Day 357: Drag Me To Hell

Drag Me To Hell 

This poster is one dragon away from being a heavy metal album cover

Sam Raimi's career is quite impressive when you look at it. From humble beginnings directing low-budget horror movies like Evil Dead and Army Of Darkness, Sam Raimi has become a household name by directing summer blockbusters like Spider-Man and Oz: The Great and Powerful. Not content with just directing, Raimi writes, produces, and even acts in a myriad of movies. His career helps legitimize the horror genre and shows young directors that anything is possible. While he has moved onto other genres, Raimi is most beloved for his work in horror. His incorporation of humor, special effects, and old-school style scares have created multiple classics. After his work on the Spider-Man movies, no one would have blamed him from staying away from horror movies. That's why a roar of approval came from the horror community when Raimi announced that he was writing and directing a new horror movie.

Drag Me To Hell is a 2009 supernatural horror movie written and directed by Sam Raimi (Evil Dead, Spider-Man) with writing help from his brother, Ivan Raimi. The film stars Alison Lohman (Gamer, Beowulf) as loan officer Christine Brown. Christine lives a fairly normal life in Los Angeles with her boyfriend Clay (Justin Long, Jeepers Creepers, Dodgeball) while trying to get a promotion as the bank she works in. Christine is insecure about her humble farm upbringing as well as her previous weight. One day, an elderly woman named Sylvia Ganush (Lorna Raver, The Caller, Breaking Waves) comes into the bank and asks Christine for another extension on her mortgage. Christine informs Ganush that she has already received two extensions, but asks her boss Jim Jacks (David Paymer, Mr. Saturday Night, State and Main) what he thinks. Jim leaves the decision up to Christine and, knowing her promotion depends on it, denies Ganush the lone. She makes a scene, begging Christine to reconsider. Scared, Christine calls security and Ganush is deeply shamed and insulted. That night, when Christine gets into her car, Ganush is waiting in the backseat and a fight ensues. She rips a button off Christine's coat and places a curse on her. After the attack, Christine and Clay meet with a fortune teller named Rham Jas (Dileep Rao, Avatar, Inception) to get her fortune read. Rham sees that she is haunted by an evil demon spirit and asks her to leave. Over the next few days, Christine is haunted by the demon known as the Lamia who is now after her soul. Christine goes to Ganush's house to try get her to remove the curse, but it is revealed that she has died. Desperate to stop the attacks, Christine kills her pet kitten to appease the demon, but it does not work. With the help of Rham, Christine has a séance with Shaun San Dena (Adriana Barraza) who has tried and failed to defeat the Lamia once before. The séance does not work and San Dena is killed in the process. Rham informs Christine that the only thing to save her now is to give her cursed button to someone else, passing the curse onto them. Will Christine be able to free herself before she is dragged to hell?

Robbing graves is still more respected than being a banker

Drag Me To Hell may be the first movie during this entire year where I was legitimately conflicted about my feelings. The movie had plenty of things I liked, but a good amount of things that I didn't. Normally, when there's something I don't like in a movie, whether it's a plot hole or a stupid scene, I can just write it off and move on. With Drag Me To Hell, the scenes I didn't like were actually done well and I couldn't just say “Oh that's stupid” and continue watching. A lot of these scenes revolve around the movie's humor. Some label the movie as a “horror comedy” but I think calling it a comedy is too far of a stretch. The jokes in the movie are very much in line with the humor from the Evil Dead series: gory over-the-top violence with improbably situations and clever one-liners. My problem with the humor in the movie is in the execution. The jokes tend to pop up out of nowhere, killing the actual horror. One good example is during the séance when the demon spirit is put into a goat. The evil goat then proceeds to talk and say dirty words. It's kind of funny, but not exactly a kneeslapper. More importantly, it renders the fear in the scene useless. It's a good, scary scene that turns into a goof off. Then there's scenes that are just plain silly, like when Christine's nose starts to bleed and then sprays all over her boss. It was just too random and unnecessary for my tastes, but it was still executed well. The movie takes a decidedly Evil Dead-esque turn towards the end which will delight fans of those movies, but may confuse the casual viewer. A scene in a graveyard has a strange cheapness to it unseen in the rest of the movie, using an obvious set with a green screen as the background? Again, it's not a bad scene, it's just jarring for the movie to just change like that.

The story itself is good, if a bit predictable. A gypsy is wronged and places a horrible curse on someone. Sound like another movie that I reviewed? How about Stephen King's Thinner? Sure the details are different, but the basic premise is similar. Even the big surprising ending reminded me of Thinner. Speaking of the ending, I found it a little disappointing and rather bothersome. It would have actually been nice to get the happy ending we were teased with. Instead, we get an ending that felt rushed and convenient. Raimi gets to flex his horror muscles once again, creating a spooky atmosphere and using lots of old and new tricks to get scares. The movie properly mixes current special effects and traditional effects that will entertain all types of horror fans. Alison Lohman is a good scream queen and would do well in other horror movies. Justin Long is fine though I still prefer him in comedy roles. Lorna Raver is very creepy as the gypsy Sylvia Ganush and helps make the movie far more scarier than you would expect. 

You complete me

Overall, Drag Me To Hell is a fun horror movie with a few problems. The humor feels out of place to me which really kills the horror. It's not bad humor, it just doesn't feel right. It's always difficult to balance horror and humor, but I think Drag Me To Hell should have just stuck with the horror. The acting is good and the directing is solid. Fans of Raimi's work will have a lot of fun from start to finish. Those unaccustomed to his brand of horror and humor will still enjoy the movie, but may be a little put off by how the movie jumps from horror to humor too quickly. The special and traditional effects are both good and the horror is fairly enjoyable. It's a good watch, but with a few tweaks, it could have been great.

7.5/10

Day 192: Evil Dead 2

Evil Dead 2

Never lose your smile, kid

Horror has come a long way in the past 30 or so years. What was once relegated to the corners of local video stores and only talked about amongst your two or three friends has become a global cash cow. There are now film festivals, video games, clothing, and action figures dedicated solely to horror. These are all great things, but horror's rise in popularity also brings about the rise in elitists. Thanks to internet anonymity, every website has it's share of elitists, trolls, and trouble makers who feel the need to ruin everyone's fun. I always have a fear when doing a review that some mega-nerd will unleash their nerd wrath upon me. I can practically hear their chubby, Cheetos-encrusted fingers angrily typing away that I forgot to mention a crucial part in a movie or that I wrote an incorrect date. This goes double for reviewing a classic horror movie, but I won't let some mouth breathers keep me from doing what I like to do.

Evil Dead 2 is a 1987 horror comedy directed by Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead, Spider-Man) and starring Bruce Campbell (Bubba Ho-Tep, The Evil Dead) as Ash Williams. Ash and his girlfriend Linda (Denise Bixler) take a vacation to a supposedly abandoned cabin in the woods. Ash plays a recording from a Professor Knowby that recites passages from the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, The Book Of The Dead. The incantation unleashes an evil force that possesses Linda and turns her into a murderous zombie. Ash decapitates her and buries her body in the woods. He is briefly possessed, but the morning sun returns him to normal. He tries to make a run for it, but the bridge that leads to the main road has been demolished. When he returns to the cabin, his hand becomes possessed and tries to kill him. He cuts off the possessed hand and tries to deal with a cabin possessed by evil spirits. At the same time, Professor Knowby's daughter Annie (Sarah Berry) arrives at the cabin, along with her boyfriend Professor Ed Getley and two locals, Jake and Bobby Joe. Annie has brought along missing pages from the Necronomicon in hopes of translating them. They mistake Ash for a criminal and throw him into the cellar. Annie listens to more of the recording which explains that her mother Henrietta had become possessed, forcing her father killed her and buried her in the basement. A demonic Henrietta rises from the cellar and attacks Ash. He is able to escape the cellar and the group traps Henrietta. Members of the group soon become possessed or killed by various spirits, leaving Ash and Annie. To battle the spirits, Ash grabs a shotgun and attaches a chainsaw to his stump. That's right, a chainsaw. How will they be able to stop the evil spirits from coming into this world and how will they survive?

Groovy, indeed

While technically a sequel to The Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2 incorporates many scenes and the same basic story as the original Evil Dead. Whereas the first movie focused more on horror, Evil Dead 2 goes off in a slightly different direction, focusing more on comedy and special effects. That's not to say there aren't some scary moments, because there certainly are, but you can tell that they wanted more jokes. If you know that going in, you'll enjoy it far more than expecting to see a straight-forward sequel. The story moves fast, almost too fast in parts. Within the first 10 minutes or so, Linda has already been possessed and killed and the bridge is out. It takes horror movies a good half hour to get to that point. Because of this speed, it may be difficult for people to follow, especially if they haven't seen the first Evil Dead.

Bruce Campbell is wonderfully over-the-top and a bit hammy, which helps play up the humor aspect of the movie. This movie is really where Bruce Campbell became “Bruce Campbell”. The supporting cast does well in their roles, but the true support comes from the special effects. Evil Dead 2 employs a vast array of filming tricks and movie magic. Sam Raimi uses various creative camera angles and shots that keep the movie interesting without overdoing it. The special effects range from traditional makeup and prosthetics to animation and blue screen technology. The effects are so numerous that at times it feels like Sam Raimi was saying “What else can I do?” The monsters have lots of detail and are pretty terrifying. The movie has a lot of action and a good amount of blood. If you've seen the first movie, you'll catch plenty of references and similar scenes that will make you smile knowingly.

Donal Trump looks terrible

Some may call Evil Dead 2 a satire of earlier horror movies, but if anything it's a loving tribute that is both scary and fun. Whether it's a sequel or a remake, the movie does justice for the original Evil Dead. If you haven't seen the first movie, it may be a little difficult to follow the movie at first due to it's fast pace, but don't let that discourage you. Evil Dead 2 is a great example of creative film making and horror movie magic. The special effects and makeup are great and Bruce Campbell's performance is just plain fun. The movie has a lot of comedy, which I wasn't expecting. I would have been happy with a straightforward horror movie, but I still enjoyed it. Hopefully this review will not garner the rage of a thousand sweaty neckbeards. After all, it's just one man's opinion.

8.5/10