7/10
Never Quite Peaks, But Still a Welcome Return
6 November 2017
The animated conclusion to the live action "Todd and The Book Of Pure Evil" series. Todd (Alex House) tries to mend his friendship with Curtis after killing his girlfriend. The book has returned along with Hannah and there is talk of a new Pure Evil One.

"Todd and the Book of Pure Evil" is one of the greatest horror-themed television series of all time. In its simplest terms, it could be seen as a heavy metal, juvenile, Canadian form of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". But that really would be putting it too simply, because despite a few similar themes and a possible overlap in fan base, they are two entirely different shows in tone.

Despite the greatness of the series, however, it somehow failed to find its audience and was canceled after two seasons when there had been four planned. Admittedly, I had not heard of the show until it surfaced on Netflix, which is a bit of a surprise given the inclusion of Jason Mewes, which should have made it an instant cult classic. Like myself, many others found the show after it was canceled and it took on a new life. What should have happened is Netflix investing in the final two seasons (like they have with "Arrested Development") but that was not to be the case.

While moving on to directing the first season of Chiller's "Slasher", creator Craig David Wallace did not give up on Todd. There were some crowd funding attempts, and we ultimately end up with this film: "The End of the End". While a new season would have been better, or even a live action film, animation seems to be what was possible given the limited budget. And any Todd is better than no Todd.

What we get is a nice summation of some of the series' better themes. We have a random student using the book and having it work in an unexpected way. We have some new musical numbers (though none as memorable as "Horny Like the Devil"). And we get the return of my favorite insult, not once but twice. I cannot say what that insult is, but it involves excrement and a feathered barnyard animal.

The animation does capture the likenesses of the characters well, though it is hard to perfectly recreate the raw physicality of Atticus or Jimmy the Janitor. In some ways it might offer an advantage in the "special effects" department; the show had always had great effects, but it is likely easier to draw an endless stream of melting faces than to create them practically.

Fans of the show will enjoy the film. Although it seems like they pushed the genital humor to new heights (or is that depths?), which was unnecessary, everything you loved about the show is here. The humor, the interesting mythology, and all the original voices. People who have not seen the show might be a little lost, but that is rally their own fault for coming in at this point.
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