#5: Drag Me to Hell (2009)
Something I could not wait to get my hands on was Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell. It's not often that I refer to a film as belonging to a specific actor or director, as I feel that most of the credit goes to the screenwriter. People will ask, "hey did you see Leonardo DiCaprio's new flick?" and I'll respond (smugly), "it's hardly his. He was just the fortunate asshole who gets paid obscene sums of money to do the least amount of work on the set and claim all of the glory." But Drag Me to Hell belongs to Raimi. Legend has it that he and his brother came up with the story as part of a writing exercise to get the juices flowing when they were working on Darkman. Production was put off for years while Raimi was busy becoming a household name with the Spider-Man films (not going to rant about Spidey 3, not going to rant about Spidey 3, go to my happy place, go to my happy place...) Raimi's been something of an inspiration to me; Army of Darkness is probably the reason that I wanted to make movies in the first place. The blend of comedy and horror/action made me realize that there were people out there, outside of my insignificant home town, who were like me. Guys like Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell who made movies on the weekends with their cheap home video cameras who delighted in rubber skeletons and slapstick humor. It is so good to see him out of the spandex scene and back in horror.
The action revolves around a bank employee who denies an old gypsy woman a repayment extension and is cursed for it. Not "you're a bitch" cursed, mind you, rather "you will suffer the eternal hellfires" cursed. The story is straightforward as the woman has a series of terrifying experiences and learns of the occult in an effort to free herself from the curse. Between this and Psycho, I can't see how a young woman would ever want to work in a bank.
The film starts with the old 80's Universal logo, a nod to the best era for horror movies and the decade that gave us Evil Dead. A nice touch, and one that reminds us that this isn't going to be one of those current capture-torture-disembowel horror flicks like Texas Chainsaw Massacre 6. There might just be some value to this production. The movie itself is reminiscent of Evil Dead in a number of spots, particularly the way that humans possessed by demons look and flail about. There's also the trademark Raimi Quick Cuts – a series of one second long takes during scenes of terror that takes us through an action quickly and emulate the adrenaline rush that the characters must be feeling. It's a beautiful thing and it doesn't cost a dime.
Nice segue into the effects. Too much CGI, as is always the case with movies these days. It's reportedly much cheaper than real, physical special effects. I really wasn't expecting that from Sam Raimi, who cut his film making teeth figuring out how to make demons melt and hands revolt against their owners. My girlfriend described the CGI as "cartoony," and I tend to agree. I feel like CGI should only be used when absolutely necessary. The creeping shadows on the walls? Hmm, if only there was something that cast its own shadow in the presence of a light source. ... oh yeah, EVERYTHING does that!
My only other complaint is that the twist ending is painfully obvious fifteen minutes before the conclusion. I am usually every filmmaker's dream audience member – I'll believe anything and hardly ever connect the dots until the film spells it out for me. But I saw the ending coming a mile away. It was so obvious that I thought it was an intentional misdirection. It wasn't.
For fans of the Evil Dead trilogy (the "trilogy," not the "franchise" which has grown to include terrible video games, godawful comic books, and lunch boxes that have never housed anyone's lunch), you owe it to yourself to see Drag Me to Hell. It has a definite classic appeal and gives me hope that we might see another couple of decent horror movies produced within my lifetime. It'll get you in the spirit of the season if nothing else. It's out on DVD and whatever that other format is called today.
Z-man sez: 7/10
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