SHOCKtober! Drag Me to Hell
Phneri talked about this movie after the theatrical release, but it bears mentioning here in SHOCKtober as it was just released on DVD and BluRay. And what a movie it is! Sam Raimi returns to horror after toiling away in the world of Spiderman (wasn’t 3 terrible? Sheesh…) to bring us a mix of modern horror and the classic Raimi stuff that made the Evil Dead flicks so enjoyable.
Christine Brown works as a loan officer at a bank, working for and with a bunch of assholes. But she’s a nice girl looking for a promotion so she doesn’t stand up for herself when people trample all over her. In order to prove herself to her boss, she makes a tough decision to deny a mortgage extension to an old gypsy woman. As you’d guess, the gypsy lady freaks out and puts a curse on Christine. She now has three days to get the curse lifted or she’s going to hell; yanked down by a demon. Throughout the next couple of days, the demon comes around to terrorize and generally fuck with her life in every way. Her boyfriend (played by Justin Long) does his best to help her, along with a local fortune teller. Raimi brings back bits from his old bag of tricks, including a lot of comical gags and bad ass gore.
Drag Me to Hell almost plays like a continuation of the Evil Dead series, with Alison Lohman playing the Bruce Campbell part, though not nearly as snarky or tongue-in-cheek. The bank takes the place of S-Mart and Justin Long takes the place of Linda. That said, I wasn’t bowled over by this movie like I hoped I would be. It’s definitely entertaining, but I could have used either a lot more scares or a lot more of the Raimi off-the-wall style. Nevertheless, definitely check out Drag Me to Hell. It’s one of the more original horror flicks to be released in the last decade.
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Tags: drag me to hell, horror, Sam Raimi, shocktober
October 27th, 2009 at 9:20 am
Oh and don’t forget that this movie is somewhat a morality tale. Good girl makes bad decision and eventually pays for it, I for one dug that a ton.
October 27th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Morality tale my ass. There is one simple message in this story.
If you encounter a disgusting, utterly terrifying old person in your day to day life, do not anger them. Smile, nod politely, and then bury a goddamn fire axe in their skull when they turn around. Otherwise they will damn you to torture and death, because they are terrifying and old. And hideous things will wind up in your mouth for the sake of comic relief.
October 27th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
True, but she was sweet and innocent and the ONE TIME she does the wrong thing, she pays for it, dearly…and rather grossly too.
Remember, the gypsy had a HOT daughter, that bitch coulda effed her up too!
October 28th, 2009 at 6:49 am
I just picked this up on Blu Ray but haven’t watched it yet. Been too busy as of late. One other movie that came out that you guys (especially John) has to watch is Dead Snow. it’s a zombie flick from Norway that actually features Nazi Zombies!! It’s very gory and is more of a dark comedy than a serious horror film but it is freaking awesome. It’s out on DVD and Blu Ray as well so check it out. If I have time I will write up a short article about it but don’t hold your breath.
October 28th, 2009 at 9:08 am
It’s out on DVD finally? I had no idea!
October 28th, 2009 at 11:08 am
You can get a Region 2 Import from GB or Canada from Amazon. So you Canadian folks can enjoy terrifying nazi zombie goodness before us yanks.
October 28th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Dead Snow, eh?
To the netflix queue!
Back to the movie at hand, I retain my opinion that Drag Me to Hell is infinitely more entertaining with a bunch of friends to sit around and smack talk it. The crazy, over the top, Loony-Tunes style violence also makes that movie awesome. I mean, there’s a literal anvil scene. ANVIL.