I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Pretty Good

Excellent but underrated film

Admirable film.

I love SciFi but this seemed to be a movie more about drugs and trippin. It was hard to follow. I understand that this is based on a book and maybe the Director/Producer(s) had a hard time translating the book into a movie. Now, I never read the book so I have nothing to compare it to but for me it was just a bunch of non-sense happening.I understand it was suppose to be two losers who get a hold of a new drug that is on the street one uses it willingly the other by accident. Afterward, a bunch of strange stuff happens. Some of it seems to be alternate dimensions while other stuff possibly alien. Really, who knows. It was to random and drug induced for me to follow.However, the acting and the cinematography were both good. Clearly, the movie was meant to appeal to young men; especially those that use drugs.If you're a high young guy, you're gonna love this movie; everyone else,not so much.

PHANTASM I-IV were all entertaining in a mind-boggling, time-bending, inter-dimensional kind of way. Like JOHN DIES AT THE END. Don Coscarelli seems to be in his element, here, and he dishes up body-snatching alien invaders from another dimension by the score. Being totally unfamiliar with the book upon which this movie was based, I have absolutely no preconceived notions about what the movie "should've" been: I know only that it's great fun in the spirit of the PHANTASM films and that the lead does an incredible job- the movie wouldn't've been half as good without him (OR his sidekick). The cameo by Angus Scrimm as a creepy clergyman was a nice little touch, too, but it was Paul Giamatti's jaw-dropping reaction to seeing into the Other Realm that really stood out in a movie laden with solid performances. The inclusion of Practical Effects was also greatly appreciated: the cold-cuts composite creature was as funny as it was unsettling and greatly ENHANCES the film. I couldn't stop laughing when Dave asks his "dead" friend, John, who he's talking to on a phone: "Where are you? In Heaven...?"

Imagine a movie that is clever. Imagine a movie that is aware that it is clever. Also imagine a movie that is aware that it feels half- assed. A good example would be "Evil Dead II". The movie is clever, it is aware it is clever, and also intentionally feels half-assed even though it isn't. "John Dies at the End" tries desperately to do that, but it fails at it in many aspects.The first thing I will mention about this movie is that the first half or so is VERY interesting. I'm almost tempted to give this movie a higher rating because the beginning was very well done. The movie follows the premise of a young adult (who is apparently a college dropout, though the movie never says this) who gains the ability to see through time and space. This means he can predict the future, know people's memories, and see many crazy things. This is a fascinating concept in the way that it is presented because the audience doesn't fully understand the premise at first.If the movie is good at one thing, it is throwing in a lot of strange and "unexplainable" concepts very quickly to daze the audience. While this works at first, it quickly fails after the first half of the movie when explanations don't start to arise.Now, I know what fans are probably saying "The audience doesn't need to understand everything, that is what makes it good", and I can agree with that to a certain extent... but this is worse than "Lost" with its amount of raised and unanswered questions... such as: "What do the slugs do?", "Who was the zombie at beginning?", "Why was the Marconi character thrown in for absolutely no reason other than to hand over a bomb?" "Why was the girlfriend even in the movie? She served no purpose other than being a plot-device." "When was it even established that dead can take a physical appearance?" "Why did the bullet deflect?" "Why did the super computer even summon the main characters to be allies if it can see into the future and know they are there to kill it?"That isn't even a fraction of the questions that are left unanswered in the movie. The movie thinks that confusing is good. Confusing can be good IF you answer or at least ATTEMPT to answer why they happened. However, the movie doesn't even attempt. It will literally throw something into the plot that is very important to know, but it won't explain why it is there. The slugs seem to be occur frequently in the movie but they are NEVER explained. The white cloud insects? What are they? Aliens or from the other dimension?The biggest problem with this movie is that the movie is unsure of what it is even about. Is it about aliens? Is it about an alternate universe? Is it a comedy? Is it a horror movie? Is it a Doctor Who episode (believe me, it steals A LOT of elements from Doctor Who) or is it the "Sixth Sense" (and yes, it even DIRECTLY steals from the Sixth Sense in a very sloppily done manner)? The movie steals so many concepts from so many other movies/shows that it has a hard time being itself. Many of the shots in the second half of the movie are actually pointless. They serve no purpose to the plot, to character development, or even to humor. The movie is DISTRACTED with itself and is constantly thinking that it needs something else in the movie to make it better... which is the wrong way to go.The movie could've been a great movie, but it simply isn't. The acting is good (it definitely is) but that is about it. The main characters don't even feel like they are best friends, the girlfriend was literally tossed into the plot for no reason other than to UNLOCK A DOOR! SHE LITERALLY HAS NO PURPOSE TO THE PLOT THAN TO OPEN A DOOR! I feel like the movie started out with a good solid premise, but lost track of what it was trying to be. For example, one of the enemies swears that Marconi is his archnemesis but this is never addressed later on in the film... so... is the audience just supposed to forget the Doug Jones monster? How about the fact that the White Insects apparently have destroyed multiple planets... but they are also from an alternate dimension that supposedly isn't even able to jump into our universe? So are they aliens (like it said once) or are they from another dimension? Which is it, because it certainly can't be both.Final thoughts: Great intro. Could've been a great movie, but sadly the movie loses track of itself and even forgets its own continuity.

This terrific, bizarre comedy is not necessarily something one can explain to the uninitiated. Most simply it is a story of two guys who deal with supernatural phenomenon, with the movie mainly focused on how they started out. The movie is done in the form of a horror/monster movie, although it's not especially horrific and gory. It does, however, offer exciting and surprising moments.I found myself comparing it with one movie and then ten minutes later thinking it was more like a different one. The slackers dealing with the supernatural made me think of Ghostbusters. The special-effects-laden comedy made me think of Army of Darkness. The intricate, twisting concepts threaded through involving time and reality made me think of Inception. The bugs and hallucinogenic quality are sometimes reminiscent of Naked Lunch. (If I have to compare it with a single movie, I'm inclined toward Army of Darkness.)It's a fascinating and original movie. The only film I've seen previously by the director, Don Coscarelli, was the (IMHO) overrated Bubba Ho-Tep, and his earlier film don't sound appealing to me (nor do his next couple, yet another Phantasm movie and a Bubba sequel), but I sincerely hope he's optioning the sequel to John Dies at the End because I would love to see something similar to this.