Drag Me To Hell

Drag Me to Hell

Drag Me to Hell - Directed by Sam Raimi, starring Alison Lohman, Justin Long, and Dileep Rao - Rated PG-13

The Kurgan would thoroughly enjoy this one.



Why did Sam Raimi do this to us? Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the Spider Man movies (even the third one, which is crapped on constantly, though it is my least favorite), but if Raimi could’ve been making movies like this for that last eight years then I would have much rather had someone like Brett Ratner taking over Spider Man so Raimi could embrace his roots. Drag Me to Hell is an example of what Sam Raimi does best: a freaky, goofy horror film that is as fun as anything I’ve seen in the last five years.



Let me get into the story before I explain the whole “fun” statement. The story is about loan officer Christine (Alison Lohman), who forecloses a creepy gypsy lady’s house to prove that she’s worthy for a promotion. Obviously the creepy gypsy lady is not pleased, so she curses Christine with a demon that will torment her for a few days, then…drag her to hell. Along for the ride is her devoted boyfriend Clay (Justin Long) and a psychic (Dileep Rao, who does a very good job). That’s the short and skinny of it, now let’s get to why this is enjoyable.

First off, if you see this in the theater, then the audience is key. I saw it in a packed theater with tons of girls screaming at every scary part (of which there are many). Now, this was kind of annoying at first, but it really amplified the experience of the movie. I’m usually not one to jump at a cheap scare, but Raimi piles so many of them into each scene it’s hard not to be tricked by him once in a while. And the screams from audience members around you add to the jump factor. The point is: this movie is an experience with an audience.

But it’s not all cheap scares. If you’ve seen Raimi’s earlier works, such as the Evil Dead series, then you know what’s coming. You get the rattling doors, the screeching demons, and the comedic scares. Any fan of the Evil Dead series will be all smiles during a séance sequence featuring voice work reminiscent of Raimi’s earlier films. The comedy doesn’t cheapen the horror quality, though. It simply adds to the overall enjoyment of the film.




This is a movie willing to do things that other movies would only imply. There are plot elements that would normally have you thinking: there’s no way they are actually going to do that. But as soon as you think that, they follow through with it. I would love to give examples of this, but I don’t want to spoil it. But for those who have seen it, here’s the main SPOILER that I’m talking about: I was not expecting Christine to sacrifice the cat at all. I just thought it was a funny scene when she considered it. When it cut to her burying the cat, I could hardly contain my laughter.

Let’s not get out of hand here, though. This movie is not a masterpiece or anything. It’s just an example of what Sam Raimi is capable of (and a damn good example at that). There are some very goofy things that happen in this movie, like talking animals, spraying blood, over the top gross out elements, etc. The ridiculous factor is way up for this, but would you expect anything else from the man who blessed us with Army of Darkness? I got exactly what I wanted from this. The only thing I want now is more of the same.

Eric Harris - www.canneltoncritic.com

Drag Me to Hell

I had my doubts and conflicting thoughts about this one. For one, it was Sam Raimi’s return to his roots – the horror genre and the famous “Evil Dead” days. On the other hand, it was announced as a PG-13 flick. In my book, PG-13 and horror don’t mix too well. Lucky for me, my book was wrong and Sam Raimi totally nailed it and proved his awesomeness once again. I can proudly announce the third member of the Horror Greats of 2009 which are, in no particular order: “Book of Blood”, “Dead Snow” and now “Drag Me to Hell”.

The story tells about Catherine Brown (Alison Lohman), a young and ambitious bank worker competing for the position of assistant manager. After her boos told her she should be more ruthless and less caring (after all, business is business) she denies and old gipsy lady her mortgage payment extension and basically leaves her homeless. The hag, however, doesn’t sit idly by and curses our young (anti)heroine – she has 3 days until the demon Lamia comes for her and literally drags her to Hell.

Note how I said anti-heroine. Believe it or not, “Drag Me to Hell” is so much more than meets the eye. I really didn’t expect it from Sam Raimi with “Drag Me to Hell” being similar to “Evil Dead” series and we know those were very simple films. The awesomest and coolest films, but simple and pretty much brainless.

On the surface, “Drag Me to Hell” doesn’t seem much different either – just a flick about a chick being chased by a demon, nothing more. And for those who see the film as such, you’re gonna have tremendous fun, especially if you’re a fan of Raimi’s earlier work. But if you’re willing to scratch beneath the surface you’ll find yourself surprised with the depth of character development present in what you thought to be a “simple horror flick”.

I’ll try to explain it without using any major spoilers, so don’t worry. You can read on.

Now, if you watch carefully, you’ll notice how the poor Christine is a victim of our perverted and rotten society, without even realizing it and thus actually making her the villain of sorts - she's been corrupted without her noticing. You do not have to share my view, but I see it as Raimi’s social criticism, presented in a totally unobtrusive way. At the very beginning you see Christine listening to vocabulary correction tapes in order to lose her southern accent, ashamed of her origins. Over the course of the film she shies away from food, probably starving herself to meet the criteria of how a girl should look like in a modern world, set by our beloved mainstream media. Her weight problems are addressed a couple of times, pretty explicitly. And ultimately it’s her own greed, the pursuit of money and power, which fucks her life up. She could’ve given the old lady the payment extension, but didn’t because it would cost her the promotion. As the story unveils, we slowly become aware of the real Christine Brown. As Rham Jas said to her: “You will be surprised what you’ll be willing to do when the Lamia comes for you.”

Another theory surfaced on the Internet, saying that “Drag Me to Hell” is actually not about a demon at all, claiming it to be just a manifestation of Christine illness, but a film about the struggle with a severe eating disorder. Although sounding pretty wacky at first, when you read it (here’s the link) you’ll realize it makes much sense. But, in the end, it doesn’t hold water 100%. Personally, I believe the eating disorder is addressed as a part of the criticism of society, but the demon is also real and not just being a figment of her imagination. Nevertheless, whatever you believe, the bottom line is – “Drag Me to Hell” offers you so much more than you originally expected. That is a guarantee.

Now onto some more technical stuff. I already said several times “Drag Me to Hell” has much similarities with the “Evil Dead” series. For example, the basic plotline is the basically same – Ash is haunted by evil spirits and the undead, Christine is haunted by the demon Lamia. Both films take place, more or less, on the inside – Ash in his cabin, and Christine in her apartment. The trademark campy slapstick humor is also present. Not only that, but “Evil Dead” is referenced directly several times, with The Classic, the Oldsmobile 88 Ash drove, making a cameo and the character Clay mentioning his parents “cabin” in the woods, “surrounded by trees”. These things are sure to put a smile on any fan's face, and one of the reasons why “Drag Me to Hell” is so awesome.

CGI effects are not prominently featured, as “Drag Me to Hell” doesn’t rely on blood and gore, choosing instead to scare you with creepy sound effects and superb atmosphere, though including many gross out moments. And that brings us to the simply stellar musical score written by Christopher Young of “Hellraiser” fame. The main and the ending themes, named “Drag Me to Hell” and “Concerto to Hell” respectively, are masterpieces. It’s been long since I’ve heard such a genuinely spooky score. It’s my favorite score of the year so far and the raving reviews it got are here to prove it.

See it! This is a flick you won’t soon forget. Sam Raimi is back, baby!

Rating: 10/10

- review by Ventilation Shaft

(Read Less...)

Recommendations:

Drag Me To Hell

Me and my friends went to see the horror movie "Drag Me To Hell" and it was the dumbest movie I have ever seen since the"Haunting Of Molly Hartley" It was really cheesy not even funny even though it tried so hard to be funny with it's slap stick comedy. It was more of a punch in the crouch. The acting was so bad it was like nails on a chalk board. I do not recommend this movie at all, I kinda want my money back cause I was very disappointed in it. It was so awful. The movie is about a loan officer named Christine Brown who had to evict an old lady from her home since she already had 5 loans from that bank and couldn't pay it off. The old lady decides to get back at Christine by following her out to her car creepy stalker style. She then tries to beat her up and that was interesting to say the least.

So after about a minute and a half of them fighting in Christine's car the creepy old lady Set's a curse on her and for the next 3 days she has to figure out a way to get out of this mess so she doesn't end up going to hell. What can I say, Karma's a bitch :D I swear I felt like I was in hell while watching this movie it was that bad. I like the whole concept of the movie, a girl trying to save her soul from damnation, other then that no thank you. So if you want to waste about a hour and a half to however long this movie was then by golly go right ahead cause if you're not into this type of movie then you're going to regret ever renting it.

I give this movie 2 out of 5 skulls

Recommendations: The Amityville Horror, Children of the Corn , My Bloody Valentine

JennyB<br />
http://memoirsofascreamqueen.blogspot.com/

Drag Me to Hell un film de Sam Raimi

Sam Raimi has made cult horror films for my  generation of film buffs with The Evil  Dead trilogy, landmark comic book adaptations Darkman, Spider-Man I-II-III (I wish I could erase this last one  from my memory). He has done an excellent western "à la Leone" The Quick and the Dead and after  maybe his only disaster, Spider-Man 3 (yes I say it again), he goes back to his beginning genre; Horror.

Drag Me to Hell is the story of  Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) who works at a bank and attempts to earn  an advancement for her career but also to impress the parents of her 1  year boyfriend, Clay (Justin Long). One day an old woman ask for a loan  and to impress her boss Brown refuses to the woman who turns out to be a  gypsie... The crazy gypsie curse Christine and now begind the madness  of Drag me to Hell. I'm not a  big fan of horror films and I don't like to be surprised by jumping  creatures in calm moments but Drag Me  to Hell is a very efficient movie. The directing is top notch and  the horror parts are very creepy and mad. There's not much of blood or  gore effects but some disgusting parts make this one a PG-13.

Even  if horror isn't my cup of tea I think Drag  me to Hell is a very good film and Sam Raimi sure is still one  of the best filmmaker of horror films! He doesn't loose his touch at  all, I think he even got better even if The Evil Dead had this juvenile urge to create and churn  out something new and uncommon...

http://cinephiliaque.blogspot.com/2010/02/drag-me-to-hell-un-film-de-sam-raimi.html

(Read Less...)

Recommendations: Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie, Duel

DRAG ME TO HELL

***½
/</igspan style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"/>/igSam Raimi revisits his schlocky roots and comes up with an uncommonly likable bit of horror. The key pleasure comes from watching Raimi utilise goo of varying hue and viscosity with unrivalled genius.</span>

Drag Me To Hell

Starring: Alison Lohman, Justin Long Horror, 2009
A loan officer who does not provide a mortgage extension to an old sick woman is cursed. Over the next three days she is tormented by an evil spirit as she competes for a coveted promotion and the good graces of her boyfriend's mother.

• I watched the unrated theatrical version.
• I liked this movie a lot more then I expected. It had all the makings of a really bad horror movie but I was pleasantly surprised.
• Not once, but twice I screamed out in fear. Lots of bodily fluids in this one, be prepared!
• It was refreshing somehow because although it had a classic horror movie kind of formula it still kept me guessing. Aside from the evil spirits trying to drag me to hell bits it actually had a decent story line.
• Some of the special effects were a little fake but that didn't really bother me.
• I wondered at first why Lohman was even in this movie. This is such a departure from her usual dialogue driven dramas. There is just something so vulnerable and and sweet about this actress . She did a great job and although going into it I thought this movie was "beneath" her I think the movie rose to her standards-for a horror movie of this nature.

4 Stars

(Read Less...)

Just Me

Drag Me To Hell

Yea, I've finally managed to catch the movie I've been dying to watch. Although halfway through I felt a tinge of regret, I was glad I sat through this brilliant, funny and scary-like-hell movie.

Yep, I was intrigued, then frightened, then fell in love with Drag Me To Hell.

I give the movie: 4.0/5

Talk about extremes. Drag Me To Hell was touted as scary and funny, but I didn't expect it to be that scary and that funny. But oh well, who's complaining? Perhaps just some of us cowering in our seats during the movie. But that's the whole fun of it, isn't it? You get to have a near-heart attack, and then you get treated to some medicine called laughter.

Some of you might be surprise that Sam Raimi (the genius that brought us those genre-defining Spiderman movies) directed this. But what's more surprising is that Sam Raimi started off doing these genre-defining horror/comedy films (The Evil Dead Trilogy), which were what made him famous in the first place.

Drag kick-started with an unsuccessful but shocking exorcism from the past, which laid the path for what was to come. In the present, our female protagonist's rejection of an old gypsy's appeal for an extension of her housing loan unleashed a curse upon herself. She is given 3 days - after which she would be dragged to hell for her misdeed.

Would an animal sacrifice appease the demon? Would an exorcism work? Can she get away from all the torment? Well, let's just say, Hell has no mercy. And the audience, as well, are in the mercy of this visionary director, who piles up the scares and gore (along with the laughs) with a well-crafted and suspenseful score.

And when I said this movie is not for the weak-of-heart, I do mean it. Don't be deceived by the PG rating (as of my next movie review below, but more on that later). Guys are bound to be pushed to the edge of their seats, notwithstanding the fact that we're trying to cover our eyes with our hands.

Although we do wish to escape from the theatre, the story is so intriguing everyone sits through it, all the way to the Hell-raising finale.

FINAL SAY: 

Utterly satisfying and wonderfully crafted spook/laugh flick. Not for the faint-hearted, though. But still, highly recommended.

Wilson Ng - http://wilsoniscurious.blogspot.com/

Last updated: 2010-03-14 00:04:43 by wilsoniscurious

Drag Me to Hell

Seeing horror god Sam Raimi come back to his roots, back to what made him who he is today, back to his brand of wacky horror, is one of the most unexpected and most welcome things this year for me as a horror fan. Showing he can still do what we all love him for, Raimi'sDrag Me to Hell was an exercise in outrageous humor filled horror, complete with more laughs and what the fuck moments than I would ever expect from a studio released horror movie. Not the most original of stories, Drag Me to Hell excelled in excellent filmmaking and gorgeous visuals, along with perfectly placed comedy and physical abuse to the very likable main character.

(Read Less...)

Recommendations: High Plains Drifter , Dalkomhan insaeng , Dial M for Murder

Drag Me To Hell

Starring:

Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, Dileep Rao, David Paymer

Director: Sam Raimi

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Rated: PG-13

Christine Brown(Alison Lohman) is a Loan Officer looking for a promotion, When questioned if she is capable of making the tough decisions required of the position and opportunity soon  presents itself. She evicts an elderly lady who puts a curse on her sentencing her to Hell in three days.

It is great to see Sam Raimi back in the genre that originally got him recognized, Horror. Sam being the architect of the Evil Dead trilogy brings one of the best horror films in a long time to the screen. Drag me to Hell delivers consistent scares a good share of laughs and a few twists. Raimi completely gets the genre and never hold back. Drag me to Hell proves that a good story and quality effects can produce a great film regardless of rating.  Raimi’s great visual style is in full display here, the effects in the film are used quite well and the relationship of Christine and her boyfriend Clay Dalton (Justin Long) is completely believable and adds to the story rather than feel like its just filler to get you from one scare to the next.  The worst part of the movie is thinking of what else Raimi could have made had he not been laboring away strictly on the Spiderman movies for so long.  Simply put Raimi easily delivers the best horror film this decade.

drag me to hell

this might be the best movie of the summer nobody sees.  i don’t know how it’s doing around the country, i guess i could look that up.  but it’s not doing too well at my theater at all.  it’s beating dance flick, but that ain’t saying much.

i sat down to watch this thing last night not really knowing what to expect.  i’m a fan of sam raimi, director and writer, from way back with evil dead and army of darkness.  i even enjoyed the first couple of spiderman films.  the third one of those was a pile of crap, but whatever.  i was interested to see what mr. raimi was going to do back in the horror genre.

and he did not disappoint.  well, i was a little disappointed bruce campbell didn’t make a cameo, but i can live with that.  this movie had me on the edge of my seat just waiting for something to jump out and scare me.  and it did, repeatedly.  it also had the entire audience laughing outloud through the whole thing.  it was a great mix of spooky and comedy.  just like i was hoping for.

justin long turns in his best performance of his career in my opinion as christine’s perfect boyfriend.  not one time did i want to jump up and smack him in his face.  and Alison Lohman is awesome.  you can see her go through all these emotional states as she’s dealing with the torment of her curse.  from sweet, innocent trying to do the right thing to “here kitty kitty.”  i’ll leave it to you to find out what that’s all about.

and any film with post mortem mud wrestling is going to be on my must see list.  period.

this is a fun movie to go see.  i doubt it will be nominated for any awards or anything like that.  but it’s one i’ll more than likely add to the DVD collection when i find it used at blockbuster for seven or ten bucks.  four squishy eyeballs out of five.

(Read Less...)

Cal Reed

Drag Me To Hell (2009)

Directed By: Sam Raimi

Starring: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, Dileep Rao

What It’s All About:

The story follows loan officer Christine Brown (Lohman) who tries to impress her boss and refuses a loan to a sick gypsy woman. The woman places a curse on Christine, that after three days of torment and horror, will then devour her soul to the depths of hell.

The Verdict:

Sam Raimi is back to this true form, making horror films that are as easily terrifying as they are laugh out loud funny. Alison and Justin have great on screen chemistry, and with some truly scary moments this is another movie to put along the likes of Raimi’s highly successful Evil Dead movies. Scary, funny and intriguing, Drag Me To Hell should be one to add to your collection if you love over the top, campy horror flicks.

3.5/5

Recommendations:

Last updated: 2010-03-04 20:16:52 by hellerphant

Drag Me to Hell

Sometimes everything runs according to plan.

A master-level director (Sam Raimi) takes a break from his obligatory and oh so lucrative superhero franchise (Spider-Man) to return to his horror-movie roots, to spin a simple yarn about a pretty young girl on the wrong side of a nasty curse, and the result... is a ton of fun.

That pretty much sums up "Drag Me to Hell," and if it doesn't, this will: the pretty young girl is Alison Lohman, who plays Christine, a loan officer bucking for a promotion to assistant manager. Eager to please her boss, Christine denies a payment extension to Mrs. Ganush, an aged gypsy with a temper-control problem and a passable familiarity with the darker spirits of hell.

After a funny, frightening and disgusting fight scene in a parking garage, Mrs. Ganush lays down the curse that sets the plot in motion. Christine is doomed to be "dragged to hell" by an evil spirit called a lamia at the end of three days time.

The rest of the movie concerns Christine's attempts to avert this fate, with the help of her nice-guy boyfriend Justin Long, an Indian street psychic named Rham Jas and the heavy artillery he calls in, medium Shaun San Dena.

DMTH is not a horror classic, but it's not trying to be. It's a down and dirty screamfest that works on those terms. Inevitably it falls into excess -- an excess of sudden, blaring sound for scares and an excess of gross-out bile and vomit for shocks -- but that's the genre. Cheap horror flicks are not known for their subtlety, nor should they be.

And there are some really fun scenes, notably (spoiler alert) the diner scene where Christine tries to find someone despicable enough to give the button, and hence the curse, to. Another great scene occurs when Christine goes to the cemetary to dig up the body of Mrs. Ganush and kick some ass. That moment in the horror template where the hero stops being afraid and starts being angry is always a fun one, and it is played to great effect here.

The ending is a hackneyed bit of cliche. It is also perfect, given the genre and given the title of the movie. Anything else would have been a disappointment. And the one thing DMTH does not do is disappoint.

SCORE:

How Accomplished: 72/100

How Much I Enjoyed: 80/100

(Read Less...)

Drag Me to Hell

Horror movies have a grandfather’s morality; piddling vices are Hell-worthy and young people are always up to no good. Every time the unwed have sex in a horror movie their life insurance premiums quadruple. If you drink, you might as well drink glass. And yet, young people are the audience for these movies. Do the under-30’s want to suffer vicariously? Is disapproval cathartic? In the new Sam Raimi horror schlock, Drag Me to Hell, a twentysomething becomes the pronoun in the title just for denying a septuagenarian a loan. It’s as if your grandfather was asked what the problem is with young people today and Beelzebub offered a solution.

After a brief prologue wherein a Hispanic boy is eaten by a hallway, the action switches to a young white woman practicing her elocution (whether Mr. Raimi intends some racist diatribe against the Hispanic community by juxtaposing these scenes, we’re left to ponder). The white woman works as a loan officer at a bank. One day an elderly Romani woman comes to ask for a loan, and is denied it (So all gypsies are satanic beggars, huh Mr. Raimi?). The Romani woman puts curse on the young loan officer. In three days, the white girl’s carefully-enunciating WASP soul is going to Hell. That is, unless she’s willing to do serious knife-wielding harm to her pet kitten…

Alison Lohman does well as a cat killer, but how sweet it would have been to have Juno’s Ellen Page as the loan officer. Originally it wasgoing to be Ellen in the lead, but problems on set (let’s start a spurious rumour here and say: Page behaving like a Tennessee Williams’ heroine) led to Lohman getting the offer. It isn’t that Lohman is ill-equipped to play a meek, then terrified, then “come get some, bitch!”-type character, but Page could have chewed this part like a piranha. In order for the story to work, we need to see that “Christine” (as she’s called) is Scarlett O’Hara on the inside; someone who’d stab a cat to save herself, or harass a corpse. Lohman is fine when the story calls for her to be Julie Andrews, but there isn’t enough wickedness in her to make you cheer her schemes.

Equally bland in the role of her boyfriend is teen-horror veteran Justin Long. What happened to the guy who had his eyeballs ripped out inJeepers Creepers? Long used to have a sexy whiney-jerk persona. Here, he’s been dipped in mayonnaise. Partly it’s because the script does him no favours. His character is one long list of male star no-nos: he’s in thrall to his class-obsessed parents; he’s an academic; he doesn’t do anything pro-active when his girlfriend is attacked by demons. Movies never really know what to do with men who aren’t the lead in movies. For writers, the directive seems be: a man, without balls. So we get Long simpering and acting about as manly as an air freshener. Even when “Christine” gets hit by a train, he’s dithering over whether to pull her off the track.

The real star of Drag Me to Hell is Sam Raimi. The movie wouldn’t exist without its star-director’s clout. After Spider-Man, Raimi could have made a movie about a box factory if he’d wanted to, but instead he chose this (anyone who had their bet on a Simón Bolívar bio-pic was a tad optimistic). Raimi is guy with one thing to say, and that’s: boo! He took his shot at a “serious” movie in 1998 with A Simple Plan (“serious” in this case meaning Billy Bob Thornton with Scotch Tape on his glasses), and it bombed. Drag Me to Hell is a movie made by a guy who’s given up his dream of being Steven Soderbergh. He’ll settle for island-owner money and a comic-book approach.

A young woman is dragged to Hell: she wanted a promotion. Somewhere in there there’s a lesson about Hollywood (know thy place in the pecking order). It’s the usual Old Testament crap. The slightest slip and the devil will get you. As if all horror movies came down to God fearing advice. Drag Me to Hell has fun violating movie taboos (e.g. the cat gets it), but ultimately it’s a fairly tame trip to the dark side (e.g. the cat survives). A better movie would have brushed off its guilt about Christine’s actions and allowed us to root for her. Ellen Page would have made the difference. In horror, you need a punk heart to tell your grandfather where to get off.

Super Marcey's Drag Me To Hell Review

Rating: 4/5

I have been looking forward to this all year it seems, Sam Raimi back in the Directors seat for a horror film! The trailer looked great, and the more that came out about it, the more excited I was to see it. The reviews had been mostly positive, and it came highly recommended.

Basic plot, a loan officer named Christine (Lohman) makes the tough decision to evict a woman out of her home, in the hopes making the tough decision will land her a promotion. This doesn’t sit well with the woman who puts a curse on Christine. Well with a title like ‘Drag Me To Hell’ I think you can guess where this one is headed!

The film starts off with a bang, we get to see a little about this curse that is going to be put upon Christine, the opening certainly got my attention from the get go, and it was fun to watch. The film then introduced us to Christine, and quickly shows us a bit of who she is, what she is doing and what her motivations are. As soon as the woman (Lorna Raver) shows up, no more quiet life, things do literally go to hell for Christine! The scenes that follow are great, they are over the top, but that is what makes them so much fun. You know things are going to happen, and the suspense builds up, the entire cinema was giggling with nervous laughter. Raimi knows his stuff, and this is certainly a throw back to Evil Dead 2, it felt like it’s cousin actually. The build up, the dark and quirky humour, the use of sound, it all works so well. Like with Ash, he really puts Christine through a hellish ride. The audience ate this all up, I haven’t seen many films where the crowd was so vocal and so into the film, it really was such a great atmosphere to be a part of with watching this film. I have to say, I had no idea how this would end, or what direction it would take. The scenes with the seer were actually quite well done, as well as the dinner from hell involving Christine meeting her boyfriend’s (Justin Long) parents.

The final part of the film was so much fun, it was over the top, it was gross, it was a great time. I can’t say enough about it really, it all just worked and meshed well. I think there was a bit in the film that was predictable but how it actually ended was not. The acting side of things, it was more on then off, Allison Lohman was a good choice. She delivered all the right notes, her character was on and off as far as liking her was concerned, there were just a few annoyances I had. Justin Long was alright, he had the appeal, and he worked. Too bad his dialogue was pretty poor. Lorna Raver was just insane as Sylvia, what a role! She stole the show quite easily.

Do yourself a favour and get dragged to hell! I want to have an Evil Dead marathon after seeing this one!


(Review written Juky 25th 2009, first posted on SuperMarcey.com)

(Read Less...)

Recommendations: Moon (Duncan Jones, 2009), Milk, Hurt Locker, The (Kathryn Bigelow, 2009)

Last updated: 2010-02-15 00:09:57 by SuperMarcey

DRAG ME TO HELL (2009)

BOTTOM LINE: Director Sam Raimi leaves the relative safe world of Spiderman to return to his roots in this cleverly crafted, old-fashioned style horror film that manages to really scare, surprise and make you laugh all at the same time.

THE GOOD: Horror films have degenerated in to torture and blood-lust of late (see the Saw films as an example). The pleasure of watching Director Sam Raimi’s return to the world of horror is that it is very entertaining and fun. This film will scare you, make you laugh and entertain right up until the final scare. The idea is simplicity itself: a young woman crosses an old gypsy woman who curses her with a demonic spirit, who proceeds to torment the girl for three days until the spirit comes to drag her to hell. Raimi’s special touch for delivering the scares and laughs is ultimately what makes this journey so worth while. The fight sequence between Christine (Alison Lohman) and Mrs Ganush (Lorna Raver) in a desolate car park has to rate as one of the creepiest and funniest for a long time, and goes well beyond anything you might expect, complete with detaching eye balls. The show-stopping scene of the film however is the séance mid-way through where Christine seeks the help of a powerful seer to summon the evil demon and plead for her life. The sequence begins in a very creepy and scary place with the demon possessing the body of the seer, but then manages to multiple that creepiness, with scares and laughs as the demon jumps gleefully between bodies, including that of a poor goat offered as a sacrifice. Lohman is effective in the lead role of Christine, generating a lot of sympathy and sincerity for her character which make her plight believable and ultimately tragic. Justin Long manages well in the supporting role of boyfriend, taking some otherwise clichéd material and making it believable. Lorna Raver is downright spooky as the old gypsy Mrs Ganush. Although appearing several times to scare the hell out of Christine (and us), her most effective scene is in the bank; the moment where she stops begging Christine to help her, with the soundtrack dialling down to silence, the look on her face is extremely creepy, foretelling what is to come. Perhaps the big star here though is Raimi himself, showcasing his commanding ability to tell a good old-fashioned horror yarn that is well timed, scary and funny, all at the same time.

THE BAD: For all its good points, “Drag Me To Hell” does feel at times a little long, despite only clocking in at 99 minutes. The film is based on a very simple concept. The first scenes of the demon tormenting Christine are where the problem lie; although necessary in building the tension with strange noises and shadows, there is ultimately too much of it, becoming very repetitive. Only when the demon starts showing up in the form of a disgusting and rotten Mrs Ganush does the film start to kick in to high gear. As a result, the overall experience does not quite hit the ball out of the park, not because of its concepts, story and fantastic scenes, but because of pace.

RATING: 8/10

Todd Murphy <br />
http://www.allaboutmovies.net

drag me to hell

as i sit here, waiting for death to impale me with his cold stick of fury, i realize it could be much worse: he could be chasing me, with his bunny suit and long fingers. this is what drag me to hell is about. demons in bunny suits.

everything i read, including my deity, wikipedia, seem claim this is a horror movie. i assure you, this is not the case. this movie is a comedy. sam raimi did evil dead. sam raimi did drag me to hell. your conclusion should now be complete. i’m actually a little surprised by the very high ratings this movie received from critics. they claim it was similar to a campy b movie. well guess what, army of darkness was a campy b movie! and it didn’t lack bruce campbell. and it was funnier than this movie. yet, the critics claimed army of darkness wasn’t as good as evil dead because the humour was ‘recycled’. well, what in wikpedia’s name is this then? compost? tell me that critics, tell me that.

raimi’s standard exaggeration on gore is here in drag me to hell. when you see it, you will chuckle. but will you scream? you might, but it will be a scream of anguish, not of terror. anguish at the predictability of the plot. anguish at the bad acting; the dead lady was twitching. you’re dead, lady. you’re not allowed to move. i see you twitching. do a better job of acting like a dead person.

i give this movie a 3/7. yes, that’s not that great. it’s not even a pass. this is because it lacked bruce campbell, and because a kitten was harmed during the movie. watch the evil dead movies. they’re better.

(Read Less...)

Last updated: 2010-01-09 01:18:39 by user03

Movie Review: Drag Me To Hell (2009)

Drag Me To Hell - that’s what my 2 weeks of exams did to me.

But today, finally, at last, my goodness, it was all over!

Oh yeah.

Apart from a much-needed, long-overdue haircut, the first I did was to go watch Drag Me To Hell (as Terminator Salvation was on too late), the supposedly freaky horror film written and directed by Spider-Man’s Sam Raimi.

So, was it any good?  Well, I think it depends on two things.

First, whether you’ve seen Raimi’s old Evil Dead films (which I am a big fan of).  If you haven’t and are used to the same old formulaic horror films being churned out the last few years, then you might not ‘get’ this movie.  It’s got a fair share of boo moments, ultra-sickening scenes, mixed in with the same unique comedic-style that will make your stomach churn.  It’s scary, silly, campy, and it may make you go ‘WTF?’ more than once, but it’s not pretentious and knows exactly what it’s doing.

Second, it depends on the mood you’re in.  If you’re up for a scare then it will scare you.  If you go in thinking that it’s going to be stupid, you’ll probably think it is.

There are no big complaints from me, even though I guessed the ending a fair while in advance.  The cast is solid.  Alison Lohman does a decent job in the lead, but she’s no Ash from The Evil Dead series.  Justin Long continues to prove that he is one of the most underappreciated actors in Hollywood, and Lorna Raver is outstanding as the horrifying Mrs Ganush.

So, I enjoyed it, though I wouldn’t call it mindblowing.  I guess you could say it’s a throwback to the classic horror films of the 80s.  I hope they make more of them.

3 out of 5 stars

PJM

Last updated: 2010-01-06 22:51:02 by user04

DRAG ME TO HELL

Drag Me to Hell is rated PG-13 for some reason but is probably scarier than any R-rated movie I’ve seen in recent years.  I guess that the rating is because it is not a gory movie; the scares come from moments that make you jump.  It’s been a long time since any movie made me jump a little.  I wanted to see it because it had been getting such great reviews… which is rare for a horror film.
Sam Raimi does a superb job directing, and if this film was in the hands of another director it surely wouldn’t have came out as good.  Raimi is best known for the Spider-Man movies which I could care less about.  I admire him for his Evil Dead trilogy.  Well he has gone back to his roots as Drag Me to Hell is a good mix of horror with humor and very strange moments all in one.
Alison Lohman plays Christine Brown.  She works as a loan officer who makes the decision to evict an old woman from her home rather than granting her another extension on a loan.  This results in the old woman placing a supernatural curse on her.  Christine only has 3 days to overcome the curse before evil spirits drag her to hell.  But during those 3 days she is tormented so bad that it in fact becomes a living hell for her.  Raimi does an excellent job providing tons of suspense and scares.  There are some pretty out-there scenes that are reminiscent of the first two Evil Dead movies.  This also maybe the loudest movie I’ve ever seen.  I don’t know if it was just amazing surround-sound at this particular theater I was at, but there are so many loud sudden moments that can really scare the crap out of you.
Christine was originally supposed to be played by Ellen Page  (from Juno) but I’m glad she was replaced with Lohman who is a much better actress.  Justin Long plays her very supportive boyfriend, although he questions a lot of what she says and is not quite sure what to believe.  The final scene between them is pretty messed up.  Definitely check this movie out if you want to see something diffferent from everything else out there.

(Read Less...)

Recommendations: The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Se7en , 25th Hour

http://www.examiner.com/movie-in-philadelphia/danny-porcaro

Drag Me To Hell

“Drag Me To Hell” is shit. “Oh, you’re not meant to take it seriously…” I tried not to and it’s still shit. Mainly because the movie itself is not exactly sure… okay, it simply has no idea on how the fuck it wants the viewer to react to it. I watched “Evil Dead”, I liked “Evil Dead” and this film most definitely doesn’t feel like a return to form for Sam Raimi, after directing that… thing whose title I deliberately forget (it has to do with a spider or something and the title ends with “3″, I believe).

Before I describe what passes as the plot, let me just say that directing a movie is not all about manipulating the viewer. Yes, there’s a lot of that, and veteran directors like Steven Spielberg, or more recent ones like Chan-Wook Park (or Park Chan-Wook, or Wook Chan-Park, or “the guy who directed Oldboy” for simplicity’s sake) are masters of the complicated and very subtle art of meddling with the viewer’s emotions.

And before you start fuming, YES, I KNOW, except for “Munich”, Steven Spielberg has been a shadow of his former self for the last few years now, unless you’re among the people who could pass off “Indiana Jones 4″ as a fun but flawed film rather than the pile of shit with one or two fun bits I thought it was. “The guy who directed Oldboy” is still brilliant as far as I know, though (“as far” meaning I have not yet watched his films after the wonderful “Sympathy For Lady Vengeance”).

What was I talking ab — yes, manipulating the viewer. You see, the audience are not retards.

Mostly.

So they’ll see when they’re being manipulated, especially if you’re one of those directors who punctuates romantic scenes by letting the composer play the piano in the most melodramatic possible way while the characters make love verbally. You have to accept that the audience will often notice your intentions and you’ll have to rely on them to cooperate with you. This is where you set the tone of your film, and where I’ll happily set my mind to enjoy it as much as possible.

“Crank” works so well because it’s crystal-clear from the start that this film is an over-the-top comedy. So is “Shoot-Em-Up” or the absolute bastion of the genre, the magnificent “True Lies”. Kevin Smith is another director who mostly knows how to keep his movies on the same track when necessary: I haven’t watched “Chasing Amy” in some time, but I remember the ending to be an incredibly weird conversation between the main characters that would NEVER have sounded the least bit believable if it wasn’t for the film building up to it carefully. And in the more recent (and very good) “Zack And Miri Make A Porno”, all the romantic, dramatic bits were always counter-balanced by a joke before or afterwards (or even during, like when a character gets a face full of… well, watch the film, it’s funny.) Not that you need to keep a movie on the same track — Quentin Tarantino can swim around several genres on the same movie masterfully — “Kill Bill vol. 2″ is full of hilarious moments and still has a heart-breaking scene with a character crying in a bathroom.

Why am I babbling about this? Because this is the main problem with “Drag Me To Hell” — a complete inability to decide what it wants to be: an impactful, shocking horror film or a dark comedy. It tries to be both, and the result is a mess that left me staring at the screen unsure of how I was supposed to react.

The plot. Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) is a toy Sam Raimi plays with for the entire duration of the f — okay, okay, I’ll play along. Christine Brown is a loan officer who, in an attempt to get a promotion, denies an extension on a mortgage to an elderly gipsy woman with a very distorted sense of justice. Angered, the gipsy curses Brown, setting a demon on her who starts to torment her and in three days will — well, guess what he’ll do. Despite being established by the movie as surprisingly agile and strong, the gipsy dies one day later, and Christine must find a way to escape her horrible fate.

As he proved in the fun “Darkman” (and on most of his films), Raimi is an inventive cameraman. This does not mean he’s always a good storyteller, though. The prologue scene where we see a child succumbing to the demon loses a lot of its impact thanks to the ridiculously overdone camera angle that shows the child’s shadow being cast on the exorcist that was supposed to have helped him. Yes, symbolic. But very, very overdone, with the shadow being HUGE and the camera movement being very elaborate. Throughout the movie, Raimi uses several zooms and angles that often fail to have the desired effect, and don’t work as homages either.

After this prologue, the movie takes on a light, but fairly serious tone, establishing Christine’s character and motivations and the supporting cast efficiently until we get to the confrontation between the gipsy and Christine in a garage, where Raimi violently shifts the film’s tone by introducing one of his memorable villains: a demonic handkerchief.

In the fight with the gipsy, Raimi not only sacrifices impact for over-the-top comedy, he also goes for some incredibly bad special effects that also fail to work as homages, like the gipsy’s face flying toward the car’s panel. Still, the fight works as a comedy until the gipsy finally curses Christine, which is filmed in an ominous way that kind of denies the film’s tone up to then.

Christine decides to seek the help of a medium, the one scene in the film that correctly balances humor and drama (respectively, Christine’s boyfriend’s skepticism of the medium and the things the medium has to say). I’d say this is because it is a more natural, low-key humor than in most of the film, where Raimi pretty much lights a neon sign saying “LAUGH” (and, on the next scene, “PISS YOUR PANTS”, and on the scene after that, “LAUGH” again).

And then, the film falls into repetition. Christine sees visions of the demon and is tormented by it (with Raimi trying to startle the viewer every two seconds), then she tries to keep her every day life under control (with Raimi trying to make the viewer laugh), then she sees more of the demon, then her nose spurts blood all over her boss and I’m lost. When trying to scare, Raimi completely forgets the comedy and vice-versa. The scales are either tipped all the way to one side or all the way to the other, but refuse to stay on just one side, always alternating between them (except Christopher Young’s music, which is constantly concentrated on the horror and is mostly efficient).

And the really frustrating thing is that “Drag Me To Hell” could have been a great film if it had invested on one of the two genres only, or if it had balanced them properly. But using them both on “blindfire” mode null each other out. When Christine’s nose bleeds all over her boss, I couldn’t laugh because I liked the character and realized what this meant for her — however the scene is clearly filmed for laughs (notice her boss’ deadpan reaction to being showered with blood). And when Christine is being thrown around her bedroom and finally tossed against a closet, I couldn’t feel scared because she had just been flinged around a room and tossed against a closet (which breaks into pieces, by the way) and then just STANDS UP UNHARMED and not the slightest bit dizzy. Fuck, even Wile E. Coyote staggered a bit after being blown up by Acme or something.

And how am I supposed to jump out of my seat when Raimi pretty much warns me in advance that he’s going to startle me? The movie is so repetitive that by the middle of it I already knew when a scare was coming, not because of the music or the ominous angles, but because of the time it usually took between one scare and the next. And how AM I supposed to be scared by a fucking talking goat, especially when it’s filmed so ridiculously? And what in the name of William Friedkin is up with the dramatic subplot involving the exorcist seen in the prologue? Did this film honestly think it had enough depth to make us care about her troubles and regrets?

And then we get to the ridiculously predictable ending that pretty much establishes Christine as an UTTER MORON. Here, you should skip to the next paragraph if you haven’t seen the movie. The scene where Christine drops the envelope with the button not only shows exactly how the movie will end, but really, let’s put ourselves in Christine’s mind at the moment: “Oh, no! I’ve dropped a hugely important piece of paper my life depends on! Let’s just pick the first envelope that resembles it and not even bother to check if it’s the real thing!” UTTER. MORON.

Alison Lohman does her best, but really, her character is just Raimi’s plaything. She gets so repeatedly screwed over the course of the film it just becomes tiring and quite suspicious, like Raimi based her on one of his ex-girlfriends or something. Justin Long does well for most of the film, but the way he freaks out on the film’s last scene is hugely artificial. Lorna Raver, the gipsy, deserves credit for her quite amazing energy. Dileep Rao, as the medium, is the typical character every horror movie has to explain what is going on.

Strangely, the last scene of the film (involving a train) — after the twist is “revealed” for the ones who slept through half the film and didn’t figure it out yet — is actually shocking and shows some of the potential this film could have achieved as an actual horror. Instead, Raimi went for a very badly-done hybrid of comedy and horror and, as a result, this film is a shallow “neither”. All it seems to be is an excuse for Raimi to have some fun. Maybe you’ll feel like you’re having fun with him, but I didn’t.

Written by André Navarro on September 22nd 2009 

http://andrenavarro.wordpress.com/

Last updated: 2009-12-22 12:34:17 by andre_navarro

Drag Me To Hell

Hot off the heels of his mainstream acceptance with the Spider-man  films, Sam Raimi returns to the genre that got him into the business to  begin with.

Alison  Lohman stars as Christine, she is a young aspiring loans officer at a  bank who, in an attempt to get an assistant manager's position, shames  an old gypsy woman by denying her an extension on her mortgage.  That,  as it turns out, was quite the mistake.  On her way home the old woman  is waiting for her and during a struggle  manages to curse our poor  heroine with one of the nastiest things in the book.  (Presumably the  gypsies keep books with all these curses, after all; the psychics,  mediums etc always manage to find a book amongst their collection that  will help with the exposition.) In this particular instance it is Rham  Jas (Dileep Rao) who  comes to the rescue albeit reluctantly at first.  Also at her side is  Christine's boyfriend Clay as portrayed by Justin Long, although he  is not a believer in curses, he does believe in Christine.

Drag Me to Hell plays partly as a  comedy, but mostly as a horror and adheres to all of the usual cliche  horror moments, the loud noises, the scary jumpy out bits when all is  quiet, as well as the obligatory visit to a cemetery during a  thunderstorm (when is Hollywood going to learn that lightning and  thunder are not the same thing....) that it does all of these things  with its tongue firmly in cheek allows for some overlooking.

For  the most part I enjoyed the film, but I think that has a lot to do with  how well Alison Lohman is cast, she plays Christine as the everyday girl  just trying to get ahead, regrettably she chooses the wrong time to  take action, but we actually care about her character though and want  her to succeed in her quest to get the curse lifted.  After all, she  only has 3 days before she is being dragged to hell for eternity.

(Read Less...)

Last updated: 2010-04-25 17:48:30 by Anamnesis