Film Review – Drag Me To Hell (2009)
The Most Recent Horror by former Scaremeister Sam Raimi
May 29, 2009
Anyone who has more than a passing interest in gory horror films is aware of The Evil Dead and the name Sam Raimi. The series is a benchmark in horror-comedy, as despite being really spooky is also funny and turned the young director into a cult hero. After moving to more mainstream fare such as the Spider-Man franchise he occasionally showed he never lost touch of his roots (the birth of Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2 is evidence of this).
Drag me To Hell marks his full return to the genre that garnered him perhaps his biggest praise and is a simple, down to Earth thriller with an added sense of humour. Sounds good, and quite frankly it is.
A Basic plot which Refers to Evil Dead
The story isn’t anything new – a women refuses to extend a bank loan for an elderly Romanian and is given a gypsy curse meaning her soul will literally be pulled to the depths of hell by an evil demon within three days – but that’s all just secondary to the thrill ride Raimi has created.
It might be as cheap as a Piers Morgan putdown but it is impossible to write a review of Drag Me To Hell without reference to the Evil Dead trilogy, especially as there’s a key scene towards to end which recalls Raimi’s feature-length debut. It is clear that the director hasn’t been fazed by big budgets or box-office success and is aware of exactly what his audience wants.
Raimi Torments his Audience as much as his Heroine
It’s hard to tell just who the title of the film is referring to as in some respect it’s actually the viewer that is constantly tormented by visions of demons and screaming old ladies. The film is scary because Raimi is so hard to trust a director and that’s exactly what is needed. When the suspense builds anyone watching has no idea whether to expect a scare or a laugh, which in turn makes it all the more chilling.
Here Raimi proves he doesn’t need rivers of blood, splattered limbs, possessed hands (although a goat isn’t so fortunate and that’s something to look out for at one point) or anything remotely gory in order to create fear and tension. The power is in the camera work and the music. There are plenty of gross-out moments but these bits, such as the dream sequence, make up a large majority of the hilarity.
Not Perfect but a Fun Horror-comedy
Like all good frightfests sound is important to Drag Me To Hell as the scenes with the most jumps happen to be EXTREMELY LOUD as the violin swills gather in pace before something leaps out on screen. This is a film that must be seen at the cinema, or at the very least somewhere that has a top of the range surround system.
The acting is at the level of any top end genre film, with Big Fish’s Alison Lohman doing a more than capable job as loan manager Christine Brown and Lorna Raver is perfect as the old women who constantly terrorises the heroine. Die Hard 4.0 geek Justin Long as the boyfriend is obviously a peripheral character making up the numbers but he holds his own nevertheless.
The main requirement of a horror film is to be scary, and Drag Me To Hell certainly fulfils that. It’s not perfect, far from new and for the uninitiated may be a little daft at times but this is a fun film for anyone who enjoys a thriller that has its tongue firmly in its cheek. Welcome back to the dark side Sam.
- Starring Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Rave
- Directed by Sam Raimi
- Written by Sam Raimi and Ivan Raimi
- Running time: 99 minutes
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