Universal Pictures and Ghost House Pictures

Written By:

Sam Raimi and Ivan Raimi

Let’s just cut right to the chase…Sam Raimi’s “Drag Me To Hell” is one of the most entertaining films I have seen in a long, long time. For those that have waited years and years for Sam Raimi to return to the horror/suspense genre, the movie pays major rewards.

“Drag Me To Hell” features Alison Lohman as Christine, a loan officer who is competing with a backstabbing, cutthroat new hire for a managerial opening at her bank. When a decrepit and elderly woman (Lorna Raver) meets with Christine to seek a third extension on her mortgage, Christine makes the decision to reject the woman’s request after her boss questions the merits of the transaction. After having the woman removed from the bank, as she grovels and begs for another opportunity, Christine encounters the woman in a parking garage and a nasty fight ensues. Near the end of their altercation, and unbeknown to Christine at the time, the woman places a curse on her. As Christine’s daily life quickly unravels in an escalating series of supernatural events, Christine convinces her boyfriend (Justin Long) to see a fortune teller. Stunned by his visions, the fortune teller reveals that Christine is being tracked by a powerful demon and has a mere three days to take the steps necessary to end her curse or literally be dragged into Hell.

If the premise sounds intense, Raimi makes it an absolute. Raimi’s best characteristic as a filmmaker, as evidenced through his “Evil Dead” trilogy and even his “Spider-Man” films, is his inate ability to balance thrills with scares and humor. He is a master of keeping you on edge, and he pushes all the right buttons, at all the right times. In some ways, he is the carnival ride operator at the amusement park, who gleefully controls when to speed up the ride and when to slow it down. A great moment occurs when one morning at the bank, Christine develops a sudden nose bleed which becomes a gusher of epic proportions, spraying everyone in close proximity. The Sr. bank manager, soaked in Christine’s blood, desperately asks someone near him, “Did I get any in my mouth?”

As I watched “Drag Me…”, I couldn’t help but rekindle my appreciation for films in the past that would take the time to make the scares and intensity purposeful; a lost art in today’s cinema. This decade has seen the horror/suspense film become one of two things; the “torture porn” style of filmmakers Eli Roth, Alexandre Aja, and the “Saw” films, and the watered-down teen horror film which seemingly hits the multiplex several times a month. Many hoped that Raimi would take back the horror genre he arguably reinvented with his first “Evil Dead” film. My sense is that Raimi isn’t looking for reinvention with “Drag Me To Hell”. Rather, I envision Raimi as a teacher, returning to his class of his students and lecturing them on everything they are doing wrong. When “Drag Me To Hell” reaches its dramatic and somewhat unexpected conclusion, you are left aghast, shocked, and exhilarated.

Should I See It?

To see a horror film done right – Raimi’s less is more approach focuses on thrills and scares, not guts and gore.

If you are looking for something edgy and fun for a movie night with your friends.

You are exhausted with the current state of horror/suspense films and would like some assurance that the genre is not (ahem) cursed…

NO

Despite all the humor and cleverness of the film, it is a horror/suspense film at the end of the day and if that is something you cannot get into, this will not bridge that divide for you.

If you cannot handle suspense and tension, the film has plenty of jump scares and frightening images that may be too much for you to handle.