Drag Me to Hell (2009)
Directed by Sam Raimi
Written by Sam Raimi
Starring Allison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, David Paymer
Release Date May 29th, 2009
Published May 29th, 2009
There is so much cool stuff in Drag Me To Hell that I really wish I could recommend it. As a fan of Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2 and of the classic Drive In, Z movies that inspired them, Drag Me To Hell evoked awesome memories of horror films past while standing alone as a hip, knowing and very modern horror movie.
So why didn't I like the movie? Drag Me To Hell is like a really great looking house with a crack in the foundation so bad it has to be condemned.
Drag Me To Hell stars Alison Lohman as Christine Brown an ambitious bank loan officer who dreams of becoming assistant manager. She is competing with a brown nosing co-worker who is admired by the boss (David Paymer) for his willingness to say no. Christine is seen as too lenient. When an old gypsy woman (Lorna Raver) comes in begging for an extension on her mortage, after not paying the last two extensions, Christine says no.
Needless to say, the old gypsy happens to be a nutball and a witch who soon after places a curse on Christine, the lamia. In three days a horned demon will rise to drag Christine to hell. Until that time she will be plagued by visions so horrifying that she may go insane before she can be dragged to despair.
Witnessing her decline is Christine's boyfriend Clay (Justin Long). He's the resident skeptic who exists to mock the psychic Rham Jas (Dileep Rao) who claims he can help with the curse. It is advice from the psychic that leads to the scene that ruined the movie for me.
I won't go into detail as I am sure some of you will still want to see this movie despite my warning. I will only say that the scene is unnecessary but more importantly, it severs our emotional tie to Christine. The scene places the movie's heroine at a distance from the audience, most members of the audience anyway, and ruins the thrills of the rest of the movie which rely on our connection to Christine.
As for that ending. If you pay attention the whole way through you won't be the least bit surprised. Of course, if your like me, you will have checked out already after the scene I eluded to a paragraph ago.
It's such a shame that Sam Raimi and his brother Ivan who co-wrote the script, decided to put that scene in the movie because without it I think Drag Me To Hell is potentially a horror classic. Raimi crafts classic horror movie gore in ways that will twist you in your seat and make you laugh in the space of moments.
Lorna Raver's ancient gypsy is just the kind of horror film villain that escaped from the Necronomicon in Evil Dead. She looks half dead, she spews everywhere, even before she turns evil, and she can appear seemingly out of nowhere. The numerous allusions to Evil Dead will have horror fans cheering even as they cover their eyes and mouth in terror.
With so much cool stuff happening in Drag Me To Hell, I really want to like it. But I don't. That one scene. One scene. It is enough for me to put aside all that is endlessly cool about Drag Me To Hell and say skip it. Unless you are a hardcore horror fan, with a loose affiliation to the animal world, you are going to dislike Drag Me To Hell as much as I did.
