Movie Reviews: DRAG ME TO HELL

Friday, June 05, 2009
Movie Reviews: DRAG ME TO HELL
IN THEATERS

DRAG ME TO HELL


Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) is an ambitious L.A. loan officer with a charming boyfriend, Professor Clay Dalton (Justin Long). Life is good until the mysterious Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver) arrives at the bank to beg for an extension on her home loan. Should Christine follow her instincts and give the old woman a break? Or should she deny the extension to impress her boss, Mr. Jacks (David Paymer), and get a leg-up on a promotion? Christine fatefully chooses the latter, shaming Mrs. Ganush and dispossessing her of her home.

Cast: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, David Paymer, Dileep Rao

Director: Sam Raimi

Opened May 29, 2009

Runtime: 1 hr. 39 min

Rated PG-13 for terror, disturbing images, sequences of horror violence and language

Genres: Supernatural Horror, Horror

Review:

If you’re the type that pays attention you’ll notice that Sam Raimi gives you a bit of a heads up as to what to expect with his newest film Drag Me To Hell. With the 80’s Universal logo opening the film, Raimi returns to what made him a name director, schlock fun loving comedy horror. If you’re not familiar with Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead series then here’s the first thing you need to know, don’t expect a serious horror film. If you do then you might be perplexed by the insanely manic and hilarious first confrontation of Alison Lohman’s Christine and Lorna Raver’s Ms. Ganush in a car. By that point, if it wasn’t clearly apparent, it should be clear that Raimi is interested in a few things here. He wants to gross you out, startle you and make you laugh at the same time. Raimi does all of those with great style throughout, so much so that you can almost feel hear Raimi chuckling in the background. Raimi keeps the plot, which he co-wrote, fairly simple and focuses on making the entire endeavor like a funhouse ride from some twisted carnival. He paces the film wonderfully, so much so that even horror movie veteran’s, who know a scare is coming, will be jumping when things continually pop out. The characters are all written as caricatures, purposely, and the cast is fairly effective as everyone’s game for the film’s tone. Front and center is Alison Lohman and she gives her character a believable sense of naivety and general terror when witch women or shadow’s begin beating her around mercilessly. She plays it straight for the most part but finally begins to give more tongue in cheek performance as the film heads towards its conclusion. Lorna Raver gives a fun gooey performance, as Ms. Ganush the gypsy who curse’s Christine, and harkens back to Raimi’s witch demons from Army of Darkness. Justin Long isn’t given much to do than look supporting then look concerned. The rest of the cast in mostly window dressing for a devilishly fun ride that manages to do so many things at once that you’ll never question Sam Raimi’s ability to make his audience multitask.

B+