Halloween Horrors: THIS IS THE END

THIS IS THE END  (2013)
Directed by Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg
Starring Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson, Danny McBride, Emma Watson, Michael Cera, Mindy Kaling, Rihanna, David Krumholtz, Kevin Hart, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Paul Rudd, Channing Tatum
R for crude and sexual content throughout, brief graphic nudity, pervasive language, drug use and some violence.
SCAREmeter: 4.5/10
GOREmeter: 8.5/10
OVERALL: 3.5 out 4 stars

You're probably familiar with this movie as the one where movie stars play themselves.  That's accurate, but it's also the horror-comedy where a huge line-up of Hollywood stars play fictionalized, outrageous versions of themselves, within the context of the most incredible of what-if scenarios: the full-blown Rapture and subsequent Apocalypse as described (or rather, as inspired by the description) within the Biblical Book of Revelation.  And the results are truly marvelous.
The film opens as Jay Baruchel (known for his roles in MILLION DOLLAR BABY and KNOCKED UP) arrives in Los Angeles on a flight from Canada to pay a visit to his old friend and fellow Canadian (now turned-Hollywood mainstay), Seth Rogen (who also co-wrote and co-directed the film).  Jay is uncomfortable with the Hollywood crowd and is hoping to spend the weekend hanging out with Seth at his house while they smoke copious amounts of marijuana and play 3D video games, but after a while of doing just that, Seth insists that they make a stop at James Franco's housewarming party.  With tremendous reluctance, Jay accompanies Seth (with whom his bromance is growing strained) to the party at Franco's ridiculous, fortress-like mansion, where a who's who of film actors/entertainers (with a slight edge on the comedian factor, by the way) are mixing it up.  Among the most notable are Jonah Hill (annoyingly "sweet" and a newly-minted Academy Award-nominee for MONEYBALL), Craig Robinson (nice, but "sweats a lot," best known as Daryl Philbin from NBC's The Office), Michael Cera (an extremely abrasive, deviant personality, addicted to cocaine and kinky sex) and Emma Watson (best known as Hermoine from the Harry Potter film series, playing herself as a typically classy English lady, but quite self-sufficient when necessary).  Franco, familiar with Seth from the early days of their career on the cult-classic television series, Freaks and Geeks, has a somewhat creepy devotion to him, doing special favors for him and prominently displaying a piece of art that emphasizes their friendship.  When Jay attempts to ditch the party by going out to a convenience store, Seth follows along, and they argue about their changing relationship and new differences, further evidenced by the happenings at the party.  While in the convenience store though, suddenly the Eastbound & Down and supporting comic roles in movies like PINEAPPLE EXPRESS), who's practically the villain of the Hollywood community.
ground begins to rumble, and several people around them are taken up into the sky in conduits of blue light.  They run back to the party, where similar events start to follow outside, with huge crevices opening up in the ground, which many of the attendees fall into, while others die in other assorted gory ways.  The movies main players, Seth, Jay, Franco, Jonah and Craig mange to escape the mayhem and barricade themselves inside Franco's fortress/mansion, where they debate what to do then, while cataloging their supplies, and arguing over whether it is, in fact, the biblical Apocalypse, or "the big one".  The next morning though, a party crasher is discovered, having passed out in the bathroom; Danny McBride (best known from the television series
THIS IS THE END is the funniest movie I've seen this year, and in time longer than even that, although, disclaimer, it often toys around the line between disgustingly funny and just plain disgusting, and it tumbles over to the side of the latter occasionally.  It's not for the easily-offended either, or even many of the less easily-offended, as it is one of the raunchiest comedies ever made, with copious gags involving bodily fluids (especially semen, blood and vomit), plus horror movie levels of graphic gore.  It is a little bit scarier than you might expect, too, albeit only a little bit, as the jokes are relentless, but it does include demonic monsters, and homages to classic New Hollywood horror movies like ROSEMARY'S BABY and THE EXORCISM (there's a gag involving a sexual assault of sorts that is likely to be more offensive to viewers unfamiliar with ROSEMARY'S BABY, which it parodies).
Its script is loosey-goosey, leaving lots of room for improvisation from its cast of comedians (and dramatic actors trying out their comedic chops), but thankfully, one might say miraculously, the rate of success for such moments is unusually high, even if a few jokes are noticeably overdrawn.  Its also a cathartic experience to see these actors play against their well-established type, or in some cases (notably McBride), to see other actors reacting negatively at another actor's established type.  Plus, we get to see them make derisive gags about their worst movies.  Franco, in particular, plays off his other movies, playing himself as keeping all of his props, such as the pistol from FLYBOYS and the camcorder from 127 HOURS.
It's a very pleasant experience for anyone who's suffered the righteous morality of the Left Behind series, to see the extremely R-rated antics of the film industry in a similar environment, but fear not, even if its a real smartass about it, the film brings in the Judeo-Christian morality lessons in a final act that is one of the most incredible and seemingly-unexpected, but inevitable, climaxes that I've ever seen.
Don't watch it on a full stomach, and watch it with the right crowd, but watch it, and walk out with abs of steel, because you'll laugh that hard.

It's all fun and games until somebody bursts into flames.  That rhymed; unintentional.