Drag Me to Hell

The H-Bomb: Director Sam Raimi makes a long awaited return to the horror genre with this twisted tale of a young woman plagued by a curse. Was it worth the wait? Read on…

Christine (Alison Lohman) is a loan officer at a bank in line for a promotion to assistant manager. But when she sees that her chances of being promoted are threatened by a new, hot shot, kiss ass employee, she goes against her better nature and denies a mortgage extension to an old gypsy lady in order to get on her boss’s good side. As it turns out, she screws the wrong lady as the old witch places a damning curse on her. Now, Christine only has three days to undo the curse before she is literally dragged to hell.

Mr. Sam Raimi, we here in the horror nut community would like to say, welcome back! Yes, we enjoyed your “Spider-Man” movies (the first two, anyway), and we appreciated your non-genre work in films like “A Simple Plan” and “The Gift” (the less said about “For Love of the Game”, the better). However, it was an absolute delight to see you come home to the genre from which you came. While it doesn’t quite stack up to your deliciously schlocky “Evil Dead” trilogy, you have certainly shown us that you haven’t lost your teeth, and you’ve delivered one of the best horror films I’ve seen in recent memory. Bravo, sir!

Goddamn I got a kick out of this movie! This, for me, is the first recognizable Sam Raimi film since “Army of Darkness” (Evil Dead 3). While I enjoyed his more commercial outings, a part of me missed the audacious, outlandish style of his he showed when he was an up-and-comer. Well, with “Drag Me To Hell”, he’s proven that he’s still got a little bit of that wild spirit in him.

This is total retro-Raimi; complete with an inventive story (which he wrote with his brother, Ivan), crazy, creative camera angles, and some effectively spooky scenes, including one with people floating in mid air and speaking in demonic voices that will surely dig up pleasant memories of “Evil Dead II” for the fanboys.

Lohman is great and makes for a very sympathetic heroine, despite the fact that she does something really selfish at the beginning. I really wanted her character to pull through. (She more than makes up for her AWFUL performance in “Where the Truth Lies”).

However, as a critic, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t find something to bitch about. So here are a couple of complaints; the CGI was pretty hokey at times, I know Raimi was working with a limited budget, but c’mon, he had more convincing effects in the first “Evil Dead”. Secondly, Justin Long‘s character is supposed to be a professor, and I just couldn’t buy him as one for a minute. Lastly, no Bruce Campbell??!! That is just unacceptable, Mr. Raimi. How the fuck can you finally make a horror film again and not find a role for “The Chin?!”

When all is said and done, though, “Drag Me To Hell” is a terrific return to form for a director who is worshiped as a god in horror circles. Despite strong reviews, this one under-performed commercially, which is too bad. Hopefully, it will find the audience it deserves on DVD. If you’re a in the mood for a good fright flick, rent this creepy puppy tonight.