Review of John Dies at the End (2013) by Thequietgamer — 30 Oct 2017

It gets points for originality, craziness, and pretty funny moments. It loses points for not making a lick of sense. This isn't some movie that's actually pretty deep once you look past all of the absurdity and immaturity. All of it's philosophical remarks feel like someone throwing a bunch of hipster crap together and hoping some of it sticks with some sense of cohesion. It doesn't really succeed. By the time this mess stops meandering about while rambling on about nothing and finds some semblance of a plot things get a bit better. Of course you've also lost all hope of understanding what's going on. It's also pretty much over. At least there's some crazy weird crap to keep you entertained.

It hooks you with it's nonsensicality and desire to throw as much crazy crap onscreen at you as possible. Gore, drug trips, hallucinations, maybe a little magic, and a stupid sense of humor all come together to create something strangely enticing despite all of the narrative flaws and cheap looking special effects. There aren't really any characters here outside of Dave. Everyone else is just kind of there to die violently or move the plot forward in incredibly weird ways. The non-stop feeling of "what the heck am I watching?" is what will keep you going. It's actually a pretty entertaining ride.

An unconventional experience to say the least. One that's enjoyable just because there isn't anything else like it out there. Yet, it can't entirely use it's quirkiness to escape the fact that pretty much everything feels slapped together in ways that just don't quite work that well. The movie is a mess. A creative mess, but a mess nonetheless. Perhaps with a better structure and actual fleshing out of the material, we could end up with something great for a sequel. Too much just goes under-explained. Darn, if it isn't fun though. It's definitely one you need an open mind for. Just be warned that if you try to dive into it's mysteries, you might just end up coming back up disappointed. This pool isn't as deep as it first looks, and there are some leaks.