Drag Me to Hell sees a return to the horror genre for director Sam Raimi (Spiderman, The Gift), the man who created the low budget horror flick Evil Dead back in 1981. In the 80’s, B-movie horrors with their latex-clad monsters and wooden leading performances gathered a cult following amongst horror fans due to their comic nature. Evil Dead spawned two sequels as a result and Raimi built a reputation as one of the horror genres most iconic directors.
Raimi’s intention to pay tribute to his early days is apparent from the off with the use of the 1980’s Universal Studios logo during the film’s opening and Christopher Young’s loud, punchy score is a signal of the film’s intent.
Early on, viewers meet Christine Brown (Alison Lohman, Beowulf) a struggling loan officer desperately looking for a promotion. When Christine is ordered to evict an old lady from her home by declining an extension on her loan repayment she is forced to battle with her conscience but sees this as the only way to gain the respect of her boss. As you’d expect, this turns out to be a big mistake. Christine finds herself the recipient of an ancient curse, courtesy of the scorned old crone and before long she realises she is being hunted by a paranormal force. Seeking the help of her boyfriend (Justin Long) and a back-street fortune teller (Dileep Rao) she faces a race against time to find a way of lifting the curse.
Raimi’s Return to B-Movies Falls Short
Whether you will like Drag Me To Hell depends very much on your taste in horror films. All the B-movie trade marks are there, creaking doors, mobile phones refusing to work and torches running out of battery. The central characters deliver typically wooden performances and the plot development is haphazard and rushed to say the least, it is certainly more comedy than horror. Standard fare you may say? In which case Drag Me To Hell ticks all the relevant boxes.
Whether Raimi’s homage to B-movie horror works when accompanied with a big budget is questionable. The comedy value of classics such as Evil Dead and Day of the Dead lies within their lack of a budget, with wobbly sets and the unconvincing make up applied to the monsters . While Drag Me To Hell certainly does not take itself seriously, affording it the big special effect set pieces takes something away from the old school amateurishness and whether Raimi intends you to laugh at the absurdity of it all can at times be unclear.
Drag Me to Hell Forces Scary Moments Rather than Constructing Tension
The film also relies heavily on cinema acoustics to provide sudden shocks and loud bangs, thus any kind of scary climax seems forced rather than through cleverly constructed build up of tension. There is also very little left to the audience’s imagination as we are constantly bombarded with wave after wave of attacks on the poor Christine by the evil spirits chasing her, we also lack any kind of sympathy for Christine or any of the supporting characters. You’re more likely to leave the cinema laughing than find yourself sleeping with the light on after watching this but if it’s cheap thrills and a good chuckle you’re after then you’ll love it.
- Verdict: 3/5
- Cert: 15
- Cast: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, Dileep Rao
- Running Time: 99 mins
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