The cult horror comedy Guillermo del Toro instantly fell in love with: “Right up there with Raimi”
Guillermo del Toro is more than qualified to talk about movies.
He’s an Academy Award-winning director and producer, whose films have been nominated a total of 25 times at the biggest show of the year. On top of that, he’s also a darling of the critical scene; his movie Pan’s Labyrinth famously received a 22-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival, the longest in the history of the prestigious event.
Though he has strayed out of the genre, the Mexican maestro has achieved his biggest successes in the world of horror. From humble beginnings with the likes of Cronos and The Devil’s Backbone, which is where he really got going as a filmmaker, to his upcoming take on the story of Frankenstein, del Toro is at his best when he’s exploring the darker side of humanity. Even the films he’s made that aren’t technically full-on horrors, such as Blade II, Hellboy, Pinocchio, and more, contain undertones of the macabre. He just can’t help himself.
All of this means that, when he speaks on the subject of horror, it’s definitely worth listening. The director has been very forthcoming about some of his favourite scary movies, from stone-cold classics to the relatively obscure. Speaking of the latter, in 2016, del Toro shared his love for a cult favourite on X, back in the good old days when it was simply known as Twitter.
“Film: John Dies at the End by Don Coscarelli,” del Toro tweeted, noting, “Coscarelli is right up there with Raimi in terms of zany horror/comedy. Lysergic fun”. Don Coscarelli, the film’s director, is also responsible for the first four ‘Phantasm’ movies and the bizarre Elvis Presley-themed horror comedy Bubba Ho-Tep. As for ‘Raimi’, that is obviously Sam Raimi, the horror visionary behind the ‘Evil Dead’ franchise.
Based on the David Wong novel of the same name, John Dies at the End was released in 2012 and stars Rob Hayes as the eponymous character. The film is framed through John’s friend Dave, played by Chase Williamson, giving an interview to Paul Giamatti’s character, a reporter, about a string of strange events that took place in their town, all related to a drug called ‘Soy Sauce’. The narcotic has the ability to send takers to a different dimension, opening their minds to entirely new experiences. However, when they return from their trip, they have changed, and not in a “found myself doing ayahuasca” kind of way.
It’s not hard to see why del Toro would be drawn to something as out there as John Dies at the End. Not only is the premise as outlandish as some of his own works, but it’s clear by the monster designs that Coscarelli took heavy inspiration from his eventual fan. The movie even features an appearance from Doug Jones, the legendary creature actor best known for his multiple appearances across del Toro’s canon.
Receiving praise from a name as big as del Toro’s must have meant a lot to those involved in the film, especially as John Dies at the End got horrible reviews at the time, with one critic at the San Francisco Chronicle noting that were it not for Giamatti’s performance, it might have been the “worst film ever made”. Now that is truly horrifying.
