Review for the film DRAG ME TO HELL (no spoilers)
I don’t throw the term “instant classic” around to often, at least not since that epic sailing film, but I think it applies to Drag Me to Hell.
The film is Sam Raimi’s return to the horror genre after spending the better part of a decade making the first three Spider-Man films. Raimi cut his directing teeth on this genre twenty-plus years ago with his classic horror films, Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn. Drag Me to Hell is worthy of their company.
What I liked most about the film is just how creepy and scary it was. I’m not usually a fan of the more common place ‘gore’ horror films, like the Saw series, so when a film like DMTH comes along that focuses more on suspense and thrills, I really excited (NOTE: yes, I realize the Evil Dead films have their fair share of gore…but they don’t compare to stuff like the Saw series…and the Evil Dead films–especially the second one–use it in a more comedic manner).
The plot is simple, but works great: a young woman (Alison Lohman) angers an old gypsy woman (Lorna Raver, who is amazing in her role) and has a curse put upon her. After a few days of torment, a demon will appear to–you guessed it–drag her to hell. Lohman spends the rest of the film being tormented by her choice to no help the old woman (and the demon) and does everything she can to be rid of the curse–including some things that even surprised me.
The tension and suspense in the film are top notch–and makes me wonder what a full Venom–based Spider-Man film would have been like if Raimi had the chance to do it that way (I hated that Venom was a last minute thing thrown into the last act of Spider-Man 3, but I had heard Raimi was under pressure to do so). The way Raimi uses music, sound and editing are great. He follows the less-is-more-rule, and teases you the whole way or lures you into a spot of quiet and then BAM! Loud shriek and a flash frame of a scary face.
Sure, there are some gross parts but nothing involving graphic violence and it just adds to the layers of creepiness. Raimi’s usual sense of odd-ball humor runs rampant throughout the film as well, especially the way he abuses Lohman on a regular basis (she and Bruce Campbell will have plenty of war stories to swap).
You can kind of see the ending coming, but that really isn’t the point–and Raimi keeps throwing so many curve balls that while you may know what is going to happen, you don’t know exactly how it’ll happen and you’ll second guess yourself right until the end.
Drag Me to Hell is a great example of a classic horror film. It is worth seeing in the theater to get the whole scary effect. And it has (at least for me) a lasting effect. As my friend who I saw this with put it “it is a great cautionary tale about how we all have to stick together in this Recession Economy.” (Lohman gets cursed after refusing the gypsy an extension on her mortgage payment, thus taking her house away and throwing her out on the street).
