Wednesday, January 28, 2009
By: MrDisgusting
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It's coming... Sam Raimi's big return to horror. You've been waiting 16 years for this and now on May 29th you'll get Drag Me to Hell, thanks to Universal Pictures. Last night I snuck into an early test screening of the film in Burbank, CA. Beyond the break you can read my early thoughts on the work-in-progress, which is an original tale of a young woman’s desperate quest to break an evil curse.
**Spoilers follow**
Sam Raimi, where have you been?
It has technically been 16 years since the legendary director has got behind the camera for a horror film. After ARMY OF DARKNESS failed to perform at the box office, the creator of THE EVIL DEAD franchise moved away from horror and into the mainstream fold. Now, after directing three SPIDER-MAN films and becoming one of the biggest names in the industry, Raimi has returned to the genre he started in.
While Raimi returned to horror with Universal Pictures’ DRAG ME TO HELL, I can’t say I was waiting with open arms. I felt wounded and insulted that we still haven’t received our EVIL DEAD 4 and didn’t understand why he’d do DRAG instead of another adventure of Ashley J. Williams. Therefore, my expectations were extremely low and I was convinced I’d be disappointed with his big return to horror. I was wrong.
Last night my curiosity got the best of me as I snuck into a test screening of DRAG ME TO HELL in Burbank, CA. To be clear, what I saw was a very early workprint of the film, which featured a temp score, unfinished effects, and was projected on a Digit Beta (yet to be color corrected). To put it simply, it’s far from completed. Still, even through all of the rough edges, Raimi proved that he is still a master filmmaker.
DRAG ME TO HELL was quite simply the most PERFECT horror film I’ve seen in a long, long while. Raimi stirs a delicious witches brew that blends gore, scares and fun into a perfect blend. The flavor of Raimi’s directing ability is brought out by masterful editing by Bob Murowski (Army of Darkness) as every scare is perfectly timed, every gag is delivered with a punch and all of the payoffs are perfectly executed.
HELL is like a comic book come to life that is full of color characters, crazy imagery and cheap gags that work every single time. Raimi plays around with the audience by using the gross-out factor to the max. For example, in one scene Alison Lohman starts bleeding from her mouth, and when she goes to cover it, blood shoots from her nose all over the place. Another great gag is the gypsy is constantly is losing her dentures and pushing her disgusting old mouth on things (like Alison’s face). Raimi fills the movie with these gross-out moments that keep the momentum burning from start to finish.
And for every bloody, gooey and disgusting scene, Raimi gives us an equally good scare. It has been a long, long time since I’ve experienced an authentic jump in a movie. Typically a director will have a cat jump on screen or have a character slam a door shut – something cheap to get you to jolt. Raimi hits us with a barrage of punches as I jumped ten feet out of my seat on two separate occasions. He proves that he is a master of horror and suspense and I recommend that any horror filmmaker wannabe (pretty much every horror director out there) watch this work to learn how to do it right.
Quite simply put, DRAG ME TO HELL was a blast and moved quickly from start to finish. Whether or not the acting is top notch, or if the story even makes sense is inconsequential so long as I’m gasping, jumping, laughing and cringing every step of the way. From what I saw, DRAG ME TO HELL is well on its way to becoming an immediate classic (considering they don’t f*ck up the finished version). The only question I was left with was, “Why isn’t this EVIL DEAD 4?”
Read 42 User Comments
Did they say when we can see a trailer? It's about the right time... |
I can't wait for this one. I still occasionally watch that one "car" clip. |
Gore? I definitely don't hate gore, but I thought this was gonna be PG-13? I didn't want it to be, but I thought I heard that. Also, how's Alison Lohman? I know you guys said good riddance to Ellen Page, but I couldn't disagree any more. LOL |
Wow!
This movie in entering in my radar pretty slowly, but stomping hard! |
Can't wait for this. It will be awesome! |
Hmm... Thought this was supposed to be PG13. I'm officially excited though.
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I was thinking this was going to be a stinker but after reading this article its starting to sound really good. Fingers crossed. |
Sounds cool. Like 2 c it. |
Wow. A PG-13 wankfest. Whoopee! Bring on the CGI. Raimi and Jackson are not horror guys. They did what they had to do in order to make the mass market schlock that makes big money nowadays. They made some awesome flicks, but now they make self indulgent mainstream movies. Gee, I hope this one has a 10 minute ice skating sequence with a digital monkey. Or maybe at the end of the movie the main bad guy that is made of sand (!) can just kind of fly away. Tell ya what, Sam- make like you're made of sand and fly away. |
Hm. I'm still pissed at Raimi for that Spider-Man 3 mess and not allowing Ash to be used for a Freddy Vs Jason sequel. The trailer is gonna have to really impress me to turn the other cheek. |
"Evil Dead" is one of my all time favorites but Raimi left my mind many years ago and his [so called] return to horror doesn't interest me in the least.I have no idea what it's about coz I didn't read the article but I image this is likely to be just like all that mainstream Ghost House bullshit. Sorry Sam you not going to Drag me to Hell. |
I hope they don't do a TRICK R' TREAT with this movie . Release it while people are interested and in need of that real horroe shit ! D |
Good to hear Raimi is back and still has the horror magic after all these years. But I feel the same way, " WHERE IS EVIL DEAD 4 ?" He could so easily do it and Bruce Campbell can still pull it off. Hurry before it's too late !! |
Thanks for the review, MD! Definitely looking forward to this! One caveat on your piece and people's desire for ED4 or its like...and some of this comes from hearing the fans ask Bruce Campbell questions at a screening: Why doesn't Raimi do something ED or ED-related? My guess is, why would a director keep directing the same movie over and over? B-O-R-I-N-G (and uncreative). Yes, I'm an ED fan and would love to see the franchise live on but I'd also be happy living with what we've been given and getting NEW stories and scares instead of the same-old stories simply revamped to current times. Why can't we all just be happy with what we've got? Quit bugging the guy about ED and just enjoy what he's newly creating. Leave the revamps, remakes and the like to people like Rob Zombie and Uwe Boll. ;) |
There are some other positive reviews out there on AintItCoolNews.I for one am looking forward to this, unlike some so called horror fans who have already declared this a PoS without even seeing a trailer. grow up. |
Can't wait to see this one. |
so far i like what i'm hearing. almost sounds like Fulci's THE BEYOND. i'm GLAD he did this film as opposed to another EVIL DEAD sequel (or worse... remake). i adore the EVIL DEAD series, but this constant pining for a fourth installment is bit ridiculous. and if it were to somehow happen, you know it wouldn't live up to your lofty expectations, and it would just be another thing to bitch about (LA TERZA MADRE for example). At least DRAG ME TO HELL is something fresh. |
"What's wrong with asking and wanting an ED 4 ?" The series is fine the way it is, but I'll bet if you took a survey, more people would like to see another installment with Ash back on the big screen after all these years. It's a classic series with a great character that would be alot of fun to see back. The "Pressure" or "pining" for this to happen is that Bruce is getting older. It would be a shame if they eventually do this with another actor for Ash. Raimi should be pleased and humbled so many people love what he created and want more of it. What more of a compliment can be made ? |
I can't wait to see this movie! Heard about it at Comic con and just knew that it was going to be good. It looks like it's going to be hillarious. Can't wait. |
sounds good...ill check this out when its released |
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