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In 1982 film maker Sam Raimi gave us the infamous low budget horror film ‘The Evil Dead’.Now some 27 years later he has decided to return to the genre with ‘Drag Me To Hell’.I revisited ‘The Evil Dead’ for the first time in years a few months ago and although it has not aged at all well as it had some terrible special effects and really hammy acting,there is still something that sets it apart from most other 80’s horror movies in my opinion.That difference was that it did not take itself too seriously.It always reminded me of a horror film made as though it was a comic book adaptation (which it actually later became).’Drag Me To Hell’ is certainly a very different film to ‘The Evil Dead’ but again Raimi doesn’t play it totally seriously and that is what makes this film really work.
The plot is based around Christine Brown,a loans advisor who works for a small branch of bank.She is decent person who you are led to feel has constantly been passed over.When an assistant managers position becomes available at the branch she feels she has to step up to the mark if she is to have a chance of the job.When an old lady comes into the branch to ask for a third extension on her mortgage payments,the bank manager asks her to make the decision.The choice is to do the human thing and grant the extension or toe the company line and repossess the ladies home.With the possibility of losing the promotion Christine decides to make a decision she knows is wrong and refuses the loan extension.When the old lady begs her to reconsider her decision she calls the security guards to remove her from the building.At the end of the day Christine is walking back to her car when the old lady appears out of nowhere and launches a vicious attack on her.As Christine lays semi conscious,the old lady places a curse on her stating ‘soon it will be you who comes begging to me’.Following this attack Christine begins to have very strange experiences and decides along with her very sceptical boyfriend Clay,to visit a fortune teller.He tells her that she has been cursed and within three days an evil spirit will come to take her soul to hell.But how far will Christine be prepared to go to get rid of this curse ?.
Alison Lohman is good enough in the lead role,which was a reasonably difficult one to play.She does make you feel that her characters punishment didn’t really fit the crime.Justin Long is pretty much furniture in the film but Dileep Rao is very good as the mystical fortune teller Rham Jas.The star of the film though is without doubt Lorna Raver who plays the old lady Mrs.Ganush.Who would have thought a frail old gypsy woman could be so effective in a horror film ?.
I have personally found a lot of the press releases for this film to be a little bit misleading.It has been billed as one of the scariest films of the last decade which it really is not.2007’s ‘REC’ for example was far more effective as a straight forward horror movie than this.What ‘Drag Me To Hell’ is in my opinion,is a huge amount of daft,scary fun and I believe it should be treated as just that.For sure it does have some very loud,jump out of your seat moments that you really don’t see coming but its just not dark enough to taken at all seriously.I would not be surprised to find some people going to see this being really disappointed,simply as it was not what they were expecting.
Many recent horror film makers such as Eli Roth (Hostel films) have tended to go for the gross out option and personally I am tired of these type of films.Sam Raimi is a far classier director and he would not resort to cheap gory thrills these days.I have always felt the best horror films are the ones where you really don’t get to see that much on screen.John Carpenters ‘Halloween’ was a great example of this and that is pretty much what Raimi has done here.He has produced an experience similar to that of being on a rollercoaster.Its fast,its fun and although you know where its going,its still one great ride.I think its brilliant that Raimi has gone back to his roots and unlike some recently revisited experiences such as Indiana Jones and Red Dwarf,he has returned slicker than ever.He seems to have taken the tricks he has learnt from making big budget blockbusters such as his ‘Spider-Man’ movies and put them to great use.
‘Drag Me To Hell’ is not perfect and its not a classic,but it is a thoroughly enjoyable experience and one which benefits greatly from having its tongue stuck firmly in the side of its demonic cheek.
8/10.
The plot is based around Christine Brown,a loans advisor who works for a small branch of bank.She is decent person who you are led to feel has constantly been passed over.When an assistant managers position becomes available at the branch she feels she has to step up to the mark if she is to have a chance of the job.When an old lady comes into the branch to ask for a third extension on her mortgage payments,the bank manager asks her to make the decision.The choice is to do the human thing and grant the extension or toe the company line and repossess the ladies home.With the possibility of losing the promotion Christine decides to make a decision she knows is wrong and refuses the loan extension.When the old lady begs her to reconsider her decision she calls the security guards to remove her from the building.At the end of the day Christine is walking back to her car when the old lady appears out of nowhere and launches a vicious attack on her.As Christine lays semi conscious,the old lady places a curse on her stating ‘soon it will be you who comes begging to me’.Following this attack Christine begins to have very strange experiences and decides along with her very sceptical boyfriend Clay,to visit a fortune teller.He tells her that she has been cursed and within three days an evil spirit will come to take her soul to hell.But how far will Christine be prepared to go to get rid of this curse ?.
Alison Lohman is good enough in the lead role,which was a reasonably difficult one to play.She does make you feel that her characters punishment didn’t really fit the crime.Justin Long is pretty much furniture in the film but Dileep Rao is very good as the mystical fortune teller Rham Jas.The star of the film though is without doubt Lorna Raver who plays the old lady Mrs.Ganush.Who would have thought a frail old gypsy woman could be so effective in a horror film ?.
I have personally found a lot of the press releases for this film to be a little bit misleading.It has been billed as one of the scariest films of the last decade which it really is not.2007’s ‘REC’ for example was far more effective as a straight forward horror movie than this.What ‘Drag Me To Hell’ is in my opinion,is a huge amount of daft,scary fun and I believe it should be treated as just that.For sure it does have some very loud,jump out of your seat moments that you really don’t see coming but its just not dark enough to taken at all seriously.I would not be surprised to find some people going to see this being really disappointed,simply as it was not what they were expecting.
Many recent horror film makers such as Eli Roth (Hostel films) have tended to go for the gross out option and personally I am tired of these type of films.Sam Raimi is a far classier director and he would not resort to cheap gory thrills these days.I have always felt the best horror films are the ones where you really don’t get to see that much on screen.John Carpenters ‘Halloween’ was a great example of this and that is pretty much what Raimi has done here.He has produced an experience similar to that of being on a rollercoaster.Its fast,its fun and although you know where its going,its still one great ride.I think its brilliant that Raimi has gone back to his roots and unlike some recently revisited experiences such as Indiana Jones and Red Dwarf,he has returned slicker than ever.He seems to have taken the tricks he has learnt from making big budget blockbusters such as his ‘Spider-Man’ movies and put them to great use.
‘Drag Me To Hell’ is not perfect and its not a classic,but it is a thoroughly enjoyable experience and one which benefits greatly from having its tongue stuck firmly in the side of its demonic cheek.
8/10.
Thanks mate.I totally agree,Sam Raimi is a class act.The Quick & The Dead was one of his that I really liked but that seemed to disappear of the radar for some reason ?,Gene Hackman was ace in that film.Spidey 3 was a let down IMO but he's right back on form with Drag Me To Hell.One big surprise for me was that my wife loved it and its not the kind of film she would normally have cared for at all.
Good review Pete. I'm looking forward to seeing this film soon myself. Sam Rami is a great director.
In 1982 film maker Sam Raimi gave us the infamous low budget horror film ‘The Evil Dead’.Now some 27 years later he has decided to return to the genre with ‘Drag Me To Hell’.I revisited ‘The Evil Dead’ for the first time in years a few months ago and although it has not aged at all well as it had some terrible special effects and really hammy acting,there is still something that sets it apart from most other 80’s horror movies in my opinion.That difference was that it did not take itself too seriously.It always reminded me of a horror film made as though it was a comic book adaptation (which it actually later became).’Drag Me To Hell’ is certainly a very different film to ‘The Evil Dead’ but again Raimi doesn’t play it totally seriously and that is what makes this film really work.
The plot is based around Christine Brown,a loans advisor who works for a small branch of bank.She is decent person who you are led to feel has constantly been passed over.When an assistant managers position becomes available at the branch she feels she has to step up to the mark if she is to have a chance of the job.When an old lady comes into the branch to ask for a third extension on her mortgage payments,the bank manager asks her to make the decision.The choice is to do the human thing and grant the extension or toe the company line and repossess the ladies home.With the possibility of losing the promotion Christine decides to make a decision she knows is wrong and refuses the loan extension.When the old lady begs her to reconsider her decision she calls the security guards to remove her from the building.At the end of the day Christine is walking back to her car when the old lady appears out of nowhere and launches a vicious attack on her.As Christine lays semi conscious,the old lady places a curse on her stating ‘soon it will be you who comes begging to me’.Following this attack Christine begins to have very strange experiences and decides along with her very sceptical boyfriend Clay,to visit a fortune teller.He tells her that she has been cursed and within three days an evil spirit will come to take her soul to hell.But how far will Christine be prepared to go to get rid of this curse ?.
Alison Lohman is good enough in the lead role,which was a reasonably difficult one to play.She does make you feel that her characters punishment didn’t really fit the crime.Justin Long is pretty much furniture in the film but Dileep Rao is very good as the mystical fortune teller Rham Jas.The star of the film though is without doubt Lorna Raver who plays the old lady Mrs.Ganush.Who would have thought a frail old gypsy woman could be so effective in a horror film ?.
I have personally found a lot of the press releases for this film to be a little bit misleading.It has been billed as one of the scariest films of the last decade which it really is not.2007’s ‘REC’ for example was far more effective as a straight forward horror movie than this.What ‘Drag Me To Hell’ is in my opinion,is a huge amount of daft,scary fun and I believe it should be treated as just that.For sure it does have some very loud,jump out of your seat moments that you really don’t see coming but its just not dark enough to taken at all seriously.I would not be surprised to find some people going to see this being really disappointed,simply as it was not what they were expecting.
Many recent horror film makers such as Eli Roth (Hostel films) have tended to go for the gross out option and personally I am tired of these type of films.Sam Raimi is a far classier director and he would not resort to cheap gory thrills these days.I have always felt the best horror films are the ones where you really don’t get to see that much on screen.John Carpenters ‘Halloween’ was a great example of this and that is pretty much what Raimi has done here.He has produced an experience similar to that of being on a rollercoaster.Its fast,its fun and although you know where its going,its still one great ride.I think its brilliant that Raimi has gone back to his roots and unlike some recently revisited experiences such as Indiana Jones and Red Dwarf,he has returned slicker than ever.He seems to have taken the tricks he has learnt from making big budget blockbusters such as his ‘Spider-Man’ movies and put them to great use.
‘Drag Me To Hell’ is not perfect and its not a classic,but it is a thoroughly enjoyable experience and one which benefits greatly from having its tongue stuck firmly in the side of its demonic cheek.
8/10.
The plot is based around Christine Brown,a loans advisor who works for a small branch of bank.She is decent person who you are led to feel has constantly been passed over.When an assistant managers position becomes available at the branch she feels she has to step up to the mark if she is to have a chance of the job.When an old lady comes into the branch to ask for a third extension on her mortgage payments,the bank manager asks her to make the decision.The choice is to do the human thing and grant the extension or toe the company line and repossess the ladies home.With the possibility of losing the promotion Christine decides to make a decision she knows is wrong and refuses the loan extension.When the old lady begs her to reconsider her decision she calls the security guards to remove her from the building.At the end of the day Christine is walking back to her car when the old lady appears out of nowhere and launches a vicious attack on her.As Christine lays semi conscious,the old lady places a curse on her stating ‘soon it will be you who comes begging to me’.Following this attack Christine begins to have very strange experiences and decides along with her very sceptical boyfriend Clay,to visit a fortune teller.He tells her that she has been cursed and within three days an evil spirit will come to take her soul to hell.But how far will Christine be prepared to go to get rid of this curse ?.
Alison Lohman is good enough in the lead role,which was a reasonably difficult one to play.She does make you feel that her characters punishment didn’t really fit the crime.Justin Long is pretty much furniture in the film but Dileep Rao is very good as the mystical fortune teller Rham Jas.The star of the film though is without doubt Lorna Raver who plays the old lady Mrs.Ganush.Who would have thought a frail old gypsy woman could be so effective in a horror film ?.
I have personally found a lot of the press releases for this film to be a little bit misleading.It has been billed as one of the scariest films of the last decade which it really is not.2007’s ‘REC’ for example was far more effective as a straight forward horror movie than this.What ‘Drag Me To Hell’ is in my opinion,is a huge amount of daft,scary fun and I believe it should be treated as just that.For sure it does have some very loud,jump out of your seat moments that you really don’t see coming but its just not dark enough to taken at all seriously.I would not be surprised to find some people going to see this being really disappointed,simply as it was not what they were expecting.
Many recent horror film makers such as Eli Roth (Hostel films) have tended to go for the gross out option and personally I am tired of these type of films.Sam Raimi is a far classier director and he would not resort to cheap gory thrills these days.I have always felt the best horror films are the ones where you really don’t get to see that much on screen.John Carpenters ‘Halloween’ was a great example of this and that is pretty much what Raimi has done here.He has produced an experience similar to that of being on a rollercoaster.Its fast,its fun and although you know where its going,its still one great ride.I think its brilliant that Raimi has gone back to his roots and unlike some recently revisited experiences such as Indiana Jones and Red Dwarf,he has returned slicker than ever.He seems to have taken the tricks he has learnt from making big budget blockbusters such as his ‘Spider-Man’ movies and put them to great use.
‘Drag Me To Hell’ is not perfect and its not a classic,but it is a thoroughly enjoyable experience and one which benefits greatly from having its tongue stuck firmly in the side of its demonic cheek.
8/10.