John Dies at the End
Dir: Don Coscarelli
2012
***
I read John Dies at the End about a year before I saw the film. I wondered how the hell anyone would adapt it into film and the answer is clear. You can't. Not properly anyway, but that said Don Coscarelli did pretty well. Much of the film was instantly recognisable from the book, in that sense it is a faithful translation but there just isn't enough of it. Coscarelli didn't include enough of the story in the film and so left out so much that goes on to explain a little further as to what the hell is actually happening. I do think he did enough for people to know what did happen at the end though, if you watch it and still don't know then it's because you're too used to watching formulaic rubbish that has closed your mind somewhat. Without wanting to ruin anything for you, the clue is in the title! I do wish the film was adapted into a trilogy, then the whole story could have been told, we could have had more character development (rather than character merger) and it wouldn't have felt like such an anti-climax. Shame, this was supposed to be the next big cult film.