|
|
| Editorial Reviews: |
|  |  | | Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) is on her way to having it all: a devoted boyfriend (Justin Long), a hard-earned job promotion, and a bright future. But when she?s forced to make a tough decision that evicts an elderly woman from her house, Christine becomes the victim of an evil curse. Now she has only three days to dissuade a dark spirit from stealing her soul before she is dragged to hell for an eternity of unthinkable torment. Director Sam Raimi (Spider-Man and The Evil Dead Trilogy) returns to the horror genre with a vengeance in the film that critics rave is ?the most crazy, fun and terrifying horror movie in years!? (Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly) | | | Touted as a return to Sam Raimi's horror-movie roots, Drag Me to Hell is indeed closer in spirit to the director's Evil Dead pictures than to his Spider-Man films. You got your gypsy gargoyles with rotted dentures, your upchucking corpses, your flexible two-way orifices--yes, Raimi's definitely back in the saddle. There's even a story: a sad loan officer (Alison Lohman) turns down the aforementioned denture-wearing gypsy for a loan extension, which leads to an evil curse and a date in hell in three days' time. A séance, an animal sacrifice, and a session in a storm-tossed graveyard will make the 72 hours pass very nervously, thank you, along with assorted scares. Justin Long plays Lohman's upper-class boyfriend, and Raimi fills the rest of the cast with some unusual and unfamiliar types. Along with the giddy horror-comedy that bursts out of the movie every 10 minutes or so, there's also an underlying mood of pity: Lohman's character is something of a hard-luck sad sack, who does enough wrong things to make her seem like a truly abject individual, well outside the heroic model of most multiplex offerings. (Lohman's own little-girl-lost quality adds to this feeling.) But don't let that get in the way of the fun-ride aspects of this goofy enterprise: Drag Me to Hell is a bunch of Z-movie gags wrapped in top-drawer production values. --Robert Horton
Stills from Drag Me to Hell (Click for larger image) | |
| Custom Reviews: | |
|
| | The film's real strength is its brisk pace. The action starts with a bang and rarely slows down, making for a very entertaining hour and a half (or so). The special effects are good, and scary, but not as extreme as Evil Dead. Of course the characters are cardboard and the plot thin, but this is a popcorn movie and it does what it is supposed to do very well. A strict, moralistic message underlies the plot, but that's not uncommon in horror. Overall, a scary and entertaining mainstream horror film.
| | Acting Flawless & Plot Corny | |
| | ** out of ****
Sam Raimi returns to the genre he helped bring back to life with Evil Dead 1 and 2. This time, a whopping 20 years after his departure from the horror movie (Army of Darkness; admittedly more of a comic-book yarn), Raimi brings the same approach he already invented with those movies aforementioned. The plot is quite ridiculous, even childish. Though, the only virtue this movie boasts is its fine, subtle acting -- quite superior to what we are accustomed to in horror movies. This may be Justin Long's finest performance to date, and Lohman makes good use of her quirky cuteness. That said, nearly everything else is phony, starting with Raimi's so-called SCARES! Never during this hour-and-a-half long film was I the least bit apprehensive, rather bored. And where is the humor? Where is Raimi's zaniness? If the movie made a better effort to employ these Raimi-characteristics, I would be more enthusiastic in my review. There were also numerous gaps in logic that tormented me: The most obtrusive being when Lohman's psychic informed her at the very end that she should give away her button as a gift as to thwart the demonic curse set on her. Why the hell he didn't tell her that at the very beginning is beyond my ability to fathom. Another absurd incident was when Lohman was packing in her garage. The gypsy bursts out of the wall and shoves her arm down Lohman's throat (why?), reminiscent of a scene in Peter Jackson's Dead Alive. Lohman then grabs a skate and cuts a rope tied to an anvil hanging from the ceiling, which falls on the gypsy, causing her eyes and brain matter to shoot out in Lohman's face. How many women have anvils, especially hanging from their ceiling?
As the closing credits rolled, I couldn't help but feel ripped off, like a kid promised a real scare by the ticket seller but instead leaves the ride with a wedgie and gum stuck to his shoe.
| | | How could anyone not watch a movie with a title like 'Drag me to Hell'? Yes, the overall plot has been done to death [pardon the pun], with a beautiful young person exposed to a deadly curse. Yes, the special effects are unbelievable, ridiculous and disgusting, but still the film held my attention.
A lovely young woman has been cursed for not extending a loan to the WRONG person. I think the moral of the story is that if you should happen to be a loan officer, never-ever turn down a loan to a disgusting-looking gypsy woman. It's a mistake that can lead to bodily attacks, slime in the mouth and an incurable curse.
Our cursed heroine goes through it all--knock down brawls with an ancient gypsy woman; mouthfuls of embalming fluid; nocturnal attacks by demons; a humiliating dinner with potential parents-in-laws; animal sacrifice; demonic seance and much, much, much more. It's quite a trip but, like I said, it held my attention. I must have been in just the right mood but I might think otherwise when I try to go to sleep tonight.
| | Laughing all the way to Hades | |
| | Other than seeing bits of Evil Dead 2 on tv years ago, I was unfamiliar with Sam Raimi's work. The trailer for Drag Me To Hell piqued my interest although in the back of my mind I thought it might turn out like every other forgettable horror flicks these days, recycling the same story over and over. I'm pleased to say that this film isn't like that.
Alison Lohman (whom you might remember from White Oleander and Matchstick Men) stars as Christine Brown, an insecure, mild mannered L.A. loan officer competing with a co-worker for a promotion. An elderly woman named Mrs. Sylvia Ganush (Lorna Raver) asks for a third extension on her mortgage payment and although Christine wants to help her out, she remembers a lecture from her boss about having to make tougher decisions if she wants to become the assistant manager. She refuses the extension even though Mrs. Ganush pleads for mercy on her hands and knees. Poor Christine discovers that payback is a- well, you know, when the old woman puts a curse on her. The poor thing has 3 days in which an ancient demonic spirit called the Lamia torments her before dragging her to hell. Fun, right? While doing her best to fight off the violent demon, Christine tries to undo the curse and save her soul from eternal damnation with the help of medium Rham Jas (Dileep Rao). Justin Long is excellent as Christine's boyfriend Clay. He's skeptical about the curse, but does everything he can to ease his girlfriend's fears.
The premise sound like a downer? It's not at all. While it's obviously based in horror, the movie has plenty of intentionally comedic moments. Trust me, you'll laugh more than you scream and it's a good thing. There's a possessed profane goat for crying out loud. Who doesn't love that? Best of all, the Lamia is one bad mutha. The first scenes prove that the demon spares no one. If you've got a curse on you, you'd better do all you can to save yourself. A soul is just plain dinner to that thing. Enjoy.
| | | Horror fans will not be disappointed. Especially if you view the "unrated" version. This is a very effective horror film. A female loan officer ( Christine Brown ) at a bank is cursed by a disposessed old gypsy woman when the loan officer refuses an extention on her mortgage. What ensues is a desperate race against time as Christine tries to stop the course of the gypsy's curse. She has three days to try to stop it, before she is "dragged to hell" for eternity. She is attacked viciously by a shadowy demonic figure, and suffers some very nasty afflictions, including facing horrible ghostly transfigurations of the gypsy woman. The acting is surprisingly excellent and you are drawn into the nightmare by the believable terror created by the actors. This will keep you on the edge of your seat. It also has an appropriately horrific ending..., though some people may wish the ending was different..., it fits well with the overall theme of the movie.
- Mike Silverman
| |
|
|
Home
View Cart
Bookmark This Page
Contact Us
