John Dies at the End

This is a movie that I walked in with no previous knowledge of. I had not seen any trailers, read any synopses of the film, or heard anything about it. I knew that it was directed by the creator of Bubba Ho-Tep, Don Coscarelli, and it had Paul Giamatti in it. With those two factors alone, I was pretty much sold on seeing this movie. This movie is entirely bat shit fucking insane and it is glorious. There is an identical tone with that of Bubba Ho-Tep and any of the great horror comedies of the last decade.

John Dies at the End tells the story of Dave and John, two slackers, who are thrown into the middle of a supernatural conspiracy. They are exposed to a drug called "soy sauce" that allows them to see things that may or may not be real and interact with the strange forces of the world. They use their newly found "powers" to fight the undead and supernatural forces, and may also possibly have to save the world in the process.

To be honest I got blindsided by this bastard. I had no idea what I was walking into and I was thoroughly impressed by the end of the movie. We have a cast of mostly unknowns outside of Paul Giamatti and Clancy Brown (First guy in the hatch on LOST). The story goes in every direction but it never feels scatterbrained, you have our main character, Dave, talking into a bratwurst to talk to his friend, John, one minute and then he is decapitating a zombie while contemplating the ramifications of going into a hardware store with a bloody ax to replace.  These are little things that bring this movie from great to fucking awesome. I love these quirky type of cult horror movies that come out of left field to surprise you. In 2012 there was The Loved Ones, Exit Humanity, and Detention, hopefully this is going to be a good indication of where the movies in 2013 are headed.

For a movie that features a cast of mostly unknowns, the acting in the movie is surprisingly solid. Clancy Brown and Paul Giamatti hap it up in every scene they are in and they each seem to be having a lot of fun with their characters. The duo of Chase Williamson and Rob Mayes playing the movie's heroes, David and John, are awesome in every scene they are in together and even in scenes that they are seperated they are awesome. They play the stoners/heroes to perfection and you can believe that their characters really do want to help people with their "powers". The effects in this movie are also pretty badass as well with several creatures being the highlights of the film. Can't really tell you what they are because I'm not here to spoil the movie for you.

This is definitely in the running for the cult movie of 2013. It has all of the ingredients, bat shit crazy story, solid acting, and good special effects. Don Coscarelli has done it again and replicated the charm of Bubba Ho-Tep while giving us a fresh and original story. This is a movie that every cult movie fan should see and it is one hell of a way to kick off 2013.