Drag Me To Hell: Review
By: Movie-Cafe
When horror films these days are getting more dehydrates and fatigue, as they’re just move around with completely cliché plot, sadistic, nudity, and facts that they are just not that scary anymore. Thus, what formula that efficacious enough to drag the horror genre back to its reasonable form? If you demand the find the answer just like what I did, I think you better go to your nearest cinema and watch the ‘now showing’ horror, “Drag Me to Hell”. Why? Because, for me, this film is truly one of the answers that we’ve been waiting for, not only work as a jump in your seat scary movie, despite its PG-13 rating, but this is also an old school horror at its best. This film also has reminded me again on why I’m so in love with this genre. Directed by Sam Raimi who is now most well known for his three “Spider-Man” movies, “Drag Me” can be touted as his horror homecoming after many times ago he has created some cult classics including the first two in his “Evil Dead” trilogy. I'm really glad to see Raimi finally return to the genre that mad him famous and present his best work in years, which every horror fan is going to love it. Plus, if you want your date jumping into your lap, it’s really set to be the perfect choice for a night out.
# Co-written with his brother Ivan, Sam Raimi’s script actually isn’t too original but it’s still manage to be an enormously enjoyable house of cinematic horrors that is at turns funny, campy, shocking, and scary.
# Raimi masterfully utilizes the camera, tricking your eyes into thinking everything is calm when it never is. In this, he has re-teamed with cinematographer Peter Deming for the first time since “Evil Dead II”.
# The audio is also the real star of the movie. While the camera circles the room or closes up on faces, the score is given the full responsibility for several minutes to produce a feeling of terror and anticipation, and it works beautifully. The properly eerie/bombastic score is delivered by composer Christopher Young, a frequent collaborator with Raimi and his Ghost House Pictures fright factory.
# A sequence where Christine (Allison Lohman) battles the gypsy hag armed only with a tray of stationery is stand-out and memorable.
# Like “Evil Dead,” the movie is also at its best when the main character fights with random demons, and Christine is plagued with plenty of them.
# The story clearly going high concept with a gypsy curse premise that would have worked well within a '70s B-movie, but it retains so many modern sensibilities that it never feels dated or retro.
# Alison Lohman brings out a strong central performance. As much as we want to see her play the victim, she achieves that subtle distinction between screaming and suffering that so few horror protagonists truly nail, and it’s a remarkable performance in a genre that so often settles for less.
# Justin Long as Christine’s sceptical scientific boyfriend provides the grounding and logic, amongst the supernatural madness. He also gave a good performance in this show.
# Dileep Rao (upcoming “Avatar”) is hilarious and brings a lot of laughs to the table as the mystical stereotype Rham Jas who help Christine ward off the forces of evil.
# A terrifying 10/10 score for stellar performance of Lorna Raver (Freeway) as the possessed and demented, old Mrs Ganush.
# Raimi builds creepy scenes to a climax and either pays them off then and there or gives you a few moments to think the terror has passed. The ending also makes perfect sense; it’s effective enough to leave you buzzing long after you leave the theater.
(Continue the Trip)
When horror films these days are getting more dehydrates and fatigue, as they’re just move around with completely cliché plot, sadistic, nudity, and facts that they are just not that scary anymore. Thus, what formula that efficacious enough to drag the horror genre back to its reasonable form? If you demand the find the answer just like what I did, I think you better go to your nearest cinema and watch the ‘now showing’ horror, “Drag Me to Hell”. Why? Because, for me, this film is truly one of the answers that we’ve been waiting for, not only work as a jump in your seat scary movie, despite its PG-13 rating, but this is also an old school horror at its best. This film also has reminded me again on why I’m so in love with this genre. Directed by Sam Raimi who is now most well known for his three “Spider-Man” movies, “Drag Me” can be touted as his horror homecoming after many times ago he has created some cult classics including the first two in his “Evil Dead” trilogy. I'm really glad to see Raimi finally return to the genre that mad him famous and present his best work in years, which every horror fan is going to love it. Plus, if you want your date jumping into your lap, it’s really set to be the perfect choice for a night out.
# Co-written with his brother Ivan, Sam Raimi’s script actually isn’t too original but it’s still manage to be an enormously enjoyable house of cinematic horrors that is at turns funny, campy, shocking, and scary.
# Raimi masterfully utilizes the camera, tricking your eyes into thinking everything is calm when it never is. In this, he has re-teamed with cinematographer Peter Deming for the first time since “Evil Dead II”.
# The audio is also the real star of the movie. While the camera circles the room or closes up on faces, the score is given the full responsibility for several minutes to produce a feeling of terror and anticipation, and it works beautifully. The properly eerie/bombastic score is delivered by composer Christopher Young, a frequent collaborator with Raimi and his Ghost House Pictures fright factory.
# A sequence where Christine (Allison Lohman) battles the gypsy hag armed only with a tray of stationery is stand-out and memorable.
# Like “Evil Dead,” the movie is also at its best when the main character fights with random demons, and Christine is plagued with plenty of them.
# The story clearly going high concept with a gypsy curse premise that would have worked well within a '70s B-movie, but it retains so many modern sensibilities that it never feels dated or retro.
# Alison Lohman brings out a strong central performance. As much as we want to see her play the victim, she achieves that subtle distinction between screaming and suffering that so few horror protagonists truly nail, and it’s a remarkable performance in a genre that so often settles for less.
# Justin Long as Christine’s sceptical scientific boyfriend provides the grounding and logic, amongst the supernatural madness. He also gave a good performance in this show.
# Dileep Rao (upcoming “Avatar”) is hilarious and brings a lot of laughs to the table as the mystical stereotype Rham Jas who help Christine ward off the forces of evil.
# A terrifying 10/10 score for stellar performance of Lorna Raver (Freeway) as the possessed and demented, old Mrs Ganush.
# Raimi builds creepy scenes to a climax and either pays them off then and there or gives you a few moments to think the terror has passed. The ending also makes perfect sense; it’s effective enough to leave you buzzing long after you leave the theater.
