REVIEW: DRAG ME TO HELL! - OMG Horror - The Blog of the Living Dead: Horror Movie News, Features, Reviews, Games, Free Horror Films, Splatter, Gore, Puppies

Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) Tries to Fend Off a Deadly Demon in Drag Me to Hell!

Only a handful of filmmakers are at the forefront of their respective craft. Only a few can pioneer genre in a way that sets the tone for their contemporaries, who, let’s face it, often become mere insubordinates. One of those men is Sam Raimi, a writer/director who blazed trails of ingenuity and hyper-imaginative low budget logistics back in the early 80s. The man who brought audiences the highly venerated Evil Dead trilogy (Evil Dead, Evil Dead II, and Army of Darkness) now returns some 17 years later to the corner of cinema that help put him on the map as an true A-list visionary. 17 years later, Mr. Sam Raimi shows zero deceleration in his new supernatural terror Drag Me to Hell.

We open in 1969 Pasadena. A lush Spanish mansion. It seems a malefic curse has summoned a demon, and a little boy’s soul is taken as a sacrifice. His mother weeps in anguish. Cut to the present day, where we meet Christine Brown (Alison Lohman), a bank loan officer on the rise. She has her sights on the recently vacated assistant manager position, her only competition a coworker named Stu (Reggie Lee). Their Boss Jim Jacks (David Paymer) exhorts Christine that to land the position, tough decisions are indeed a major part of the job description. “I can make the tough decisions” she ensures. Well, it doesn’t take long to take said swift action, because an old gypsy lady (Lorna Raver) comes into the bank desperate for a third extension on her mortgage. After quick consultation with Jacks, Christine denies the lady, even “shames” her when the gypsy is forced to beg. Security escorts the bold and bedraggled lady off the premises.

Terror is Everywhere for Ms. Brown!

After a long day in the bank, Christine is tormented by the gypsy lady in a dim and daunting parking lot. After some scuffling, the lady casts an eternal curse on Christine, summoning a beast called the Lamia to haunt and torture her to a fiery death in the pits of hell. Shaken, Christine finds solace in the arms of her boyfriend Clay (Justin Long): a doting yuppie from a wealthy family. When Clay takes Christine to meet his folks, a funny ass scene unfolds that illustrates this class chasm. Confounded with all kinds of eerie encounters, Christine also turns to a psychic called Rham Jas (Dileep Rao) who educates her about the curse and what can be done to quash the thing. A darkly comedic remedy doesn’t hold serve, and so Christine has to reach greater measure to allay the curse and get on with her daily life. From there, things descend into utter madness with a séance crescendo that reeks of pure Raimi in his over-the-top halcyon days. It's an unfurled, high-energy horror romp!

Christine Serves Recompense Inside a Grave!

Christine Consorts with Soothsayer Rham Jas (Dileep Rao)

Let me go back by saying this is a PG-13 film. Raimi has culled a healthy living by catering to the masses with his mega-blockbusting franchise Spiderman, and perhaps he’s playing by the numbers this time around as well. However, knowing it’s a PG-13 film, and given the spate of dross released as “horror” these days (PG-13 or no), Raimi delivers a freight of goods here. First off, he takes the time to develop a story (co-written by brother Ivan Raimi) where we can actually feel for the lead character. With family issues, her vocational vulnerability, her inability to meet the grade of Clay’s parents – Christine is a person we can identify with on a number of levels. That matters a great deal in order for the scares or times of peril to ring true for us the audience. And it does, no matter how exorbitant or outlandish the thrills get, we’re still rooting for Christine to somehow get the better of it all.

What I liked best about Drag Me to Hell was its smooth, graceful pacing. The thrills are perfectly timed, doing so in a way that adheres to the context of the story. I also loved the garish gross out gags with the old lady’s ocular fluids and slobber antics. Raimi melds the supernatural jump fright with good old gross out Raimi staples that go so far overboard you can’t help but rock a giant smile across your face. There’s one particular nose bleed scene that is a perfect brew of comedy and unease. There’s also a cool nod or two to the Evil Dead pictures (keep your eyes peeled for Raimi’s personal yellow Oldsmobile) that offer a bit of a wink-wink to the most ardent of fan.

Detractors for me come by way of the overuse of CG imaging, shadowing, and the like. Too many times the flick literally resembled a PG-13 kiddy ride at Disneyland, I wouldn’t be all too surprised if an attraction was built on the movies behalf. Cartoon like shadows on the wall, or a floating handkerchief, whatever – I’d prefer the low-fi methods Raimi employed in his hungry days as an aspiring filmmaker. But make no mistake, Drag Me to Hell is pure Raimi – silly, zany, off the wall, campy, humorous, cringe inducing, highly entertaining – as much a successful return to the genre as it is welcome. Really Sam, it’s been too long!