DRAG ME TO HELL is a horror film that fooled the studio. Bare with me here. I went into this film thinking that all the advanced positive reviews on the film were just coming from the fans who have a hard-on for Sam Raimi. For myself the trailer did the film no justice, and the fact that it was PG-13 made me think that it was marketed towards the teenage audience. However, I was proven wrong. Sam Raimi, his brother Ivan, Rob Tapert and the rest of gang really pulled the wool over the eyes of the studio into buying into this story and how it would be a horror film that will cater to the demographic of the people who go to the movies the most. that obviously is teenagers. Here’s the catch though. This movie was not made for them. it was made for the older seasoned horror fan, who happen to know of Raimi’s earlier work, that being the EVIL DEAD films.
DRAG ME TO HELL is about a young innocent girl named Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) who works at a bank as a loan officer. She is working hard on getting a promotion to become an assistant manager and is in competition with another employee who seems to be doing better than her at the job. When an elderly lady comes in asking for an extension on paying her loan, Christine’s boss leaves the decision up to her. Realizing that this would be the third time they extended the loan, Christine tells the women that there is nothing she can do for her. Well, the women begs and makes a scene in which Christine has to call in security and so on. Mad about what Christine has done, the women tracks her down and puts a curse on her. this Curse however is not just your normal everyday bad luck curse, its a curse in which a demon tortures it’s victim for three days and then tries to take the victim soul. In this case it’s after Christine’s soul. Now with the help of her skeptical boyfriend Clay (Justin Long) and a medium ( Dileep Rao) they will try and find a way to fight off the evil demon and get rid of the curse that is plaguing Christine and threatens to ruin her life.
The thing is with DRAG ME TO HELL is that it plays a lot like a horror comedy. It simply has EVIL DEAD written all over it, everything from it’s wacky shots, people getting possessed (and looking a lot like a Deadite), and an invisible force beating the hell out of Christine (an Ash style beating). There is even a scarf that is very similar to the Ash’s sawed off possessed hand. There are a lot of silly moments and some crazy colored blood and goo that get thrown around in the mix. It does borderline an R rating in some sense I guess you could say, but it’s effective with it style that one might not even realize it as being a rated PG-13 film.
The script is good, but I keep going back to the EVIL DEAD reference, and almost feel that the Raimi brothers have another EVIL DEAD on their minds and that writing a script like DRAG ME TO HELL would help them further their purpose of getting that envelope sealed should this film do well. But besides all the similarities to EVIL DEAD the script has this unique quality about its story. Right from the old Universal logo at the beginning to the very end of the film I felt as if I was transported back in time, a time before I was born. While watching this film I couldn’t help but notice that it was very much like watching a classic Universal monster movie or a film that William Castle would of directed or produced. The Script has this dynamic to it’s storyline and it’s main characters. I did feel that some of the supporting roles could of used more developing. But all in all this is a Sam and Ivan Raimi script, and we get what we expect to get from them.
The acting is very good in this film and pretty much I have nothing but praise for all the performers who were in this film. Nothing that going to win them Academy awards, but for being in a horror film they all did very well. Production value was also top notch. The sets were dressed great, and some of the locations were not only simple ones like your normal bank and home, but there were some sets that looked really cool and leaded their look to the feel of the overall film.
The visuals surprisingly enough were pretty good. From the trailer I though this film was going to be blown out of proportion with bad CGI effects and not one ounce of make-up effects were going to be used. I of course was wrong, there is a fine mix of both, with the make-up effects team taking care of all the blood and gore, and the visuals were used to mainly give some of the make-up a better look, but they were also used sparingly and not blown out of proportion. To really get into it, the CGI and all was mainly used in about three scenes, one short one in the beginning, a scene involving a séance, and a small scene at the end of the film. We never really see the demon in full from, just as a shadow most of the time which really works well. The effects are used very well in this film.
Overall, here is my verdict. DRAG ME TO HELL is a good film. It’s not a pure horror film that will scare the crap out of you. Some parts well, because Raimi uses a lot of misdirection and editing that confuses the audience and scares you when you least expect it. The thing is that it also relies on it’s humor as well. Just like EVIL DEAD we do get the scares, but we also get the comedy as well. It’s a well rounded horror comedy. I’ll give it that, but it’s nothing original. I had a hell of time watching it and really loved the film, but it’s by no means a groundbreaking film. It’s a fun film, one that was made for horror fans. To the teenage crowd that this PG-13 rating was catered too, sorry you didn’t like this film, but go rent EVIL DEAD and you’ll understand why this film had its comedic elements. This is a film that was made for fans of EVIL DEAD, Sam Raimi and old school horror fans. If DRAG ME TO HELL does well in both the box office and on DVD and Blu-ray; something tells me that we might get a forth EVIL DEAD film after all. Or that dreaded remake!
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
