Arriving on both DVD and Blu-ray next Tuesday from Universal Home Entertainment is Sam Raimi's triumphant return to horror with Drag Me to Hell. David Harley got an advance copy of the Blu-ray and dropped his thoughts below. I can't wait to pick this up! The film follows a loan officer (Alison Lohman) who is ordered to evict an old woman from her home and finds herself the recipient of a supernatural curse that turns her life into a living hell. Desperate, she turns to a seer to try and save her soul, while evil forces work to push her to a breaking point.
Earlier this year, I had the privilege of attending a workprint screening of Drag Me To Hell and had a blast. Between Raimi coming out to introduce the film and an actual bat flying around the Paramount Theatre in downtown Austin, TX, I don’t think I could’ve asked for better circumstances to see it under. And being a good mixture of laughs and scares, everyone else who had seen the movie up to that point agreed with me: it really was the best horror flick to come out in quite some time. Seeing it once again in the theatre and now twice on Blu-Ray before I sat down to write this, I can say without a doubt that I still feel the same way about it as I did back in March.
Universal’s 1080p/VC-1 transfer is flawless and among the best the studio has produced to date. Aside from a handful of older films that have gotten a shrug-worthy transfer (I’m looking at you Street Fighter!), Universal consistently produces top of the line video quality for their Blu-Rays. Since the film has a somewhat subdued color palate, the few bright colors that are sprinkled throughout the film really pop out, such as Christine’s yellow dress, hell fire and, of course, the gooey red stuff we love so much. In addition to the immense amount of detail and nuances that Deming’s cinematography showcases, blacks are particularly deep and skin tones are beautiful. In fact, the only thing that seems off with the transfer is the obvious CGI shots but that can be said for almost any film on Blu-Ray that has non-practical effects in it. Also registering off the charts is the DTS-HD 5.1 track, which manages to capture every shuffling hoof, gust of wind and blood-curdling scream in perfect clarity. Christopher Young’s score also gets top-notch representation on the track and is satisfactorily melded with dialogue and sound effects, none of which are ever fighting each other to see who can be the loudest.
The only downside to the Blu-Ray (and DVD) is that the only bonus feature is a ‘Production Video Diaries’ (35:08) extra, which is split up into several segments that deal with the various aspects of the production. Justin Long does a pretty decent job of hosting the diaries and helps move it along from topic to topic. A commentary is sorely missing from the disc, as are some more meaty supplementary materials. Universal also did this with the sublime Last House on the Left remake recently, which deserved better extra content than it got. Normally, I’d speculate that the reason for the mistreatment is because the film didn’t make enough bank but they loaded Death Race with more materials and interactive U-Control crap than they did Drag and that wasn’t exactly a huge draw. But with a film as good as Raimi’s return to horror, a fantastic transfer and soundtrack is more than enough reason to pick up the Blu-Ray as soon as possible.
Hey Dudes!
I haven't seen the Blu-ray yet, but I'd bet the "Unrated" footage is just more "kitten" stuff.
The version David and I saw back in March had a little extra "Kitten" stuff in it. It got trimmed for the theatrical release (we're talking less that 30 seconds of footage).
That'd be my best guess for what's back in.
-t-
If you're curious: The PG-13 "Theatrical Cut" features a gloomier gag for the 9 seconds longer it is. The "Unrated Director's Cut" just goes for the bloody throat. that one scene at 49:51 is the only difference it seems. Either way, I dig the movie.
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