Drag Me to Hell
The H-Bomb: Director Sam Raimi makes a long awaited return to the horror genre with this twisted tale of a young woman plagued by a curse. Was it worth the wait? Read on…
Christine (Alison Lohman) is a loan officer at a bank in line for a promotion to assistant manager. But when she sees that her chances of being promoted are threatened by a new, hot shot, kiss ass employee, she goes against her better nature and denies a mortgage extension to an old gypsy lady in order to get on her boss’s good side. As it turns out, she screws the wrong lady as the old witch places a damning curse on her. Now, Christine only has three days to undo the curse before she is literally dragged to hell.
Mr. Sam Raimi, we here in the horror nut community would like to say, welcome back! Yes, we enjoyed your “Spider-Man” movies (the first two, anyway), and we appreciated your non-genre work in films like “A Simple Plan” and “The Gift” (the less said about “For Love of the Game”, the better). However, it was an absolute delight to see you come home to the genre from which you came. While it doesn’t quite stack up to your deliciously schlocky “Evil Dead” trilogy, you have certainly shown us that you haven’t lost your teeth, and you’ve delivered one of the best horror films I’ve seen in recent memory. Bravo, sir!
Goddamn I got a kick out of this movie! This, for me, is the first recognizable Sam Raimi film since “Army of Darkness” (Evil Dead 3). While I enjoyed his more commercial outings, a part of me missed the audacious, outlandish style of his he showed when he was an up-and-comer. Well, with “Drag Me To Hell”, he’s proven that he’s still got a little bit of that wild spirit in him.
This is total retro-Raimi; complete with an inventive story (which he wrote with his brother, Ivan), crazy, creative camera angles, and some effectively spooky scenes, including one with people floating in mid air and speaking in demonic voices that will surely dig up pleasant memories of “Evil Dead II” for the fanboys.
Lohman is great and makes for a very sympathetic heroine, despite the fact that she does something really selfish at the beginning. I really wanted her character to pull through. (She more than makes up for her AWFUL performance in “Where the Truth Lies”).
However, as a critic, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t find something to bitch about. So here are a couple of complaints; the CGI was pretty hokey at times, I know Raimi was working with a limited budget, but c’mon, he had more convincing effects in the first “Evil Dead”. Secondly, Justin Long‘s character is supposed to be a professor, and I just couldn’t buy him as one for a minute. Lastly, no Bruce Campbell??!! That is just unacceptable, Mr. Raimi. How the fuck can you finally make a horror film again and not find a role for “The Chin?!”
When all is said and done, though, “Drag Me To Hell” is a terrific return to form for a director who is worshiped as a god in horror circles. Despite strong reviews, this one under-performed commercially, which is too bad. Hopefully, it will find the audience it deserves on DVD. If you’re a in the mood for a good fright flick, rent this creepy puppy tonight.
October 15th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Rick Swift, Rick Swift. Rick Swift said: Drag Me to Hell, ok no, please don't, but do drag yourself to the local DVD vendor, ASAP! http://tinyurl.com/ylkn6zf H-Man enjoyed 4 Stars [...]
January 21st, 2010 at 2:56 am
i saw "drag me to hell" in theaters several months ago. i went with a friend, and we found ourselves ALONE in the theater… right off the bat, we figured this was a bad sign. from beginning to end, this flick was completely ridiculous and predictable. so much so, that i literally found myself shouting at the screen in my most sarcastic tone, "DON'T GET IN THE CAR" and other such comments at appropriate moments throughout the movie. it was good for a laugh, but certainly didn't live up to my standards of what a horror movie should be.
January 21st, 2010 at 4:14 am
H-Man, I have to agree with Lisa here, I pride myself on really catching the "twist" in films, and I spotted this one right away. Still, several scenes were creepy, and talking animals always get to me, I would have like to see more goat stuff personally. The scene in Summer of Sam when the dog talks to Berkowitz, well, I can't watch it again, like I said, those things REALLY stick in my head. But, this film came off as hoaky at times and just absurdly disgusting, there were so many scenes I was just like, that is freakin' gross!
Also, in one scene a character is literally vomited on by a corpse and then the next frame, nary a drop is on her. FAIL on that continuity. I will say I enjoyed the psychological terror, but since the overt, hands-on evil was so direct, it lost its oomph to me. Take Paranormal Activity for example, only a few special effects were used and that scared the HELL outta most people. And maybe it is the right-wing Republican in me, but I was like, hey old gypsy lady, tough shit, you had two chances, deal with it! You want to see a great mind-screw with Gypsies, rent Thinner, and oh yea, Kari Wuhrer is in it . . . she is a smoking hottie!
January 21st, 2010 at 4:14 am
H-Man, I have to agree with Lisa here, I pride myself on really catching the "twist" in films, and I spotted this one right away. Still, several scenes were creepy, and talking animals always get to me, I would have like to see more goat stuff personally. The scene in Summer of Sam when the dog talks to Berkowitz, well, I can't watch it again, like I said, those things REALLY stick in my head. But, this film came off as hoaky at times and just absurdly disgusting, there were so many scenes I was just like, that is freakin' gross!
Also, in one scene a character is literally vomited on by a corpse and then the next frame, nary a drop is on her. FAIL on that continuity. I will say I enjoyed the psychological terror, but since the overt, hands-on evil was so direct, it lost its oomph to me. Take Paranormal Activity for example, only a few special effects were used and that scared the HELL outta most people. And maybe it is the right-wing Republican in me, but I was like, hey old gypsy lady, tough shit, you had two chances, deal with it! You want to see a great mind-screw with Gypsies, rent Thinner, and oh yea, Kari Wuhrer is in it . . . she is a smoking hottie!
January 23rd, 2010 at 2:24 am
Just one more thing to add, then I'm done: 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. So there.
January 23rd, 2010 at 3:12 am
RT is full of stuffed shirt critics, we are the real critics here, never forget that.
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