November 21, 2009
- Portland, Oregon
DVD review: Drag Me To Hell
By Tony Robinson, film criticI recently took a little drive through Tacoma, Washington. It was great checking out the old neighborhood and introducing my wife and infant son to the places I used to hang out. In fact, my feelings reminded me a bit of the new fright flick “Drag Me To Hell.” Now before you start imagining the horrors of my youth, I should clarify my statement that my trip and this movie both filled me with a sense of nostalgia. “Drag Me To Hell,” written and directed by Sam Raimi (Spider-Man series) will likely find its way into the hearts of people who have closely followed his career. Long before he turned Spider-Man into a billion dollar franchise, Raimi cut his teeth with his low-budget Evil Dead series (Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn, Army of Darkness).
Raimi developed his signature style while making this series and his use of manic camera techniques, gore and slapstick horror made him a cult hero long before he was embraced by mainstream Hollywood. “Drag Me To Hell” harkens back to his early days and while I personally feel the film is a little shallow, it’s a perfect way to spend an evening building up to the Halloween holiday.
Poor Christine has just about everything going against her. She’s had to overcome an embarrassing life on the farm, her boyfriend’s mother disapproves of her, and her slimy co-worker seems to have the lead on the vacant assistant manager position at the bank. Christine’s boss tells her that she needs to be a decisive go-getter if she’s going to get the promotion.
Unluckily for her, an old gypsy woman named Mrs. Ganush stops by to ask for an extension on her home loan. The old spinster can either pay up or hit the streets and when the boss tells Christine the decision to grant an extension is hers, she chooses career over sympathy and forecloses on the old woman’s home. Before she realizes what happened, poor Christine has made a mortal enemy and Mrs. Ganush places a curse on her. The mousy bank teller has three days of torment ahead of her before a demon comes to drag her to Hell.
Alison Lohman really gets put through the ringer here, but she’s game and is totally believable as the innocent victim with the “deer in the headlights” look. Her sympathetic, but clueless boyfriend is played by Justin Long and while it’s hard for me to buy him as a college professor, he’s solid if unspectacular. Supporting players Dileep Rao and Adrianna Barraza are good as the helpful psychics, but along with Lohman, this movie belongs to Lorna Raver.
Raver’s portrayal of the malevolent gypsy woman is both horrific and hilarious. She’s creepy enough to inject the film with some true frights, but it’s also funny as heck to see an elderly woman put the smackdown on poor Christine.
Raimi skips any sort of subtleties with this movie and goes all out with loud noises, jump scares and the whole nine yards. “Drag Me To Hell” is an in-your-face crowd pleaser with atmosphere, crackling energy and enough slime to make anyone wince. It’s the kind of movie a lot of people are going to have fun watching, but for me, it’s like eating a piece of Halloween candy. It tastes good but won’t fill you up. As fun as this movie was, it left me wanting more.
It’s a pretty limited concept and Raimi does as much as he can with it, but I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as the first two “Evil Dead” movies and it pales in comparison to “Evil Dead 2” as a horror/comedy. Nevertheless, he’s managed to capture the same vibe as those early films and as such, “Drag Me To Hell” is an enjoyable, if frivolous way to blow ninety-five minutes.
Movie
3.5 out of 5
The DVD
“Drag Me To Hell” is presented in a wide 2.40:1 aspect ratio and the DVD does a nice job presenting the film. More spectacular, though, is the booming surround sound, which makes good use of effects during the haunting sequences.
The DVD presents two versions of the film; the PG-13 theatrical cut and the unrated directors cut. Both versions are virtually identical and the unrated directors cut actually runs a bit shorter. This is due to a violent sequence involving an animal which was altered and drawn out for the theatrical version.
The disc’s sole bonus feature is a 35 minute video production diary hosted by Justin Long. The diary covers all areas of the production including makeup, music, sets, even the goat. It’s a fairly standard behind-the-scenes guide, but is informative. It would have been nice to have an audio commentary with Sam Raimi or even an extended interview, but I guess he’s too busy prepping “Spider-Man 4.”
DVD/Bonus Features rating
3 out of5
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