John Dies at the End
Another London Film Festival film, this time the midnight matinee (or 11.15pm to be precise) screening of
John Dies at the End from director Don Coscarelli (
Phantasm/
Bubba Ho-Tep). For those who don't know it, the story is a comedy horror revolving around two slacker types turned ghostbusters who start seeing creatures after injesting a curious drug known as "Soy Sauce".
Enjoyed it, but I'd gone in with diminished expectations. I'm a HUGE fan of the book and figured there's no way they would be able to cram the book's content in, especially with a limited budget. But although there's huge chunks of the book missing, this is still a relatively entertaining stab; the clunky stop-motion and CGI common to Coscarelli's films adding a certain charm, and the leads are likable enough. I'm certainly interested to see it again now my initial curiosity has been sated, and can imagine it becoming a minor cult hit.
A nice surprise was Coscarelli showing up to introduce the film and sticking round to chat to fans afterwards. In a brief Q&A, he was asked if he'd be filming the book's sequel,
This Book is full of Spiders, to which he said it completely depends on how well
John Dies performs. I can't see it happening myself, especially with the trouble of getting
Bubba Nosferatu off the ground - which he also talked about, with initial plans to cast Paul Giamatti (who is in
John Dies) opposite Bruce Campbell (who pulled out).
A fun film, but read the book first. It's excellent!
