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Saturday, October 10, 2009
2nd Annual 24-Hour Blog-o-thon / News DVD review: Drag Me to Hell
Posted By Matt Brunson on Sat, Oct 10, 2009 at 1:00 AM
DRAG ME TO HELL (2009). The face of horror in modern cinema is, sad to say, torture porn, where sadism is exhibited with alarming regularity and imagination is only employed when the scripter conjures up gruesome new ways for characters to die. Because of this lamentable trend, it’s easy to sing the praises of this funhouse freak show that’s more interested in delivering old-fashioned chills than in wallowing in misogyny, masochism and mutilation. The story is so thin that the entire screenplay could have been written on a bubble gum wrapper, yet the end result is so delirious in its desire to delight that film fans willing to be jerked around won’t mind. Director Sam Raimi regains the playful prankster attitude he exhibited back in his Evil Dead days, crafting (with brother Ivan) this yarn about sweet-natured loan officer Christine Brown (Alison Lohman), who, in an ill-advised attempt to show her boss (David Paymer) that she’s able to make the “tough decisions,” denies the elderly Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver) a third extension on a loan, thus leaving her homeless. Angered, the gypsy woman places a curse on Christine, a jinx that will expose her to three days of supernatural hauntings before she’s ultimately ... well, check out that title. Drag Me to Hell isn’t exactly scary, and the climactic twist, straight out of vintage EC Comics, is telegraphed far too early in the narrative. But Lohman is ideally cast as a decent person who nevertheless must occasionally make some hard calls if she wants to survive, and the brothers Raimi get a lot of mileage out of Mrs. Ganush as a formidable adversary. Forget Jason and Freddy and Jigsaw — it’s the thought of this old woman gumming a viewer to death that might make it difficult to turn out the lights.
The DVD includes both the PG-13 theatrical version and an unrated director’s cut (which actually runs 10 seconds shorter than the theatrical take). The only extras are a 35-minute behind-the-scenes featurette and theatrical trailers for other titles.
Movie: ***
Extras: **
Read the full-length review of the film here.
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