JOHN DIES AT THE END

US, 2012, 99 mins., colour.
Chase Williamson, Robert Mayes, Paul Giamatti, Clancy Brown, Glynn Turman, Doug Jones, Daniel Roebuck, Fabianne Therese, Jonny Weston, Jimmy Wong, Tai Bennett.
Directed by Don Coscarelli.

John Dies at the End became something of a cult movie. It had the advantage of being written and directed by Don Coscarelli who made an impact with his Phantasm films and then the Beast Master series. He also had a win with his bizarre imaginative fantasy, Bubba Ho -Tep.

This is also a film of wild imagination, set in the present but moving into a range of alternate times, parallel universes, a different Earth.

Chase Williamson plays David Wong, and easy-go-lucky type. The screenplay is based on a graphic novel by David Wong. Robert Mayes is John, his close friend. There are quite a number of other friends who get into the act, a reporter called Arnie played by Paul Giamatti, a young woman with an injured hand, a drug dealer with a Jamaican identity, an African- American detective, a superhuman computer called Korrok as well as other assorted characters.

At the centre of the action is a syringe with lethal injections of Soy Source which transforms those injected, they see creatures, evil forces being unleashed.

Because of the timeshift, John dies before the end and, at the end of the film, is seen playing basketball with Dave as the two of them have a mission to become demon hunters.

For those who like conventional narratives, not. For those who enjoy of comedies which move towards the farther-out, a cult film.

1. Science-fiction-fantasy? Plausible? Beyond imagination?

2. The work of the director, Phantasm, Beast Master series, Bubba Ho- Tep?

3. The setting, the anonymous American city? The musical score?

4. The introduction to David Wong, a slacker, meeting the zombie, the head, David beheading him, the axe?

5. Arnie appearing, reporter, the events, the recounting, his accompanying David?

6. The life of the party, John, Fred, Justin White, Amy Sullivan? Her hand? The dog, Bark Lee? Biting, the dealer, Jamaican identity? The dog disappearing, with the car?

7. The focus on John, his apartment, the creature in the apartment, John seeing it, David not? The syringe, Soy Source? The injections, breaking open knowledge? The shift into alternate times, parallel universes? John and Dave and their communication, the past and the present?

8. The car, Dave, the syringe, injected, travelling? Roger North in the back seat? Advice, disappearance?

9. The detective, Laurence Appleton, the interrogation, the party, drugs, deaths and disappearances?

10. The bizarre times, Arnie and his fear, the monster?

11. John, his death, making contact, David the escape, the ghost as the policeman – leading to the mall? Appleton burning? John disappearing? Soy Source and its unleashing an evil force? Appleton shouting at David, bullet, Bark, the car, going to the wall, demented?

12. The group, at the mall, the door, Appleton and the killing, the swarm of deadly insects – and moving into Fred? Power to kill?

13. Amy, the escape, using her limb? North? The appearance of Albert Marconi, the psychic and his influence, media reputation, activities?

14. Korrok, Supercomputer, controlling, playing God, killing? The role of the Soy Sauce? John and Dave, the LSD, the bomb?

15. The alternate Earth, Korrok and the mission, to devour Dave and John, the bomb, the dog taking the bomb and saving everyone?

16. The role of the demon hunters, the mission of Dave and John?

17. Arnie, the decision to publish, only as a ghost, the body in the boot of the car?

18. The final basketball sequence, John and Dave and their mission?