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 263: Jeepers Creepers

Jeepers Creepers

And now the song is stuck in your head forever

Stay on the highway. For the love of all that is good and holy, do not take the scenic route, do not take back roads, and do not stop. Of course, if people actually followed these common-sense rules, we'd lose hundreds of horror movies. Just like how horror characters just have to run upstairs to get away from a killer, they also have to take the most dangerous road possible, preferably in a car that is guaranteed to break down. These tropes and cliches are tried and true in the horror genre. The real challenge is to fill in all the details with something different or interesting.

Jeepers Creepers is a 2001 horror movie starring Justin Long (Dodgeball, Galaxy Quest) as Darry Jenner and Gina Philips (Dead And Breakfast, The Sick House) as his sister, Trish. The siblings are driving one the back-roads of Florida, heading home for Spring Break from college. Their 1960 Chevy Impala is run off the road by a large, rusted truck. Further down the road, they spot the truck parked outside of an old church. They see the driver, a hulking man who's face is obscured by a cowboy hat, dumping what appear to be bodies down a large pipe. The drive sees Trish and Darry and pursues them in his truck, attempting to run them off the road again. They escape and, at the insistence of Darry, double-back to the church. Darry climbs down the pipe on a rope, but Trish loses her grip and Darry falls into a small cavern. Inside, Darry discovers hundreds of dead bodies, all of which have been eviscerated and sewn back together. He is able to escape the cavern through the church and is traumatized by his experience. Trish takes Darry to a nearby gas station where they call the police. While waiting, they get a phone call from an unknown woman, warning them of what is to come. She plays the 1930's song “Jeepers Creepers” saying that when they hear that song, they are in terrible danger. The ignore her warning and join the police on the way to the church when the police receive word that the church is on fire. On the way, the police are attacked by the driver who eats the tongue out of one of the officer's decapitated head. The driver pursues Trish and Darry, but Trish hits him with her car repeatedly. To their surprise, the driver sprouts large bat-like wings. They drive to a local police station to wait for their parents when they meet Jezelle Hartman (Patricia Belcher, The Number 23, (500) Days Of Summer) the woman who warned them on the phone earlier. She explains that her dreams predict the future and that the driver is an ancient immortal demon known as The Creeper who feasts on human body parts to stay alive. The Creeper smelled something it liked on Trish or Darry and will stop until he gets what he wants. How will Trish and Darry survive?

Creeper is way better than his original name 'Pizza-Face Lipschitz'

Jeepers Creepers is a horror movie geared towards the high school and sleepover crowd more than the typical horror fan. That's not to say that the movie is low on scares or gore, because it's not, but the overall feel of the movie just doesn't feel like an adult movie. Perhaps it's the main characters, Trish and Darry, who's lack of maturity make the movie come off as something more suited for viewing with a group of friends. It might also be because Justin Long has a very punchable face and I say that as someone who thought he was funny in the movie Dodgeball. Maybe that's because those douchey “I'm a Mac” commercials starring Long are still fresh in my head. The plot is undoubtedly generic, but does try to create it's own mythology by adding a new monster to the mix. The plot also relies on people doing incredibly stupid things which does get tiresome once you've already seen a lot of horror movies. Jeepers Creepers tends to set things up well, but fizzles after the action, leaving a lot of questions. If the Creeper has been around for years, why would he bother driving like a maniac and honking his horn, drawing attention to himself? How does Jezelle have these future-telling dreams? Why is there no follow-up after The Creeper kills a bunch of cops inside a police station? Why couldn't Trish and Darry just keep running away?

I give Jeepers Creepers credit for having the two main characters be brother and sister instead of boyfriend and girlfriend. It is very rare to have that and gives the movie a different dynamic than your average “attacked on the back roads” horror movie. Of course, it does bring up the small issue of a lack of romantic interest. Just about every movie has a romantic interest for the main character(s), but Jeepers Creepers does not. Why is that? The Creeper is a decent supernatural villain with some fun powers and an overall creepiness thanks to his cannibalism and strange look. I would have liked more on his origin a little sooner in the movie, but something is better than nothing. The is a fair amount of fun violence and more gore than you would expect from this type of movie. The inclusion of the Jezelle character is a bit too random and I'm not a particular fan of the “magical lady” character that occasionally pops up in horror and science fiction. She reminded me a lot of The Oracle from The Matrix, though much more enjoyable to watch. The movie also feels short, just barely making it to the 90 minute mark. I know I complain about movies being too long, but this really stuck out to me. The acting in the movie is fairly good and the dialogue relatively believable for college-age people in the early 00's.

"You don't understand. I'm a Mac! Doesn't that mean anything to you?!"

Jeepers Creepers has it's moments thanks to some good violence and gore. There is also a bit of dark humor in the movie, which may or may not elicit a laugh or two. The plot is pretty standard with a lot of the typical cliches and tropes you've come to expect in these types of horror movies. There are a few good scares and a genuinely creepy monster to keep things entertaining. The usage of the song “Jeepers Creepers” doesn't really make sense and feels forced in to the plot just so they could use the name for the title of the movie. The character development is a bit rushed and iffy at times and the lack of a love interest surprised me. The acting and direction is fine though nothing stands out in particular. There is already one sequel made with a third on the way. Jeepers Creepers doesn't have much that you haven't seen before, but it could be considered a good starter movie for someone just getting into horror.

5.5/10