character, Dave played by Chase Williamson, isn’t always the most endearing figure, who sometimes breaks the mold of the All-American hero, with his sometimes biting personality or over the top bewilderment. The script itself seems to be, at times, on hyper-amphetamine rush which in turns leads to some forced, manipulative dialogue thrown in for pseudo-intellectual-psycho-babble.

The action takes place with Dave being interviewed by a hack journalistic Paul Giamatti where a story unfolds about a mysterious live substance that once injected allows a person to experience pre-cognitive and other-worldly phenomena along with a plot to take over this world. The audience is offered up a Donnie Darko (2001) universe that departs from the more straightforward, linear storytelling that is much less mentally exhausting as in the classic, fascinating sci-fi fantasy of the totally immersive strange external and internal worlds of Brazil (1985) or Being John Malkovich (1999). In a way, John Dies At The End is both more conservative and boldly usually than Time Bandits (1981) that fling its protagonist from every more diverse worlds of time, but also more typical and straightforward settings and subplots. The visuals and the texture of this movie echoes emotive, visceral elements of A Scanner Darkly (2006), From Beyond (1986). Yet the movie doesn’t quite gel together in a rhythm and loftiness and dry humor as Slaughterhouse-Five (1972).

John Dies At The End could be considered a somewhat better executed technically Galaxy of Terror (1981), a darker sci fi movie that finds a group of spacer investigators encountering a mind-twisting horror on a far away planet that interestingly attempted to play it more straight than this movie. Other more mainstream sci-fi fantasy comparisons perhaps of somewhat better quality are Big Trouble in Little China (1986) with Kurt Russell playing the comic dumb hero and The Golden Child (1986) with Eddie Murphy playing an investigator in search of a mystical child in a comedy adventure. The most direct equivalent movie experiences that have achieved some cult status are David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ (1999) and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension starring Peter Weller (1984) along with the more current noted director Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009), Heath Ledger’s last movie and from what I’ve read about Enter the Void (2009).

Chris Knipp
05-15-2013, 04:37 PM
I think I mostly agree with you here. It obviously strives for originality but doesn't quite come up to the level of most of your comparisons, Scanner Darkly, Donnie Darko, eXistenZ all being much more successful. I wasn't enthusiastic enough to write a review, and also saw it when I was in NYC and seeing a lot of movies, some of them more interesting to me. On the other hand I don't know of some of your comparisons, Galaxy of Terror, From Beyond, or Golden Child. As happens sometimes you throw out comparisons so freely it's hard at times to see how in some cases they really add anything much to your description. Initially, doubtful whether I wanted to see this, showing then at the Landmark Sunshine in Lower Manhattan, I might have been inspired to go by the comment of the Times's A.O. Scott,
It lays waste to linear narration, thematic coherence, psychological plausibility and just about everything else you might expect to encounter. It zigs, zags and trips over its own feet and on its own home-brewed hallucinogens. It's a ridiculous, preposterous, sometimes maddening experience, but also kind of a blast. Generally the critics didn't rate it at all high (Metacritic rating: 53), but sometimes if one does, I think there may be something. And sure there is a big stab at originality and ourrageousness here. It just doesn't really come off.

tabuno
05-15-2013, 09:44 PM
There are images from a few selected scenes from Galaxy of Terror, From Beyond, and Golden Child that are similar to some of the images from John Dies At The End. With the Galaxy of Terror which is a sci fi horror movie there is the focus on mental power manipulation and some eerie gushy monsters that resemble the mental and monster images in John Dies At The End. As for From Beyond, there is also the similar aspect of another unseen universe and again the strange deformed monster images also occur periodically through this movie. Finally the Golden Child has the last sequence where there is a strange monster and even up until there there is the magical element of things happening beyond our real life expectations.

Chris Knipp
05-15-2013, 10:17 PM
Thanks for the clarification. It would have helped if you had put that all in the review. If you're going to make so many movie references, you may need to expand your review.

tabuno
05-16-2013, 10:26 AM
I spend about an hour just looking up and cross-referencing the movies I cite, by the time I get to writing this stuff, putting it all together, I'm pretty much worn out. I'm lucky just to get my spelling correct. At two or three in the morning, there's not much left of me. This is hard work.

Chris Knipp
05-16-2013, 12:38 PM
If you're a poor social worker with no time, reapportion your time to focus on the part we read.