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IMDbPro

John Dies at the End

  • 20122012
  • RR
  • 1h 39m
IMDb RATING
6.3/10
38K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
8,504
1,925
Clancy Brown, Paul Giamatti, Glynn Turman, Rob Mayes, and Chase Williamson in John Dies at the End (2012)
A pair of college dropouts who can barely hold down jobs are enlisted to save humanity from a paranormal, psychoactive drug that promises an out-of-body experience with each hit.
Play trailer2:33
2 Videos
32 Photos
ComedyFantasyHorror
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... Read allA 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?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?
IMDb RATING
6.3/10
38K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
8,504
1,925
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • 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
    Top credits
    • 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
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 153User reviews
    • 309Critic reviews
    • 53Metascore
    • Awards
      • 2 wins & 6 nominations

    Videos2

    Redband Version
    Trailer 2:26
    Redband Version
    No. 1
    Trailer 2:33
    No. 1

    Photos32

    Paul Giamatti and Chase Williamson in John Dies at the End (2012)
    Rob Mayes in John Dies at the End (2012)
    Chase Williamson in John Dies at the End (2012)
    Rob Mayes in John Dies at the End (2012)
    Paul Giamatti in John Dies at the End (2012)
    Paul Giamatti in John Dies at the End (2012)
    Don Coscarelli and Paul Giamatti in John Dies at the End (2012)
    Rob Mayes and Chase Williamson in John Dies at the End (2012)
    Clancy Brown, Paul Giamatti, Rob Mayes, and Chase Williamson at an event for John Dies at the End (2012)
    Cesare Gagliardoni in John Dies at the End (2012)
    Paul Giamatti in John Dies at the End (2012)
    Clancy Brown, Helena Mehalis, and Maria Mehalis in John Dies at the End (2012)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Chase Williamson
    Chase Williamson
    • Dave
    Rob Mayes
    Rob Mayes
    • John
    Paul Giamatti
    Paul Giamatti
    • Arnie Blondestone
    Clancy Brown
    Clancy Brown
    • Dr. Albert Marconi
    Glynn Turman
    Glynn Turman
    • Detective
    Doug Jones
    Doug Jones
    • Roger North
    Daniel Roebuck
    Daniel Roebuck
    • Largeman
    Fabianne Therese
    Fabianne Therese
    • Amy
    Jonny Weston
    Jonny Weston
    • Justin White
    Jimmy Wong
    Jimmy Wong
    • Fred Chu
    Tai Bennett
    Tai Bennett
    • Robert Marley
    Allison Weissman
    • Shelly
    Ethan Erickson
    Ethan Erickson
    • Sergeant McElroy
    Kevin Michael Richardson
    Kevin Michael Richardson
    • Korrok
    • (voice)
    Riley Rose Critchlow
    Riley Rose Critchlow
    • Girl with Rastafarian
    Pat McNeely
    • Old Woman
    Angus Scrimm
    Angus Scrimm
    • Father Shellnut
    Brett Wagner
    Brett Wagner
    • Reanimated Dead Guy
    • Director
      • Don Coscarelli
    • Writers
      • Don Coscarelli(written for the screen by)
      • David Wong(based on the story by)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The uniforms worn by the two members of the Human Liberation Army were not made for this film. They originally appeared as Thermian outfits in the film Galaxy Quest (1999).
    • Goofs
      When Dave pours gasoline on the bloodstained couch in Robert Marley's trailer, in the next shot there is no blood on the couch.
    • Quotes

      Dave: What do you think it's like, Father?

      Father Shellnut: What's what like?

      Dave: Being crazy, mentally ill.

      Father Shellnut: Well, they never know they're ill, do they? I mean, you can't diagnose yourself with the same organ that has the disease, just like you can't see your own eyeball. I suppose you just feel regular, and the rest of the world seems to go crazy around you.

    • 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'.
    • 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.
    • Connections
      Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Fictional Movie Drugs (2014)
    • Soundtracks
      Shang High
      Written and performed by Paul Ratajczak

      (Spozzy Song Music - BMI)

    User reviews153

    Review
    Top review
    6/10
    Frustratingly Fractured Plot but It's Got Some Laughs
    I'm not even sure where to start with a movie like JOHN DIES AT THE END. It's one of those movies that just seems destined from the start to be a cult classic, but I'm not so sure. I love a good WTF movie that I can share with friends over a few beers, but a good WTF movie does more than baffle the audience with the bizarre. A good WTF film will have an awesome story (e.g. cyberpunk Nazis on the moon = IRON SKY) and an engaging hero/protagonist (e.g. Rutger Hauer in HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN). Keep in mind, my examples are just movies that I personally enjoy in the WTF genre but the same principles still stand. I can't really agree that JOHN DIES AT THE END has either (much less both) of these qualities. I am a huge fan of Cracked.com and I've been following the site since I first stumbled across it while searching for a time-waster while I worked tech support. Their content is most often hilarious and generally a bit informative too. I'm totally down with supporting their writers in whatever endeavors they pursue if it means more of their excellent product. JOHN DIES AT THE END (written by senior Cracked editor David Wong) is on my shortlist of novels I'm planning on buying from Amazon, but I was excited to find out that a movie would be released in the meantime and that it would be directed by Don Coscarelli. BUBBA HO-TEP is another great WTF film, so naturally I was expecting great things with the movie. The ultimate reality: it falls short of being the movie I wanted, but it has inspired me to move a little faster on picking up the novel.

    To start, and you'll probably hear this from anyone who's seen the movie but not read the novel, JOHN DIES AT THE END doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It feels like there's a plot in there…somewhere. I just can't find it. I've uncovered bits of it and pieced it all together but there are still a lot of holes. I've pretty much given up on figuring out the plot in its entirety until I read the book. For now, I only know what I've seen in the movie. David Wong (Chase Williamson) and John (Rob Mayes) are a couple of stoned losers who encounter a new drug known on the street as 'soy sauce.' Soy sauce has the ability to give its user supernatural abilities that…I don't quite understand. Communicating with the dead…and the future…and other dimensions, I think. And inexplicable knowledge. Anyway, David and John discover an evil plot involving body-snatching white bugs/fuzz and plans of an entity of pure evil from an alternate universe to dominate our world. See what I mean? I'm not even sure. And everything I've read tells me it's explained 100 times better in the novel, so I haven't given up hope. But, as a movie, it's lacking. Honestly, my interest waned around the time David was kidnapped by an annoying ghetto white kid (Jonny Weston) and the detective investigating the weird goings-on (Glynn Turman) went totally mental.

    And that's the big problem here: weirdness without any sort of context becomes dull real fast. For the first 45 minutes of the movie or so, I was loving it. The meat monster, the ominous Jamaican, the messed-up/dark sense of humor to the whole thing…it was great. But once the "story" kicked into gear, I lost it. The best way to describe JOHN DIES AT THE END is this: it feels like a 100-minute trailer for a really awesome six-hour movie. There's a lot of interesting stuff going on here and the whole movie feels like it's on the verge of greatness but it never pays off. There's a lot of cool stuff that's introduced or mentioned and never fully explored. What was the deal with Roger North (Doug Jones)? And what about the alien slug with teeth that appeared three times in the movie? Was it a tool of good or evil? How exactly did Korrok's plan (Korrok being the ultimate evil entity from an alternate universe) involve the body-snatching bugs? If Dr. Marconi (Clancy Brown) was so awesome, why wasn't the movie about HIM saving the world? Seriously. Marconi was probably the coolest character in the whole movie and he's the most wasted. Brown gets higher billing than Paul Giamatti in the movie but he's only in it for about 5 minutes. What's the point of his character? He's stone-cold awesome in the few instances we see him in action, but we send David and John to help save the world? Where did the soy sauce come from? Is it a creation of Korrok? Did it have anything to do with the white bug swarms or not, because I'm getting mixed signals.

    More questions than answers with the plot, but at least some of the humor works well. Chase Williamson is pretty decent as David Wong and Rob Hayes did a great job, but I think a lot of fans of Cracked might agree that this movie would've been exponentially funnier if Daniel O'Brien and Michael Swaim had been cast in the lead roles. People who aren't followers of Cracked won't know who those two are, but it couldn't have hurt the movie's success seeing as how the release was so low-key to begin with. JOHN DIES AT THE END is a mildly entertaining distraction that will frustrate anyone in the market for a solid story but there are some good laughs to be had. If anything, I can say it's got me that much more interested in reading the book.
    helpful•28
    15
    • brando647
    • Jul 19, 2013

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • December 27, 2012 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official sites
      • Official Facebook
      • Official site
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Dave's Story
    • Filming locations
      • Hot N Tot Cafe - 2347 Pacific Coast Hwy, Lomita, California, USA
    • Production companies
      • M3 Alliance
      • M3 Creative
      • Midnight Alliance
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $141,951
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $12,467
      • Jan 27, 2013
    • Gross worldwide
      • $141,951
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 39 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.78 : 1

    Related news

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