- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Video Codec: AVC MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
- Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit), French & Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
- Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French
- Subtitles Color: White
- Region: A (Region-Locked)
- Rating: R
- Run Time: 99 Mins
- Discs: 1 (1 x Blu-ray)
- Digital Copies: None
- Studio: Magnolia Home Entertainment
- Blu-ray Release Date: April 2, 2013
- List Price: $29.98
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Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:3.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(The below TheaterByte screen captures are taken directly from the Blu-ray Discs and losslessly compressed in the PNG format. There should be no loss of picture quality with this format. All screen captures should be regarded only as an approximation of the full capabilities of the Blu-ray format.
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The Film
[Rating:3.5/5]
John Dies At The End begins with David Wong (Chase Williamson), looking at the audience, informing us that he’s about to present us with a riddle, of which I won’t really speak of here. After that particular riddle is uttered, David awakes – telling us that he just ‘dosed himself five hours ago.’ If you’re confused, don’t worry. I was too. Moving on, David sits across from reporter Arnie Blondestone (Paul Giamatti, in quite the funny performance.) Turns out this story involves a brand new drug, known in the streets as ‘soy sauce’. What exactly this drug does, is the real charm of this film.
On the surface, a film like John Dies At The End might be the kind of movie you’d read about, only to scoff at. After all, that’s exactly what I did. The plot sounded way too weird, and made me wonder if any real humor might be found here. Well, I’ll easily admit that my initial thoughts of this one were dead wrong. Not only is John Dies at the End an entertaining film in a quirky kind of way (mostly due to us wanting to find out what side effects the drug will have,) but the cast helps to add to the film and its entertainment. Do yourself a favor and, if you’re in the right mood, give this one a spin. You just may surprise yourself at what you find.
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Shot with the Red One Camera system, John Dies At The End arrives with a 1:78:1 framed, AVC MPEG-4 encoded mostly solid transfer. The film’s palette features a consistent palette, blacks are rock solid, while contrast levels remain accurate. Flesh tones are a bit over saturated at times, but never does this become a worry. There’s no real noise to speak of either in the digital source. All in all, especially considering the low budget of the movie, this transfer is a good effort.
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
On the audio side, this Blu-ray Disc offers up a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, which also shares a similar performance as the aforementioned video presentation. Atmosphere, with all the varying foley effects, is solid throughout. Little discrete effects like crickets, background dialogue, whooshing of the wind and the occasional passing of a car, all help to define the audio. Dialogue remains intelligible as well, with no instance of drop out. LFE also offers up a good amount of low end, all added to an audio track that hits right.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
All included features are presented in High and Standard Definition:
- Deleted Scenes – 9:39 worth of scenes are shown.
- Making of – This is a 6:36 making of, where cast and crew speak on the films, origins.
- Effects – This one runs 8:35 and details the varying monsters.
- Casting – A 7:14 look into the casting of the film.
- Giamatti Interview [SD] – This is an interview with Giamatti (9:51), one of which is funny and insightful.
- Trailer – The film’s trailer (2:26) is shown.
- Commentary with Director Don Coscarelli, Producer Brad Baruh, Chase Williamson and Rob Mayes
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:3.5/5]
For those looking for a quirky, humorous film, look no further than John Dies At The End. Luckily, Magnolia has served us a quality Blu-ray with a fine technical presentation, and a few features. I’m going to mark this one under the rental column.
Additional Screen Captures
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BestBuy.com
Purchase John Dies At The End on Blu-ray at CD Universe
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–
[amazon-product]B00BT2V48U[/amazon-product]
[amazon-product]B00B04NJCG[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com
Purchase John Dies At The End on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles on Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Film
[Rating:3.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]