Drag Me to Hell

We were told we were going to witness Sam Raimi's return to horror. That was the hook. For those of us who know what Sam Raimi and horror mean, we knew to expect interesting visuals, slap stick humor, good scares and just more than a little bit of gross-out gags. The problem with that is Sam Raimi is not just that guy anymore. He has directed thrillers, romantic dramas and one of the most profitable summer franchises in movie history. He does not put cameras on bamboo rollers any longer. It is with all of this on my mind that I watched the awesomely titled film.

In 1969 a young boy stole a necklace from some gypsies and the gypsies cursed him. For three days he is haunted by a goat like shadow and then after three days his family takes the young boy to see a psychic woman who is too late to save the boy. Yes, the young boy takes taken to hell. At this point, you realize everything is possible, welcome back Mr. Raimi. Cut to modern times and a young loan officer named Christine Brown (Alison Lohman). She is a sweet soft spoken girl with a college professor boyfriend(Justin Long). She is after the assistant manager position, but her boss tells her he needs someone who is not afraid to make the tough decisions. Unfortunately for Christine, she starts to make those tough decisions to a disgusting old woman who wants an extension on her house payment. Christine says no and pays dearly for it. After work, Christine is walking to her car and she is attacked by the woman and a curse is put on Christine. Soon Christine is hearing things and seeing things. It turns out the demon is called a Lamia and it is a goat like demon that haunts a soul for 3 days before taking it to hell. The only way to get rid of it is to give the cursed item to someone else and let that person die. The old woman cursed a button and Christine wrestles with what to do. All the while being haunted by the lamia and visions of the old woman trying to kill her.

Drag Me to Hell delivers on everything it is supposed to deliver. It is campy, scary, gross, slap-stick heavy and full of interesting visuals. Sam Raimi has taken it back and delivered what his fans want. I have a problem with this. First off, as I said, Raimi is not the same director he was when he created the Evil Dead trilogy. He is a stronger director and this movie shows that. The suspense and the scares are so great and the point of view so strong, the b-movie gags take away from the movie. I understand it is supposed to be a horror movie that does not take itself seriously, but it was so damn scary I wanted it to take itself seriously, so I could take it seriously. In a brilliant scene, Christine is alone in her house and starts getting haunted. It is loud, scary, intense and disorienting, but for every great moment like that I had to endure bodily fluids and really bad CGI.

I have started to tell people this movie has three perfect scenes and then the rest is kind of a mixed bag. The seance scene does get a little Disney's Haunted Mansion, but I still think it is a perfect scene because it is the one scene that perfectly blends the scares and the laughs. Very rarely do I have need for a talking goat, but after some loud scares and weird laughs, the talking goat is exactly what the scene needed. The scene in the house is another of the perfect scenes and the final perfect scene takes place in a cemetery and is the best example of how much stronger Sam Raimi is now than he used to be. The entire scene is scary, but it is also gorgeously shot with awesome camera angles, perfect lighting and gives Alison Lohman her one chance to really act something other than scared and when Raimi frames her with a camera on the ground looking up, with the rain falling on her and Christine delivering the only great bad ass lines, you think "Damnit Raimi, why did I have to endure all of the bodily fluids."

I will never be the guy who says he loves the Evil Dead trilogy. I like the movies and completely understand their status as cult classics, but they are not movies I go back to on a regular basis. That might make me not the target audience for this kind of movie, and maybe I just don't "get it." I am willing to concede that, but Drag Me to Hell had potential to be one of the better horror movies in recent memory. The PG-13 rating did not hinder the scares, which surprised me and the score is bananas switching between perfectly scary and outlandishly over the top, which fits the overall tone of the film, but bothered me in the same way the film did. The CGI is almost all awful, which is probably the intention, but if Raimi was going to go through all the trouble of making a campy horror film, why did he not go back to prosthetics and real tangible props?

Drag Me to Hell is sure to satisfy a majority of the audience who will get everything they expect from a Sam Raimi horror film, right down to his infamous car. There is an incredible horror movie somewhere in this movie, but it loses out in favor of an old woman drooling and taking out her false teeth. I am glad that Raimi wants his fans to know he has not forgotten them, before he goes back to making a new Spiderman movie, but I wish it wasn't so damn suspenseful so I could have enjoyed the slap-stick more. I am perfectly fine with movies mixing genres and being all post-modern, but Raimi is too damn talented to wasting time trying to get his audience to laugh at stupid shit. Also, there are a few problems plot wise where a woman has the power to summon demons to send someone to hell but cannot summon a way to save her house, and the audience has to be okay with the movie damning a girl just because she did her job. I think people should see the movie if just for the three great scenes and of course, the talking goat.

Final Grade: C+