John Dies at the End

            Before I go into this particular review, let it be known that, yes, I am a fanboy.  I have enjoyed David Wong's comedic and often insightful writings at Cracked.com for years, and when I finally read John Dies at the End as well as This Book is Full of Spiders last year, I immediately pushed them way up my chart of best books I've ever devoured (figuratively).  So to say that I really, really, really wanted to like the film adaptation of his first novel is an understatement.

            Add in the fact that it was directed by Don Coscarelli, the man who brought us Bubba Ho-Tep, Beastmaster and Phantasm, and you get a potential joygasm 7 miles long.

            On to the review!

            Long story short, I loved it.  Of course, the film had to make several edits from the book in order to make it a sleek 99 minutes, but there is absolutely no down time.  This film comes as close to the sheer insanity of the novel as is possible.

            John Dies at the End is a story about drugs, alternate dimensions, and all-around strangeness.  It stars Chase Williamson as Dave, a simple guy who never really wanted much out of life other than normalcy and his dealings with everything but. 

            Our film starts out with Dave trying to get his story out via a reporter named Arnie (Paul Giamatti).  He knows the story he has to tell is utterly insane, so he does his best to convince Arnie with several examples of the strangeness around them. 

            This strangeness is all linked directly to a drug with unknown origins called Soy Sauce.  It all kicks off when Dave's best friend John (Rob Mayes) goes to an after-party and ends up taking a hit of Soy Sauce.  Also, at this party the drug dealer explodes, but things like that just happen in John Dies at the End.

            It turns out that John is the only person who doesn't go missing from the aforementioned after-party, so he and Dave are taken in by local cops for questioning.  Then things get really, really out of hand.

            I have to give it to Mr. Coscarelli for keeping the insanity flowing, especially when the book relies so heavily on Dave's constant commentary.  Yes, there is a lot of voice-over work in this film, and I think it's almost necessary in order to help those unfamiliar with the book keep up.

            The rest of the plot involves such strange creatures as a meat monster, tiny flies with a hive-mind, strangers from other dimensions, phantom limbs and a psychic dog.

            Yeah, it's that kind of movie.

            While John Dies at the End does have its flaws--they took my favorite character from the book and combined a second character with her, many of my favorite parts had to be edited for time, Dr. Marconi (Clancy Brown) was heavily edited, the ending is a bit more messy than I would have preferred--it is still a fantastically entertaining merry-go-round of chaos.

            Plus, while it is a bit violent and gory at times, this is more of a strange adventure than it is a horror film.  It's something like Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure meets a Stephen King novel.