[Movie Review] DRAG ME TO HELL
I never understood why the heck anyone would release a horror movie in the summer. Some things are just common sense, at least to me. Light romcoms come out in spring, award contenders drop in the fall, and horror movies should only be released in the fall, preferably Halloween weekend, in order to maximize profits. When these rules are broken, things usually go kablooey for the audience and the studio. Drag Me To Hell was the victim of terrible timing this year, coming out right in the midst of the summer movie season, and it was virtually ignored. I even ignored it up until a few weeks ago, when I went to see it on a whim at my local discount theater with my little sister. The film’s failure is a real shame, considering that this is the best horror movie that I’ve seen in years, and is on its way to my Top 10 of the year. This flick is so smart, funny, and downright terrifying that, had it been the major hit that it deserved to be, it could have brought about a horror renaissance much like Scream did thirteen (thirteen!) years ago. If you missed this one in theaters, I’m begging you to give it a chance on DVD because this is one of the rarest of horror films: one that’s actually friggin’ awesome.
Drag Me To Hell tells the story of Christine (the fantastic Alison Lohman), a good person who is trying to get a promotion at her bank job and maintain her relationship with her nice boyfriend (Justin Long), much to the chagrin of his aristocratic parents. Christine is a nice girl, perhaps too nice for her own good, but she picks a bad time to get tough on people. A thoroughly disgusting woman by the name of Mrs. Ganush asks Christine for help with her home foreclosure, but when Christine refuses to help, Mrs. Ganush places a curse on her that will send her to hell for the rest of eternity in three days. The movie follows Christine in her quest to get rid of the curse before it’s too late. Granted, I thought that the plot sounded pretty dumb when I first heard about it, but the execution is absolutely flawless. I think the thing that I loved the most about this movie is that it owns its craziness. There is a lot of crazy activity in this movie, and if you cannot handle demonic images or bodily fluids being puked, spewed, or swallowed, this isn’t your movie. If you can’t handle animal sacrifice, this is not your movie. In any other movie, it would have been utterly ridiculous. It’s a little ridiculous here, but within the rules of this film, it works.
The number one complaint that I have of horror movies today is that they simply aren’t scary. It’s more about random “characters” that I don’t care about getting cut up before I can begin to give a crap about them. This movie, however, is genuinely scary. How scary? My little sister was so frightened by a scene of a demon slowly creeping after Christine inside her house that she got up and fled the theater. But unlike her flight from Bruno, this time she didn’t come back. She took my car keys and left the theater. She was waiting in the parking lot when the movie was over. The movie builds up its scares to the point that just when you think the movie has nothing left, an even bigger scare jumps out to get you. This isn’t one of those flicks that relies on a bunch of loud shrieking sound effects or cheap scares. Those types of cheap scares do nothing for me. This movie had me scrunching down in my seat, hands over my face, absolutely petrified, praying that the scene would end so that I could breathe. The people in the theater with me were screaming loudly. A woman in front of me was near hysterics at one point, having to be calmed by her date. The reason why the movie was so scary to me was that it wasn’t some big hulking killer marching around with no real motive. This is HELL we’re talking about, and you get to know Christine enough to know that the punishment doesn’t fit her crime. You’re rooting for her to beat the curse because you can identify with her. She isn’t some unattainably perfect person. She makes a decision that sets the film’s events in motion, but truthfully, when you see what she does, ask yourself if you would have done something different under the same circumstances. Her experience in this film is going to freak you out because, within the rules of this film, everyone should be getting dragged off to Hell, including you.
Alison Lohman’s performance is the one that makes or breaks the film, and her kind nature combined with her fierce determination to beat the curse makes her one of the best female leads in any horror movie that I’ve ever seen. She’s a pretty girl, but she’s not here to show her rack. It’s a real live performance for a character that actually has an arc to fulfill rather than a bra to show off. It’s easy to overlook performances in horror flicks since they are usually all crap, but I was really impressed with her work here. She is a real trooper, considering all of the disgusting things that happen to her character in this flick (I hope the DVD has a featurette focused solely on the fluids that this woman had to swallow or spew in this movie). Justin Long is basically just here occupying space as her goody-goody boyfriend, but the scene-stealer here is Lorna Raver as Mrs. Ganush. This is one vile, creepy character and she makes for one fearsome villain. From the first moment that she comes onscreen, you will be repulsed, and it gets even worse from there. You don’t even have to see HER before you’re freaked out. At first, all you see is her nails drumming on Christine’s desk and it is a sight to see. Holy moley, there is a scene involving an attack on Christine in her car by Mrs. Ganush that had me squirming in my seat in pure fear and disgust. It really has to be seen to be believed, but just imagine having to fight off a crazed old woman gnawing at your neck with her gums. It’s some seriously freaky stuff.
If you’re a fan of Sam Raimi’s stuff, particularly the Evil Dead franchise, you’re going to recognize a lot of his trademarks here. He’s known for sprinkling some humor in with the scares, and Drag Me To Hell is no exception. As scary as this flick is, there is also some great dark humor, especially in regards to Christine’s cat and the aforementioned spewing fluids. It gets to the point where you can’t help but laugh at the sheer audacity of it all. I also wanted to make special note of the score, which is both ominous and gorgeous. Again, most horror movies concentrate more on cheap shrieks rather than putting an orchestra to good use, but this film has one of the best scores I’ve heard all year. The effects work also looks great. The demon, known as the Lamia, genuinely gave me a nightmare after I saw this movie.
So, if you missed this on in the theaters, go and get the DVD when it’s released in your neck of the woods. This movie is genuinely scary, funny, and entertaining as hell. I was stunned at how much I ended up loving this thing. I mean, where else are you gonna get a possessed goat calling Alison Lohman a little bitch?! Yes, a talking demonic goat makes an appearance in this movie. If that isn’t enough to convince you, I don’t know what will.
15 Responses to “[Movie Review] DRAG ME TO HELL”
Pretty much Evil Dead IV, I loved the **** out of this movie.
I loved how Raimi didn’t make her completely innocent, she was only worrying about her self when she denied Ganush the extension, and then would go on and place the blame on other people when trying to get out of her predicament (the kitten goes without saying). Did the punishment fit the crime, no, but she was far from a morally upstanding person.
She wasn’t perfect, but who the hell is? We’d all be getting dragged off to hell if you go by this movie
Yeah, but she kept on digging herself deeper in the hole morally. Not till the end of the movie did she admit to any wrong doing, selling out her boss to the Lamia and trying re-gift the curse to Stu.
The biggest stinger comes at the end, when you realize that she would have gotten the promotion even if she didn’t deny Ganush the extension.
That’s true, especially when she tries to give the button away, but she thinks better of it in the end. She’s not squeaky clean, but in the circumstances, it was necessary to get her hands dirty. Shit, if I was looking at an eternity in Hell, I’d be willing to kill some kitties, too.
Holy ****, Five??!
I thought it was horrid but everyone else loved it. I personally thought it was out the door silly and just dumb. My cousin liked it though
I still cant get over that haunted hanky.
Well, you are a…. you know I really even don’t have say it.
Yup, FIVE. It did its job and then some. The cardinal sin of a horror movie is to not be scary. This movie scared the mess out of me, it was funny, it entertained me, and I want it on DVD. I can count on one hand the number of horror movies I actually own, but I want this one ASAP.
Kris
This is the 3rd time I completely hate a movie everyone else loved
Blade Runner and Titanic
Especially Titanic. It pissed me off
Why didn’t they just SHARE the floating board??
Okay, I HAVE to defend Rose for the floating board thing. Their combined body weight would have sunken the damn thing.
LEAVE ROSE ALONE!!!!!!!!!!!!
If I were in his shoes I would have died for her.
Im not bashing on her, or him. The rich people in that movie pissed me off.
I just dont understand why he couldnt have laid in the table if he was able to support himself with it, that scene itself made me want to punch a babys vagina from pure anger
Another thing, why did she keep the rich assholes necklace?
I just wanted the bad guy to die. I was so pissed when they showed him at the end and Dicaprio died. I wnted to see that guy get grounded into a powder by the propeller of the ship.
If she tried to sell that necklace back then, there would have been a headline in the paper, word would have gotten back to Rose’s mom and the douche that she was alive and all hell would have broken loose.
Hazzy, it’s ok. Leave Rose (and the douche) alone.
Now back to Drag Me to Hell…
I loved Drag Me, cheesy, fun and scary, personally I’d give it a 4/5 though cause there was one part where it got TOO cheesy, but it was fun.
What exactly was cheesy about it?
I bet he’s talking about the seance scene.
That was not cheesy, that was just plain ****ing awesome.
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