Entertainment

‘John Dies at the End’ review

A supernatural horror-comedy that’s frighteningly lacking in wit, “John Dies at the End” thinks it’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” for dudes. But in its randomness, its vulgarity and its level of humor, it’s more like the collected writings on the walls of a roadside men’s room.

David (Chase Williamson) and John (Rob Mayes) are a pair of deadpan slackers who stumble upon an extraterrestrial invasion plot that they figure out with the help of a freaky drug called Soy Sauce that induces clairvoyance and enables users to travel through time and dimensions. Throw “Ghostbusters” and “Buckaroo Banzai” into a blender and you’ll come up with a more coherent plot.

When lost for a punch line, which is always, the film randomly delivers a projectile-vomiting scene or a mustache flying off a face or a doorknob turning into male genitalia. The presence of Paul Giamatti, in a small part, is the only sign of intelligent life in this otherwise student-quality mess that was nevertheless written and directed — surprise — by a respected professional. Well, a professional, anyway: The writer-director is Don Coscarelli, the guy who made “The Beastmaster.”