After denying a woman the extension she needs to keep her home, loan officer Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) sees her once-promising life take a startling turn for the worse. Christine is convinced she's been cursed by a Gypsy, but her boyfriend (Justin Long) is skeptical. Now, her only hope seems to lie in a psychic (Dileep Rao) who claims he can help her lift the curse and keep her soul from being dragged straight to hell. -netflix
Sam Raimi, my man... finally back to making horror movies. While I enjoyed your trek through the halls of Marvel with the likes of Spider-Man... we missed you buddy. So this isn't Evil Dead, but it is good horror fare written and directed by Raimi. You take a loan officer at a bank, played but the ultra cute Alison Lohman... hook her up with Justin Long, who is funny and a good actor... throw in a raggedy looking old gypsy lady who puts a curse on the girl and there you have Drag Me To Hell. It doesn't sound like anything too far out there, but there is more than meets the eye to this story. I wasn't sold on the concept at first, I mean... come on... a gypsy curse. I have had one of those on me for over 20 years, but instead of my soul being dragged to hell... I am just annoying. So I guess the curse is on everyone else then... take that ya gypsy bitch.
Anyhow, back to the movie. You could most definitely see touches throughout the movie that screamed Sam Raimi. From the guy levitating above the table, to eyeballs popping out and into people's mouths, to the slow zoom into the actor's face with the camera slightly askew, to the camera focusing on sounds emanating from the house itself. Hell, even the sounds in the movie made me think... Sam was here. Another sure sign was having horror and comedy mixed again. There were several lighter moments in the film at inappropriate times that made it more enjoyable. From the aforementioned eyeball popping out and into the heroine's mouth to the old lady trying to gum our heroine to death, etc.
The cast also did a great job. The ever cute Alison Lohman did a great job of showing a full range of emotions, and once again, Justin Long proved that he can act in horror movies and not just straight comedies.... and that goes back to his role in jeepers creepers and he continues to shine. The story was developed nicely, even though the premise might have been a bit cheesy. I like a good twist at the end of a good movie... but this ending was predictable if you were paying attention to small details, but still a good ending.
I was disappointed by the pg-13 rating though and really didn't see any difference in the unrated DVD. I think that is often a trick they play on your mind. Just because it is unrated doesn't mean it has more gore or nudity or the like. It just means that no official rating has been given. Let us all get back to the days of R rated horror with no punches pulled... can we.
I have heard alot of people trashing the film, saying it was boring and a waste of time. Going out on a limb here, but I am sure those people are ones who suffer from that oh so real affliction known as ADD. You know, those people who have to be on their cell phone and text messaging and twittering and generally being giant pains in the ass while in the theater (or anywhere else for that matter). Maybe Raimi's style of filmmaking isn't embraced by the youth of today as much as it is by us old timers, who were actually alive when Evil Dead was made, or maybe I am reading too much into those reviews. Either way, I wouldn't go as far as some have and call this a piece of crap nor a masterpiece, but it is certainly a well-done movie and quite entertaining. I would recommend it to anyone that was looking for a tip on a great horror movie to watch. Welcome home Sam.
After denying a woman the extension she needs to keep her home, loan officer Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) sees her once-promising life take a startling turn for the worse. Christine is convinced she's been cursed by a Gypsy, but her boyfriend (Justin Long) is skeptical. Now, her only hope seems to lie in a psychic (Dileep Rao) who claims he can help her lift the curse and keep her soul from being dragged straight to hell. -netflix
