Drag Me to Hell review

Did you see the trailer with the fly going up the girls nose, and the ensuing scene that makes you jump right out of your underoos? If you thought that was creepy, just wait for the rest of the film.

Sam Raimi. The name will bring up one of two trilogies in your mind. If your a movie geek, you'll probably be thinking of the Evil Dead trilogy; if your a typical person, you'll probably thinking Spiderman, and if you are a movie aficionado, maybe you'll think The Quick and the Dead, or Darkman films; either way, you'll instantly be thinking of a quality movie that will bring a smile to your face. So,when it was announced Raimi would be "getting back to his horror roots" with Drag me to Hell, a lot of people turned to pay attention. So, did he forget how to do the horror he is so well known for, or did he just get better with time? The answer is: he's sharper than ever!

So, Drag Me to Hell is very similar to Evil Dead with its twisted brand of humor and bone chilling horror. The movie revolves around Christine (played wonderfully by Alison Lohman), a bank teller looking to get promoted past a coworker who is very good at brown-nosing. In order to get her promotion, she wants to show her boss she can make the tough decisions, and does so by denying an extension on a really creepy old Gypsy lady. As a result, the Gypsy lady curses her after one of the best fights in cinema history. After her curse, Christine gets tortured by an evil spirit and finds out, after three days of torture, the spirit will drag her to hell. What results is an eerie, sometimes funny journey from a sweet, innocent girl to a desperate, frightened woman, willing to do anything to avoid the depths of hell. Oh, and the Mac guy, Justin Long is there too as her loving, supporting boyfriend who uses Macs a lot.

This movie really had two main characters, Christine Brown, and the soundtrack. The sound was foreshadowing, bone chilling and intense and was very much a part of this movie. The movie started off slow and did a perfect job of escalating the thrills and chills steadily higher to an amazing climax that will leave you laughing and shocked, all at the same time. There is no question Raimi used his budget to the absolute extent (as he is known to excel at).

My favorite scene was an exorcism of sorts involving 3 mediums, our hero Christine, and a goat. Now, if that doesn't make you smile, the events of the exorcism and the characters reaction to the evil spirit (including the goats) were perfect in every example. The scene shows a perfect mix of dark humor and terror.

I really think it was obvious this movie was made by a passionate movie buff for other passionate movie buffs, with obvious and inventive movie tricks and tidbits throughout the movie, which made it truly enjoyable to watch. I truly think this movie will have a cult following the moment its released on DVD.

I give it a 9 out of 10. Definitely worth a theater visit, and wait for the special feature DVD, Sam Raimi always makes it worth the extra few dollars.


FUN FACT: The car driven by the old Gypsy Lady is director Sam Raimi's car, used in Army of Darkness, and is the same car driven by Uncle Ben in Spiderman.
Apparently, Sam Raimi asked Bruce Campbell to have a small cameo in the film, but Campbell was too busy in Miami, filming episodes of USA's Burn Notice.