Sam Raimi has not directed a horror movie since The Evil Dead trilogy, ending with The Army of Darkness. His style is a mixture of humor and scares. And, it’s done so on purpose and with style. Drag Me to Hell is no exception. It has it’s scary moments, and some humor, but not as much as I thought. You may smile or laugh because of the blood-squirting and slime-splashing that is involved. The gross-out factor.
But it’s scary. It’s an “old school” scary by using music and loud noises. And Raimi likes using people instead of EFX. I think he enjoys dressing actors up and putting hideous make-up on them. Credit must go to the cast that Raimi was able to put together. The story is interesting, but it becomes better because of Alison Lohman. And she has some help from Justin Long, who could have easily played a dumb and useless boyfriend, but does not.
Christine Brown (Lohman) is a loan officer who wants a pr0motion very badly. And to help with this, she makes the decision to deny an extension on Mrs. Ganush’s home loan. Mrs. Ganush begs and pleads with Christine, but she wants to impress her boss, so she sticks with her decision. This becomes the worst decision she ever made.
As the story goes, Christine is cursed and she and her boyfriend, Clay Dalton (Long), must find a way to get rid of this curse or possibly give the curse to some one else. Of course, Clay is not buying in to all of this, but he loves Christine so he goes with it. And trust me when I tell you he changes his view.
Lohman steals the show. She replaced Ellen Page and it’s funny how things worked out because I can’t imagine Ellen Page playing this role. Christine can be sweet and kind-hearted, but can be ruthless. She is a tough girl, especially when you see all the hell she is put through. So, Lohman must change as her character changes and she does it so well.
Sam Raimi is seen by many as a master of horror. I’m not quite sure about that because there are scarier movies out there. But Raimi is good at making his version of a scary movie. A movie that delivers on scares and he will make sure it’s disgusting for everyone as well. It’s a scary movie that’s fun.
Drag Me to Hell does exactly that. It delivers on scares and it is disgusting. But it’s entertaining and keeps you interested almost the whole time, even if you think you know what’s coming next.
Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association and the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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