Drag Me To Hell (Sam Raimi, 2009)

I’m sorry to start off sounding somewhat cheesy for the first line in my review, but I agree with the TV spots for this that ‘Sam Raimi is back with a vengeance’. I totally agree with that line, especially because I didn’t like the Spider-Man trilogy at all. I’d probably class them as the most overrated series ever, except the third, because it already was pretty bad received. I absolutely love the Evil Dead series, though, namely Evil Dead II. This movie reminded me so much of Evil Dead II too. The first trailer for this had me somewhat interested in it, but I probably could’ve just waited for the DVD then. It really wasn’t until these past couple of weeks that I really started getting excited for it, and I’ve started to notice that it happens with a lot of movies too. You can tell that Raimi had a considerably bigger budget to work with for this, but he still used his old techniques from the Evil Dead series.

Speaking of the Evil Dead series, I noticed some of the stuff that Raimi put in to this from the Evil Dead series too. Namely the eye ball scene, which any Evil Dead fan should know. Another kind of shout-out was the 1973 Oldsmobile thrown into the movie, but I wish that Raimi could’ve used some more references to the Evil Dead series. Another reference I noticed was that Destry Rides Again was playing on the TV at the pawn shop. What’s really surprising to me, though, is how well the movie worked seeing as most of the scares were jump scares. Usually this ends up hurting a movie, but the haunting score, overall creepy atmosphere to the movie, and comedic moments really helped the jump scares work. There were parts during the movie that I really couldn’t stop laughing, and neither could most of the people in the theater I was in. Most the second half of the movie really relies on the comedic moments, so I guess the second half just really depends on your tastes.

Alison Lohman was absolutely perfect as the leading lady in this. I don’t even think I can express that enough. On another note, she’s incredibly hot. I wouldn’t mind seeing some more movies with her in it. She’s the female Bruce Campbell you could say. I’m still pretty upset that Campbell didn’t even get a cameo appearance in this; I mean he even got a cameo appearance in the Spider-Man movies, and Raimi couldn’t have given him on this. During the entire first half of the movie Lohman’s character, Christine Brown, reminded me so much of Ash in the first Evil Dead. In the sense that the character is sort of a normal person thrown into an abnormal situation. Then in the second half she really seems to become the total badass like Campbell in Evil Dead II and Army Of Darkness. I heard a lot of complaints about Justin Long’s performance in this before watching, mainly hearing how he just didn’t fit with the rest of the movie. I thought he fit in just fine, at least during the comedic parts. It’s good to see him slowly moving out of comedies, though.

Overall, I’d say that any fan of the Evil Dead series would love this. It reminded me so much of Evil Dead II, even if Evil Dead II is still a much better movie. Something else I forgot to point out was the rather abrupt ending. You could see the ‘twist’ ending coming for a good 10-15 minutes before it actually happened, but the way it played out still ended up being pretty shocking. What really helped it was the way the title appeared on the screen right after it was over, because it was done in such a haunting way. Ultimately I went into the theater very excited to see it after waiting awhile to see it, and I left rather pleased if I say so myself. Raimi fans would love this, so I’d suggest checking it out if you’re a fan, and I really just say that because I know a lot of Raimi fans were saying the trailer wasn’t that interesting. Don’t let the PG-13 rating put off either, because this is in another league entirely of other PG-13 horror movies. I think this Is probably tied with Star Trek as my favorite of 2009 so far.

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