John Dies at the End (2012)

A new street drug that sends its users across time and dimensions has one drawback: some people return no longer human. Can two college drop-outs save humanity from this silent, otherworldly invasion?

Director:

Don Coscarelli

Writers:

Don Coscarelli (written for the screen by), David Wong (based on the story by)

Stars:

Chase Williamson, Rob Mayes, Paul Giamatti

2 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Chase Williamson	...	Dave
Rob Mayes	...	John
Paul Giamatti	...	Arnie Blondestone
Clancy Brown	...	Dr. Albert Marconi
Glynn Turman	...	Detective
Doug Jones	...	Roger North
Daniel Roebuck	...	Largeman
Fabianne Therese	...	Amy
Jonny Weston	...	Justin White
Jimmy Wong	...	Fred Chu
Tai Bennett	...	Robert Marley
Allison Weissman	...	Shelly
Ethan Erickson	...	Sergeant McElroy
Kevin Michael Richardson	...	Korrok (voice)
Riley Rose Critchlow	...	Girl with Rastafarian

Storyline

It's a drug that promises an out-of-body experience with each hit. On the street they call it Soy Sauce, and users drift across time and dimensions. But some who come back are no longer human. Suddenly a silent otherworldly invasion is underway, and mankind needs a hero. What it gets instead is John and David, a pair of college dropouts who can barely hold down jobs. Can these two stop the oncoming horror in time to save humanity? No. No, they can't.

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Plot Keywords:

multiple dimensions | male friendship | cult film | mind altering drug | bullet time | 

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Taglines:

Just so you know...they're sorry for anything that's about to happen.

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Genres:

Comedy | Fantasy | Horror | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for bloody violence and gore, nudity, language and drug content

Did You Know?

Trivia

Early in the film, when David is on his couch watching a commercial for Marconi, a dvd of Phantasm Ravager can be seen to the left of the TV. Don Coscarelli is the writer/director of the first 4 Phantasm films, but he vacated the director's chair for Ravager which came out in 2016, 4 years AFTER this movie.

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Goofs

The hand gun that Dave picks up at Johns house is a Heckler & Koch USP. When David is confronted by Roger North the hand gun is a Sig Sauer P229.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Dave: Solving the following riddle will reveal the awful secret behind the universe, assuming you do not go utterly mad in the attempt.
Dave: Say you have an ax - just a cheap one from Home Depot.
[slow zoom in on man chopping]
Dave: On one bitter winter day, you use said ax to behead a man. Don't worry, the man's already dead. Maybe you should worry, 'cause you're the one who shot him. He'd been a big twitchy guy with veined skin stretched over swollen biceps, tattoo of a swastika on his tongue. And ...

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Crazy Credits

At the end of the credits there's a warning that 'any unauthorized duplication and/or distribution (...) may result in civil liability, criminal prosecution and the wrath of Korrok'.

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Alternate Versions

The original ending was a TV interview with Marconi. It was deemed anticlimactic by the filmmakers according to their DVD commentary. This, and other deleted scenes, are included on the DVD release.

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Fictional Movie Drugs (2014)

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Soundtracks

My Moonlight Maiden
Written and performed by Paul Ratajczak
(Spozzy Song Music - BMI)

User Reviews

Expected more

As a long time fan of JDaTE I had followed the making of the movie for some time and was really excited that it was not only finished, but could also be streamed before it's even in theaters. Having known the financial constraints they had to work with and expecting some changes in the adaptation process I was still very underwhelmed after watching.

As a stand-alone movie, it's worth a watch - the acting is good, the effects are decent, and it's fun. As a book adaptation it's really disappointing. When it boils down to it, this is pretty much just random parts of the book mashed together with a lot of details (including some pretty major ones) changed to make it (kind of) flow together. Rather than take the clearly-defined first part of the book and loosely adapt it, they took the whole book as only someone with extreme ADD could read it then mash it together as only the same person could watch it. There is so much amazing material that was wasted here while simultaneously ruining any chance of a sequel that isn't as hacked together as this that I want to kick a puppy and cry myself to sleep. I almost wish they'd changed even more stuff (Bark-Lee and Amy NotHerLastName were a good start) and just totally disassociated it with the book - they honestly wouldn't have had to go much further with it and I could still dream of a real JDaTE movie getting made.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 December 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dave's Story

Filming Locations:

Hot N Tot Cafe - 2347 Pacific Coast Hwy, Lomita, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,467, 27 January 2013

Gross USA:

$141,951

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$141,951

Company Credits

Production Co:

M3 Alliance, M3 Creative, Midnight Alliance

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Color:

Color Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1