This frenetic, endlessly entertaining film sees Sam Raimi going back to his roots and having an absolute ball doing what many would say he does best.
DRAG ME TO HELL opens in Pasadena, where a Mexican couple take their young son to a medium. Following the theft of jewelry from a band of gypsies, the little boy has been plagued by sights and sounds of a demonic nature, and the power from beyond the grave is sufficient to defeat his would-be saviour.
40 years later, ambitious loan officer Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) is vying for promotion with her backstabbing co-worker, and hopes to demonstrate she's as tough as nails by turning down a mortgage extension by a down-on-her-luck gypsy who begs her for another chance. Christine just about survives a terrifying assault when the gypsy mounts a revenge attack, and finds her problems have only just begun as a series of physical and visual manifestations propel her towards the medium who must once again do battle with the forces of darkness.
With a multitude of 'JUMP' moments, and a nice mixture of gross-out horror and pure slapstick, DRAG ME TO HELL scores highly on entertainment with its breathless style rampaging through a remarkably quick 99m running time. Depending on your mood, you'll either be rooting for the main players or hoping they get their just deserts as almost every member of the cast is driven by greed and self-advancement. I have to say I enjoyed every minute, and we even get a nice old school nod to the classic NIGHT OF THE DEMON towards the end.
Lionsgate's Blu-ray contains 2 versions of this film, including the 'Unseen'version which adds several snippets not seen at the cinema; mostly extra blood during the scenes where she squirts blood from her nose, and is covered by the gypsy's brain matter.
Overall, this is one of the best Blu-ray transfers I've seen to date, and it's hard to find any problems regarding picture quality. Fleshtones are wonderfully vivid, and colours repeatedly pop, while night-time scenes reveal bags of detail.
Fingers crossed it won't be too long before Raimi hooks up with horror again.
"This frenetic, endlessly entertaining film sees Sam Raimi going back to his roots and having an absolute ball doing what many would say he does best."
ReplyDeleteWhat a great way to start off this review and I certainly felt this way after having seen it. After the depressing debacle that was SPIDER-MAN 3, I think that making DRAG ME TO HELL was exactly what Raimi needed to cleanse the palette and recharge the batteries as it were. For so long he seemed to be only producing horror films so it was great to see him finally direct one after all this time!
I'm with J.D. on this being the cleanser for SPIDER-MAN 3. This was one of the most entertaining movies I saw all of last year. Great review, Steve. Thanks for this.
ReplyDeleteThank you, JD. Sam's directorial return to the genre is a real treat indeed.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Michael. SPIDER-Man 3 is a real mess, but he got this one right and the love shines through.
Glad to hear you dug this as well. I thought it was a real blast and a terrific return to form for Raimi!
ReplyDeleteCheers, Jeremy. Let's hope Sam sticks with horror for a while and gives us another treat in the not-too distant.
ReplyDeleteThanks, my friend. Glad you enjoyed it.