Who needs a time machine when you have Soy Sauce
That’s the street drug with trans-dimensional properties that fuels “John Dies at the End,†a new film written and directed by Don Coscarelli and based on the novel by David Wong (a pseudonym for Jason Pargin). The film, which opens in New York on Feb. 1, is about two slackers, John (Rob Mayes) and David (Chase Williamson), who discover that Soy Sauce has the power to bring about not only otherworldly travel but also monsters, and possibly the end of the universe.
“The fate of humanity falls in their lap,†explained Mr. Coscarelli. “It’s got a wicked sense of humor.â€
Mr. Coscarelli is best known to horror fans as the director of “Phantasm,†a dimension-bending 1979 horror film that starred Angus Scimm as an evil undertaker who enlists dwarf zombies in his quest for world domination. Earlier this month at 92Y Tribeca, Mr. Coscarelli attended a sold-out screening of “John Dies at the End†and “Phantasm,†which has become a cult favorite â€" as has its three sequels â€" among horror and sci-fi aficionados. (His 2002 horror comedy “Bubba Ho-Tep,†about a mummy terrorizing a nursing home where Elvis lives, also has its fans.)
“I hadn’t seen ‘Phantasm’ in many years, and it was almost this grindhouse-level print,†he said of the screening. “It was great to revisit it in that fashion.â€
Mr. Coscarelli recently spoke with Erik Piepenburg about his new film. Following are edited excerpts from the conversation.
I read that you first heard of “John Dies at the End†in a pretty random way.
I ! got a robot e-mail from Amazon that said if I liked this zombie fiction book that I wanted from this little publisher named Permuted Press that I would love “John Dies at the End.†I bought about two or three different zombie novels that day so I can’t recall which one gave me that suggestion. I bought the thing and read it immediately. The book had some amazing concepts of a sentient drug that chooses you. It was so innovative and creative and hide-under-the-bed scary on one page and laugh-out-loud funny on the other. I got in touch with the author and was able to secure the rights.
What’s the story
In this town there are two guys, Dave and John, traditional slackers, and they encounter this drug that allows users to drift between dimensions. They find themselves involved in a conspiracy that seems to be channeled through their town in order to dominate the planet and the universe. It ask what’s real, what’s not and what’s fantasy, and has characters grapple with those types of questions.
Jemal Countess/Getty Images Don Coscarelli at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2012.It sounds like there are elements of horror and comedy in “John Dies at the End.†How do you think the two go hand in hand
The immediate similarity is that when you have a truly shocking moment of terror or surprise in a movie, audiences always respond with a laugh afterwards. For “John Dies,†the source novel and movie keep you so off-balanced that there are moments when you don’t know whether you should be laughing or screami! ng. In bo! th horror and comedy you take the audience toward something that’s unknown, and the reveal of that unknown is either going to be a punch line or a shock.
You got Paul Giamatti, an Oscar nominee, to star in “John Dies at the End†as a reporter who learns about Soy Sauce. How did you make that happen
I had met Paul a few years previous, and we had tried to put another project together but that didn’t work out. Paul had been a fan of my film “Bubba Ho-Tep,†so we were looking for something strange and horrific to do together. I gave [him] a copy of the script and he said let’s do it.
What was it like to see “Phantasm†in a room full of what I’m guessing were major fans
[Laughs] The fact that the thing spawned this cult of fans is stunning. It was made on such modest means so many years ago. The goal was to get it finished and out. What’s cool is I’ve ben to some horror conventions with Angus, and it’s interesting how this man, or this character, that seemed to terrorize so many people, there are still people who are eager to meet him. And when they meet him he’s so kind, they want to hug him and take their photo with him.
Why do you think “Phantasm†has maintained such a following
On one level it’s an empowerment for 12- and 13-year-old males. Today all these 40- and 45-year-old guys tell me that it’s a movie they never forgot. In a larger sense it’s a movie that examines death, something that everyone relates to and many fear. I think the fact that it’s an exploration into the nooks and crannies of the American funeral process allows audiences to investigate that and experience their own death and come out of it at the end alive and O.K.
Was there a film from your childhood that had an impact on you in the same way
There was this film on TV called “Invaders From Mars.†It’s what I emulated in “Phantasm†in some ways. It’s about a young boy dealing with some strange things, and no one believes him. Maybe nobody believed me when I was a kid.
