With films like the Phantasm series and Bubba Ho-Tep, Don Coscarelli has unabashedly embraced the weirder, more illogical side of fantasy and horror, amassing a strong cult following in the process. Body-swapping and interdimensional travel are commonplace for Coscarelli, whose free-associative, fantastical imagination seems to actively repel the mainstream. And if the trailer for his new film, John Dies At The End, is any indication, he doesn't plan on selling out now. Despite performances from Glynn Turman (a.k.a. Mayor Clarence Royce from The Wire) and, more notably, Paul Giamatti, the film's low-budget sci-fi aesthetic (think Doctor Who) and nerdy humor mean that it, too, will almost inevitably become a lynchpin of basement viewings and midnight showings.
The plot centers on a drug called Soy Sauce, whose effects include an out-of-body experience that renders its user disconnected from the realm of the normal human world. Naturally, it falls into the hands of two losers who are then burdened with the task of saving the universe. The result looks like a mix between A Scanner Darkly and Bill And Ted, which probably means that it will speak to those under the influence of their own personal brand of "Soy Sauce."