Drag Me to Hell Review

Posted by Shawn S. Lealos on 05.30.2009

Sam Raimi returns to the genre that made him a star. Is his new horror movie a return to style for the cult favorite or has his recent success neutered him of everything that made him great?

Directed by Sam Raimi
Written by Ivan and Sam Raimi

Cast
Alison Lohman ... Christine Brown
Justin Long ... Clay Dalton
Lorna Raver ... Mrs. Ganush
Dileep Rao ... Rham Jas
David Paymer ... Mr. Jacks
Adriana Barraza ... Shaun San Dena
Chelcie Ross ... Leonard Dalton
Reggie Lee ... Stu Rubin
Molly Cheek ... Trudy Dalton




Rated PG-13 for sequences of horror violence, terror, disturbing images and language.

Sam Raimi is an extremely gifted filmmaker. This is none the more evident in his latest horror film Drag Me to Hell. This is not an original story and is simply a generic horror movie. There are entirely too many cheap jump scares and there are dozens of horror movies out there with better scares then this movie achieves. But Sam Raimi is a showman, a carnival huckster, taking your dime and leading you into his funhouse. You know when you get into the house, you probably won’t be scared but you and your buddies can laugh at the bearded lady, the mutant babies and the obviously fake goat girl. Sam Raimi is the master of making sure you have a good time in his funhouse.

The film begins with a family bringing their young boy to see a medium. The child is hearing and seeing things, and his family is scared for him. The medium realizes the boy is cursed because he stole a necklace from a gypsy woman. The medium tries to exorcise the demon but something goes wrong. The sound builds to unbearable levels and a force breaks into the room. The boy is swept over a railing and as the medium watches, the ground opens, fire flows from the hole and the boy is pulled straight to hell. The sound continues to assault the ears and then the title screen rushes up with a giant, shoddy looking font which proclaims “DRAG ME TO HELL”.

I saw this movie in a state of the art theater with the best in Dolby and THX picture and sound. When I say the sound assaulted my ears, I am not exaggerating. Sam Raimi amps the music up to a level you would expect from a Michael Bay movie. The sound, more so than many of the visuals, is used to manipulate the audience’s emotions and get your heart thumping in your chest. It is excess, it is grating on the nerves, and it is magnificent.

I recently read an article about the wonderful William Castle and how he used devices such as buzzers positioned in the theaters seats to shock you during pivotal points in the film. He structured a skeleton to rise on a wire and fly over an unsuspecting audience to elicit a response. He was a master carnie in the world of Hollywood filmmakers. Raimi never has to use trick devices like Castle to elicit reactions but he is still of the same breed as Castle. The difference is Raimi is a master of manipulating an audience through the visceral medium of editing and in his return to horror he holds nothing back.

The film properly opens with Christine (Alison Lohman), a bank loan officer who dreams of being promoted to assistant manager. She asks her boss (David Paymer) about the position and learns that he is considering either her or a new guy named Stu (Reggie Lee). Stu is perfectly smarmy and trying every underhanded trick in the book to win the position. Christine also has a great boyfriend (Justin Long), perfect in every way. She knows that his parent’s don’t approve of her because she is not very successful yet, all leading her to make one last attempt to impress her boss.

To do this, she refuses leniency to an old woman who is losing her house because of increased medical expenses. The woman begs for one last chance, Christine refuses despite being told it is her call whether or not to offer leniency, and has security throw her out. When Christine goes to her car at the end of the day, she notices the woman’s car (a very familiar 1973 Delta 88 Oldsmobile) in the parking garage. The old woman attacks Christine and we witness the old Sam Raimi return to life.

It has been a long time since I have seen Sam Raimi have this much fun. Awesome camera shots, fun practical special effects and some really groovy CGI work are evident in this scene where you get everything from exploding eyeballs to a “gumming” attack thanks to the loss of a pair of false teeth. It is everything you loved from The Evil Dead, but Raimi is only getting started.

The old woman curses Christine, who now has three days left to live, and we get a bunch of annoying jump scares. This is not what makes Raimi’s films work because jump scares come across as cheap and are nowhere near as effective as what Raimi does best. Luckily amongst the cheap jumps is another of Raimi’s specialties - gross out gags. The effect of the structure in Drag Me to Hell is to alternate between screams, gross out gags and humor in a manner not unlike a roller coaster through the best haunted house. Something appears out of nowhere and makes you jump. Before you can calm down, bile and worms are vomited in your face and you wish you hadn’t eaten that popcorn. Just when you wonder what you walked into, someone says something or does something that has you laughing your ass off.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

Just when I was worried that this movie would end up being a fun disappointment, Raimi delivers the greatest exorcism I have ever seen on film. It involves the medium from the opening, another medium that has been helping Christine all along, an assistant and a goat. If it seems that is a setup for a joke - you are right. Think about the scenes from Evil Dead II or Army of Darkness involving moose heads or any other haunted item and you would come close. Have you missed Deadites manically dancing in the air, tormenting our heroes? Your wait is over, your prayers have been answered.

This might be the closest we ever come to a new Evil Dead movie.

Playing the part of Ash is Christine. I don’t think Raimi ever punishes Allison Lohman as much as he did Bruce Campbell but he comes close. He throws her around a room, slams her into furniture and has something resembling embalming fluid vomited in her face. If you were worried that she wouldn’t be able to carry Campbell’s jockstrap, fear not. She is a trooper and goes wherever Raimi’s sick and twisted mind leads her.

The rest of the cast is only there in minor roles. Lorna Raver is scary as hell as the old gypsy woman. She makes you care for her as she breaks down at the start but after she curses Christine, she morphs and will give you nightmares. You will hate Stu, and when you learn there is a chance Christine might be able to pass off the curse, you want it to go to him. You will love Clay, the boyfriend. There is really nothing in the script for Justin Long to do but thanks to his unique likability, he is able to give the character a life that I am sure the script never allowed for him to have. You cheer for the two to finally go on the vacation they are always talking about. Despite everything Christine does that makes it appear she deserves the fate the curse has given her, there is also something making you want her to succeed.

The 411: Sam Raimi has proven that he knows his audience better then they even know themselves. Time has not changed this man and big blockbusters like Spider-Man have not neutered him. Raimi knows how to work an audience and he proves here to be arguably the greatest showman working in Hollywood today. Like the greatest carnie, he takes us on a thrill ride with Drag Me to Hell, relentless, tugging on our strings and tearing at our nerves. He makes us laugh, jump and grow nauseated all at the same time. Drag Me to Hell is not a great movie but it is the most fun you will have at the cinema this year.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]