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After sinking his teeth into the billion dollar Spider-Man
franchise (and has since been given the boot from), director Sam Raimi
returns to the horror genre he made his name in (thanks to the cult Evil Dead series) with Drag Me To Hell.
It is
an original tale of a young woman's desperate quest to escape an evil
curse... and it is a film aiming firmly for the "So Bad It's Good"
bin - in the best possible way!
Christine Brown (Alison Lohman)
is an ambitious L.A. loan officer with a charming boyfriend, professor
Clay Dalton (Warren Cheswick himself, Justin Long). Life is good until
the mysterious and flem-ridden Mrs. Ganush arrives at the bank to beg
for an extension on her home loan.
Foolishly,
poor Christine opts to deny the extension to impress her boss in order
to get a leg-up on a promotion, dispossessing Mrs. Ganush of her home.
In
retaliation, the old woman places the "Curse Of The Lamia" upon
Christine, transforming her life into a living nightmare where she is
haunted by an evil spirit which seeks to harvest her soul for eternal
damnation.
The beauty of Drag Me To Hell
is that Raimi knows exactly what he wants here. He knows exactly what
buttons to push, when to push them - and most importantly - knows the
difference between "Shitty Good" and "Shitty Bad".
Let's not put bells and whistles on this - Drag Me To Hell ain't no masterpiece. But it isn't trying to be either.
In
fact, you could quite easily be excused for assuming that the script, budget
and digital effects were left overs from a lost episode of the TV
version of R.L. Stines Goosebumps series (remember those horrid intros "I'm RL Stine - I write theGoosebumps books"), or for our 1990s Nickelodeon viewers - that far superior Are You Afraid Of The Dark? That is where the genius of Sam Raimi lies... he wants to elicit that thought from you. It's exactly what Tarantino and Rodriguez attempted with Grindhouse - except this time, Raimi actually succeeds.
Better yet, the scares in the film are genuine seat jumpers (which I haven't experienced since Scream
back in 1996) while still remaining gut bustingly funny. I challenge
anyone not to laugh-pee / scared-pee during the scene in which Ganush
attacks Christine in her own car... you just won't be able to hold it,
you simply can't.
Ridiculously stupid, with some brilliant over the top violence,
along with a talking possessed goat and some violently powerful blood noses. All classic
cult moments waiting to be immortalised by the genre... and somehow...
that was Sam Raimi's plan all along. DVD Special Features
JB HI-FI offer an Exclusive 2 Disc Version with
special O-Ring Packaging with Coffin Flap Cover. Do not be fooled, the
ridiculous price tag isn't worth the effort. Special Features inclide a
Bonus Disc of Production Video Diaries randing from "The Bloody Nose"
to "Dragging Her To Hell". In all honesty, Drag Me To Hell
was never worth anything more than "Single Edition" purchase, and the
Special Features on offer does very little to change my mind about that. That
said, you get the feeling that the unusually high DVD prices early on
is to capitalise on the "Cult Audience" who want it no matter what,
knowing full well that it's long term sales won't be as impressive.
Those clever marketing people!! Conclusion:
Movie 80% Extras: 60%
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