While I was lucky enough to be one of the first audiences to see Sam Raimi's big return to horror in Drag Me to Hell (read the review), both Tim Anderson and David Harley had a chance to check the film out this past weekend at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas. Anyone who has been snooping around the web would see that everyone is raving about Raimi's film that takes on the curse of one Alison Lohman. Beyond the break you can now read David Harley's thoughts on Universal's latest horror pic hitting theaters this May. I think it's safe to say this will be one of the year's best.
(Note: The version I saw was a work in progress)
The idea of the comeback is always great in theory, but rarely does it ever deliver on what it promises. George Romero, dubbed the “King of the Zombies,” delivered the lackluster Land of the Dead and the hugely disappointing Diary of the Dead – which was supposed to be his true triumphant return, considering the low-budget nature of the project – after leaving fans waiting 20 years for another zombie film. John Carpenter, who consistently made great films from the late 70s to the early 90s, has only managed to crank out one kinda fun film since In the Mouth of Madness, his love letter to H.P. Lovecraft. Dario Argento, the Italian maestro who’s influenced countless directors worldwide, finally completed his Three Mothers trilogy in 2007 and while it was the bloodiest film of his career, it was definitely one of his dumbest. In other words, as horror fans, we’re constantly let down by once great directors who have just flat-out lost their golden touch.
Now, Sam Raimi hasn’t exactly fallen from grace as much as he’s been making our spider senses tingle rather than our spines. He’s been wetting his beak in other genres, from crime capers to sports dramas, but aside from The Gift, a southern gothic tale that is more of a supernatural mystery than anything really, he hasn’t made any thing that could be considered a horror film since Evil Dead 2. But, watching everything he’s made in-between, you can see his proclivity towards horror. Doc Ock’s surgery room scene in Spider-Man 2 should instantly remind everyone of the Evil Dead series: the action is fast, the cameras are invasive and the atmosphere is ominous. After Spider-Man 3, I think everyone was pleasantly surprised that he wanted to return to the genre that permanently engraved him into the hearts and minds of film geeks everywhere. Drag Me To Hell is THE horror comeback of the decade. For a director who’s been out of the horror business for so long, it’s incredible to see him jump right back into the game with that much gusto and knock it out of the ballpark. It’s almost like he never left.
Alison Lohman plays Christine, a loan officer on the verge of a promotion. In order to prove to her boss that she can make “the tough decisions” and deserves the assistant manager position, she decides to deny the extension on Mrs. Ganush’s (Lorna Raver) home. Feeling like she was shamed for groveling and still not getting anywhere, Mrs. Ganush exacts revenge on Christine and curses her with the mother of all curses, which causes a goat-like demon called the Lamia to follow her around for 3 days before dragging her to hell. The plot doesn’t attempt to be complex or metaphorical; it’s essentially Thinner meets Poltergeist and at a brisk 96 minutes, it has about 15 minutes of setup, 81 minutes of non-stop horror-comedy insanity, and absolutely no filler whatsoever.
Right from the beginning, you know Drag Me To Hell is a Raimi film. The opening sequence has a small boy being taken to Shaun San Dena (Adriana Barraza), a powerful medium who attempts to de-curse him. Then, BAM, people are being tossed around like ragdolls by an unseen force and Peter Deming’s cinematography goes to work, full force. Deming hasn’t worked with Raimi since Evil Dead 2 and considering that the nature of many of the scenes in Drag closely mirror those from the classic ’87 film, this was the perfect project for them to collaborate on again.
The scene where Christine is attacked by Mrs. Ganush in her car is a great example of how well Raimi can utilize horror and comedy in the same scene. Staplers are slammed into foreheads, rulers are crammed down throats, faces are gummed – as opposed to bitten – and the use of shadows manages to cloak a hideous face just long enough to elicit a jump, maybe even a scream, from those watching. These are ideas that seem ordinary on paper but when you have someone who knows what they’re doing in the director’s chair, even the simplest things turn into something special with the right visual interpretation. This scene is the equivalent of Ash warding off his possessed decapitated hand in Evil Dead 2 – which, in turn, means that it’s influenced by Crimewave since that’s where Raimi hit his stride with slapstick humor – or fighting himself and skeleton hands in Army Of Darkness. Drag even goes full-on Looney Tunes in one scene involving an anvil. The pure horror moments are also exceptionally executed. The séance scene, in particular, is pure Evil Dead, with the Lamia possessing different bodies and turning them into cackling deadites.
There’s a lot of really cool influences on display in Drag, the most interesting being a scene where Christine does a little bit of digging in a cemetery. Upon opening up a coffin, heavy rain begins to fill the grave while she tries to crawl her way out of it and push off the floating dead body. It’s a well-executed modernization of the scene in Poltergeist where JoBeth Williams is stuck in her emptied, muddied pool. The film prominently displays its Asian influence by having this powerful malevolent force that keeps on coming no matter what measures are taken against it, which makes sense considering the work Raimi has done with the Pang Brothers and The Grudge series through his Ghosthouse banner. The film culminates in a Twilight Zone inspired third act that is one of the ballsiest things I’ve seen a major studio allow to be in a horror production in quite a while.
Boasting great performances, a well-used mixture of practical and CGI effects and a fun, but familiar, story, Drag Me To Hell is a film that’ll have you jumping out of your seat and laughing simultaneously. I think it’s going to change a lot of people’s minds about the worth of a PG-13 horror film (an argument I never really understood to begin with, since it’s the quality and not the rating that makes something a worthwhile watch), based on its ability to use goo instead of blood effectively and create an atmosphere that makes what’s on-screen feel much worse than it actually is – the mark of an excellent filmmaker. But, above all else, Drag Me To Hell is going to stop people from whining about a new Evil Dead whenever Raimi announces his next horror film.
The trailer alone looks badass. I am extremely pumped for this movie it looks like just a really fun horror film. I hope this movie is huge and makes Sam relize that he should stick with horror for a little bit again. Cause we really dont need another spiderman again. I know its wishful thinkin but evildead 4 would be so key right now. I agree to an extent with what Bruce said about wanting an indy 4. However Bruce and same are not nearly as old as Harrison and steven. They should really put it into high gear and make it happen, regardless really stoaked about Drag me to hell.
Hopefully its actually good and not just fanboys gushing since its sam raimi.
Trailer makes it look like cliche hollywood dribble. Hopefully end product proves not to be though.
Yeah well I've seen some of the other films disgusting has praised and advocated. And they ain't so good. The trailer was pretty terrible and unless they recasted and refilmed that old hermit ladies parts then I think this movie will be bad. Raimi sucks, it's true and I know the evil dead films are considered great they aren't scary great they are great because bruce campbell is in them. I'm calling shenanigans on all the positive reviews. People think Raimi is making it so it must be good.
Yeah well I've seen some of the other films disgusting has praised and advocated. And they ain't so good. The trailer was pretty terrible and unless they recasted and refilmed that old hermit ladies parts then I think this movie will be bad. Raimi sucks, it's true and I know the evil dead films are considered great they aren't scary great they are great because bruce campbell is in them. I'm calling shenanigans on all the positive reviews. People think Raimi is making it so it must be good.
skrathcy........read the review again, the part that talks about quality as opposed to rating. Just because the film is rated pg-13 (if it even is) doesnt mean a thing. Too many people in the horror community worry about the movies rating, ive seen more R rated crap fests than pg-13, I have no problem with pg-13, everyone always forgets the point of a horror film to to scare you, not how much nudity, gore and kills are packed into an hour and a half, anyone can do that crap. Raimi knows suspense, the lifeblood of the horror film.
David, you work/do reviews for BD and the PG-13 thing is "argument I never really understood to begin with, since it’s the quality and not the rating that makes something a worthwhile watch".
if you don't understand that, i don't trust or rely on your reviews/assessments for HORROR movies anymore. i mean, come on.
that being said, i STILL am looking forward to this movie, BECAUSE it's not the type of movie that calls for gore (hint hint DAVID). PG-13 horror movies are fine if gore & grue isn't part of the particular type of horror movie it is. when a "slasher" is watered down to PG-13 (for $ only) you are going to say you don't understand our outrage?!!!!
comfycasket, read my above post. THAT'S why many of us DO NOT appreciate/like PG-13 "horror" movies. DRAG ME TO HELL does not require gore or even nudity. if PROM NIGHT (abysmal and a joke) at least had some gore considering it's a slasher/thriller than maybe i would've had more respect for it's attempt. i do not need gore in all horror movies. but do not insult us horror fans who want movies made for ADULTS and NOT tweens. get it?
Ok, but what you're saying is that Prom Night needed to be R-rated and that's what its problem was. Its lack of gore is the least of my worries. It had terrible acting, a dumb story and even dumber characters. I'm not trying to say that I don't want R-rated horror films, I'm saying that hating this movie (or any other) before you see it because it's not R-rated is stupid. I guess every old school horror flick should have used buckets of blood instead of subtlety and atmosphere to get its point across. It seems like you got my point but misunderstood me?
Dissin on Romero, Argento, and Carpenter to pump Raimi up? Come on, that's almost as pathetic as the Spider-Man movies. Diary and Mother of Tears are under-rated, and Carpenter's Cigarette Burns "Masters of Horror" episode was tops. Raimi hasn't been a good director since he became budgeted, but at least he's willing to return to the horror genre.
I liked Prom Night. Yall wack. That was a dark and depressing film. She stopped talking her meds so she could "remember everything that happens tonight..." and everyone dies. lol
anyway, I love gore but not every film needs it. Why so many reviews for a movie that isnt even finished anyway?
I hope this is good. I hate f'kin spiderman. I just hope this isn't a pg13 spidey style movie. Why is it so hard to make a R rated movie. I want blood not goo. I'll go watch this; I hope it's good.
PG-13 horror movies aren't bad, it's just the majority of recent PG-13 horror movies tend to roll down that side of the mountain. An example of a good PG-13 horror movie(from the last 20+ years, would be Poltergeist 2(the first one was PG, yet still had some creepy moments). Another would be The Gate. If you haven't seen The Gate(childhood fave), man, there's a nice amount of melting faces, eye sockets being stabbed and such, and the majority of the cast were kids(probably why they aimed it as PG-13). Though you kinda wonder that film makers aren't as daring as they were back then. Sometime between the late 80s and now, society's grown a moral stick up their ass and everybody's afraid of offending. So if this movie could do it's job, which means scare the crap out of you, and still be a PG-13 movie, that's fine. Ratings should have nothing to do with horror unless you JUST want to see pointless tits and gore.
Not sure how I feel about this one yet. The trailer looks ok and that old lady does not look scary at all. I also read nothing but praise and good reviews for Trick ‘r Treat, and what happened, I was disappointed. I expected so much more or maybe just a different movie overall, not sure. So I’m kind of skeptical after seeing this trailer and reading your review. I love Sam Raimi’s films, so I will give this one a shot anyway, even though I’m not too excited for it. And to all the other directors you said that just flat-out lost their golden touch, it’s so not true. I love their films, including the new ones. So…as a “horror fan”, I am not constantly let down by once great directors.
I'm HAPPY that Raimi finally got back to horror! The trailer for this movie though, doesn't really do anything for me. I'm not passing judgment yet, I'll wait to see the film first. I just can't believe the people here. All of you (with the exception of a few)think that just because Raimi is making, it must be the best Horror film ever. I just hope it's better than the spidey flicks!! P.S. Diary of the Dead was awesome!!
Horrorholic, don't get me wrong. i completely agree that the atmospheric movies (like THE FOG...Carpenter's version of course! LOL) rule. i don't need blood and head chopped off all over the place. i really don't. i just get perturbed when (and i'm not saying you!) people don't understand why some of us are SO insulted/sick of adult R rated HORROR movies are watered down to PG-13 ONLY because they want more $. i understand movies aren't cheap to make and need to make back $ but.....well, you know.
Oh noOOooooo!!! I was interested in seeing this film, but PG-13 means hordes of screaming kids on cell phones!!! :) I guess I'll just have to scream unexpectedly during a quiet part to scare the sh!t out of them. :) About the film.... the trailer does look cool, and I can't wait to see it.
Like most folks I am very interested to see Raimi's return to the horror genre.
However I'm still going to have to jump on the PG-13 horror hate bandwagon.
There have been a handfull of notable PG-13 horror titles in the past; as mentioned poltergiest, the gate, gremlins. Also off the top of my head jaws, critters & ghoulies are now rated PG-13 in the states I believe (yes I realise I just mentioned jaws in the same sentence as critters and ghoulies ;P).
The only decent 'modern' PG-13 horror I can quickly think of is the american ring remake. Not saying there arent others, but it seems the current PG-13 horror films are 'safe' flacid and boring in comparison to the 80s horror mentioned above.
People say gore/nudity/swearing/mature themes don't necessarily need to be in a horror film, and I guess to an extent they are right. However it can't be denied that these are staples of the genre and fans want/expect these things, at least when your film is focussed on demonic possession & coming from one of the most famous horror directors of all time.
When I walk into a PG-13 horror my mind starts ruling out what isn't going to be in the film - No shocking gore moments, no real foul language, no nudity, children characters will be safe etc.
To me it pigeon holes the movie as to an extent I know what content the film will contain. This drops my suspense levels greatly as for me the biggest pull of horror movies is the exitement of what depraved scenario is going to come next...not the next jump scare or timid CGI effect.
Will watch this movie with an open mind but definately not jumping on the hype train this flick seems to be generating on the interwebs without seeing it myself.
Rant-tacular! =)
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