Harefooted Hallowen: John Dies at the End

What I Liked: The stream of consciousness approach.  I mean everything feels like a dream…or like you’re on drugs.  Yea, probably drugs is what they were going for.

The story changes constantly which keeps you on your toes but don’t worry, somehow it isn’t confusing as shit.  It’s not the clearest thing ever put to film but you can follow it alright.

And finally, who doesn’t dig that fuckin’ title?

What I Didn’t Like: The finale seemed rushed.  There wasn’t quite enough build up and the final confrontation ends kinda quickly.

There’s a whole bunch of really bad CGI.  The filmmakers used some practical effects wherever they could but the low budget forced them to use computers more often than I would’ve liked to have seen.

Sometimes the editing can be a little too choppy.  It’s cut very tightly, which I don’t mind, but almost every scene felt like they were trying to get through it as fast as possible.

Overall Impression: Don Coscarelli (who did the fucking awesome Phantasm) shows he’s still got some fire in the ol’ belly.  It’s incredibly imaginative and takes you on a real trip.  I can’t believe this was based on a book.  It seems like it would be next to impossible to follow in that format.

This is definitely not for everyone.  You have to be very flexible because they keep switching up the story and just about everything.  It’s also really over the top with a monster made out of freezer meats, creatures from another dimension, a hot dog is used for a cell phone and all sorts of other wacky shit.

I guess I cautiously recommend it but you have to be willing to go with the flow and not get hung up on, well, anything.  John Dies is definitely one of the weirdest and also most creative films I’ve ever seen, horror or otherwise.