Drag Me to Hell ***
Directed by Sam Raimi
Written by Sam Raimi and Ivan Raimi
Starring:
Alison Lohman as Christine Brown
Justin Long as Clay Dalton
Lorna Raver as Mrs. Ganush
Dileep Rao as Rham Jas
David Paymer as Mr. Jacks
Adriana Barraza as Shaun San Dena
Reggie Lee as Stu Rubin
99 Minutes (Rated PG-13 for sequences of horror violence, terror, disturbing images and language.)
"Drag Me to Hell" is Sam Raimi's first forray into the horror genre in quite some time, and aside from his cult following, this film may make him a more blockbuster name in the genre, especially after his "Spider-Man" films have engrained him in the public memory. Inside the packed auditorium on a sweltering evening, the room was thick with Raimi fans, all speculating on what sort of surprises their friend Sam had planned for them. Will there be a Bruce Campbell cameo? Evil Dead reference? Sadly, the answer to that is a resounding "no," but "Drag Me to Hell" is still a good time at the movies, and probably the only horror film that has been released in quite some time that has actually been worth paying money to see. It is ninety minutes of effective tension, scary situations, and a handful of genuine scares and images that transcend the typical horror formula. While there is a cat, there are no moments there the character breaths a sign of relief because "it's only a cat." This is an evil force that does not want to be reckoned with, and will complete their goal.
Our main character is Christine Brown, an intelligent and attractive young woman who grew up overweight and on a farm. With a past radically different from her present, Christine lives a life of apparent perfection, despite the fact that her boyfriend Clay's rich parents do not find her a suitable mate for their son. She passes by the bakery and looks at the cakes longingly, but then regroups herself and goes to her job at a bank. There, she gazes longingly at the empty desk for assistant manager, which she is currently fighting for with Stu, a brown-nosed new guy who will sell out Christine at the drop of a hat for an advantage over the position. When the elderly Sylvia Ganush comes into the bank looking on an extension on the foreclosure of her house, Christine finds it to perfect opportunity to show her boss that she can make hard decisions, and denies the woman the extension. Ganush does not take this lightly, and attacks Christine in the parking lot. Stealing one of her jacket buttons, she puts a curse on it and hands it back to Christine, sealing her fate that in three days a gypsy demon will find her and drag her into hell. Christine begins to question and go against her beliefs to try and get this evil away from her, involving herself with a rather unusual and bizarre group of characters who all have different supernatural remedies to do so.
At the center of the film is Alison Lohman, an actress who I've missed greatly ever since her terrific performance in Ridley Scott's "Matchstick Men" in 2003, and her even better performance in 2002's "White Oleander." Since the she has appeared in and out in a handful of films, never getting the role of depth that I quite wanted her to have, and the one I knew she was capable of. While this isn't exactly what I expected for her, she has quite a presence, and she doesn't take the film too seriously, allowing it to rest right between the cracks of serious and light horror. This is certainly the film to see with a packed crowd, and if inside an empy theater it will probably have a completely different impact. For example, the parking lot battle between Christine and Ganush, which does on for quite a long time and involves car crashes, fake teeth fighting out, and a rather funny moment where Ganush attempts to bite Christine with her gums, not realizing that her teeth have been yanked out. In the right atmosphere, this scene could seem cartooney and over the top, but at the moment it ends up becoming one of the most entertaining five minutes I've seen in quite a while.
As for actual scares, Raimi has plenty of classic jump scenes under his sleeve. I could have lived without the "period" Universal logos that appeared at the start of the film, but I do like how he is attempting to work under the "classic" type of horror film, including almost no gore at all, and also working with some very bizarre elements and characters. As Christine probes deeper into the world of senaces and dark forces, the characters get stranger and stranger. One of these is Shaun San Dena, played well by Adriana Barraza, who involves Christine in a ritual where the spirit will enter her while she attempts to sacrifice a goat. If a demon entering a goat and allowing it to talk is not your cup of tea, than this might not be the movie for you.
What stands "Drag Me to Hell" apart from many other films in the current dying genre of horror-at least in terms of quality and not dollars-is that it does not rely on cheap tricks and scares to make a quick buck. Raimi really knows what he is doing in terms of the genre, and there are plenty of scares and fun to be had here. As far as I can remember, he avoids many "jump" scene cliches, and has created quite an evil force. As the film went on, I became lost in the story and just succumbed to having a good time. And there's a neat twist towards the end that, while I predicted, was very fitting and many others will not. Good performances all around, in addition to Lohman, include Lorna Raver as the creepy Mrs. Ganush whose creepy makeup and screams will certainly one day be deemed as "classic." And also by Reggie Lee as Stu, the bastard that everyone ends up loving because he's so awful. When a certain moment in the film mentioned that Christine would have to sacrifice someone in order for her to live, there were so many cries of "Stu!" in the audience. And it was wonderful to see that type of audience interaction. It's what has been missing in my movie experiences for quite some time, and probably one of the best reasons to see "Drag Me to Hell" during its first weekend. This is the type of fun rarely seen in horror films today.
Directed by Sam Raimi
Written by Sam Raimi and Ivan Raimi
Starring:
Alison Lohman as Christine Brown
Justin Long as Clay Dalton
Lorna Raver as Mrs. Ganush
Dileep Rao as Rham Jas
David Paymer as Mr. Jacks
Adriana Barraza as Shaun San Dena
Reggie Lee as Stu Rubin
99 Minutes (Rated PG-13 for sequences of horror violence, terror, disturbing images and language.)
"Drag Me to Hell" is Sam Raimi's first forray into the horror genre in quite some time, and aside from his cult following, this film may make him a more blockbuster name in the genre, especially after his "Spider-Man" films have engrained him in the public memory. Inside the packed auditorium on a sweltering evening, the room was thick with Raimi fans, all speculating on what sort of surprises their friend Sam had planned for them. Will there be a Bruce Campbell cameo? Evil Dead reference? Sadly, the answer to that is a resounding "no," but "Drag Me to Hell" is still a good time at the movies, and probably the only horror film that has been released in quite some time that has actually been worth paying money to see. It is ninety minutes of effective tension, scary situations, and a handful of genuine scares and images that transcend the typical horror formula. While there is a cat, there are no moments there the character breaths a sign of relief because "it's only a cat." This is an evil force that does not want to be reckoned with, and will complete their goal.
Our main character is Christine Brown, an intelligent and attractive young woman who grew up overweight and on a farm. With a past radically different from her present, Christine lives a life of apparent perfection, despite the fact that her boyfriend Clay's rich parents do not find her a suitable mate for their son. She passes by the bakery and looks at the cakes longingly, but then regroups herself and goes to her job at a bank. There, she gazes longingly at the empty desk for assistant manager, which she is currently fighting for with Stu, a brown-nosed new guy who will sell out Christine at the drop of a hat for an advantage over the position. When the elderly Sylvia Ganush comes into the bank looking on an extension on the foreclosure of her house, Christine finds it to perfect opportunity to show her boss that she can make hard decisions, and denies the woman the extension. Ganush does not take this lightly, and attacks Christine in the parking lot. Stealing one of her jacket buttons, she puts a curse on it and hands it back to Christine, sealing her fate that in three days a gypsy demon will find her and drag her into hell. Christine begins to question and go against her beliefs to try and get this evil away from her, involving herself with a rather unusual and bizarre group of characters who all have different supernatural remedies to do so.
At the center of the film is Alison Lohman, an actress who I've missed greatly ever since her terrific performance in Ridley Scott's "Matchstick Men" in 2003, and her even better performance in 2002's "White Oleander." Since the she has appeared in and out in a handful of films, never getting the role of depth that I quite wanted her to have, and the one I knew she was capable of. While this isn't exactly what I expected for her, she has quite a presence, and she doesn't take the film too seriously, allowing it to rest right between the cracks of serious and light horror. This is certainly the film to see with a packed crowd, and if inside an empy theater it will probably have a completely different impact. For example, the parking lot battle between Christine and Ganush, which does on for quite a long time and involves car crashes, fake teeth fighting out, and a rather funny moment where Ganush attempts to bite Christine with her gums, not realizing that her teeth have been yanked out. In the right atmosphere, this scene could seem cartooney and over the top, but at the moment it ends up becoming one of the most entertaining five minutes I've seen in quite a while.
As for actual scares, Raimi has plenty of classic jump scenes under his sleeve. I could have lived without the "period" Universal logos that appeared at the start of the film, but I do like how he is attempting to work under the "classic" type of horror film, including almost no gore at all, and also working with some very bizarre elements and characters. As Christine probes deeper into the world of senaces and dark forces, the characters get stranger and stranger. One of these is Shaun San Dena, played well by Adriana Barraza, who involves Christine in a ritual where the spirit will enter her while she attempts to sacrifice a goat. If a demon entering a goat and allowing it to talk is not your cup of tea, than this might not be the movie for you.
What stands "Drag Me to Hell" apart from many other films in the current dying genre of horror-at least in terms of quality and not dollars-is that it does not rely on cheap tricks and scares to make a quick buck. Raimi really knows what he is doing in terms of the genre, and there are plenty of scares and fun to be had here. As far as I can remember, he avoids many "jump" scene cliches, and has created quite an evil force. As the film went on, I became lost in the story and just succumbed to having a good time. And there's a neat twist towards the end that, while I predicted, was very fitting and many others will not. Good performances all around, in addition to Lohman, include Lorna Raver as the creepy Mrs. Ganush whose creepy makeup and screams will certainly one day be deemed as "classic." And also by Reggie Lee as Stu, the bastard that everyone ends up loving because he's so awful. When a certain moment in the film mentioned that Christine would have to sacrifice someone in order for her to live, there were so many cries of "Stu!" in the audience. And it was wonderful to see that type of audience interaction. It's what has been missing in my movie experiences for quite some time, and probably one of the best reasons to see "Drag Me to Hell" during its first weekend. This is the type of fun rarely seen in horror films today.