Review of John Dies at the End (2013) by Rafael C — 21 Jan 2013

John Dies at the End, the book was a breath of fresh air. If by air we mean that it was dark, crude, and great. To take everything that was in the book and make a movie out of it was a hard task.

When I first saw the trailer for this movie I was excited but worried and I had no idea what was going to be put onto the big screen. My first thought was that this movie was going to be very campy and have poor production quality, because of how crazy the book gets. The movie is not perfect but it is both enjoyable and entertaining. The movie stayed true to the book in most areas. There was some condensing of events but it was a long book, full of detail and this had to be done.

Overall, the cast was good (there were a few moments when the acting wavered), the production quality was unexpectedly good, the changes they made to the story (although all of the major points were still intact) worked well, the graphics were not the best at times but the actors did a very good job at making them work (especially the fight scene on the bridge at the end). Chase Williamson and Rob Mayes did a great job in this movie, and I especially enjoyed the performance of Glynn E. Turman. The detective had one of my favorite quotes from, "I guess you are wondering what I am doing with this gasoline." I just cracked up when this line was delivered because Glynn E. Turman did a fantastic job.

I have read reviews for this movie and some people are being harsh. If anyone has read the book. The job of bringing this movie to visual media would be a challenge for any director. Don Coscarelli did a great job of bringing this unique literary journey to the big screen. I give this film 4 stars out of 5. My friend and I were entertained the entire duration of this film and I was pleasantly pleased with the overall film.